Higher public transport fares are on the way next year. Source: HWT Image Library
FARES have risen twice as fast as inflation since public transport was privatised.
Fare increases have added up to $1200 a year to the cost of commuting since 1999.
Yearly tickets have doubled in price. Monthly and weekly tickets have also risen by more than double the 41 per cent rise in inflation in this period.
Rises for daily and two-hour tickets have been less steep but still outpaced inflation, jumping 52 to 80 per cent.
But Public Transport Users Association president Tony Morton said trains were more crowded and less reliable than when the Kennett government sold the system, promising better services.
"Public transport users aren't getting value for money," he said.
"We're now paying twice as much for a system that is by no means twice as good as it was in the '90s, and in some ways is worse."
Mr Morton said fares had risen faster in Melbourne than in any other Australian city. But, in real terms, driving costs remained the same.
He said privatisation had led to a costlier rail system but poor planning meant it had not sufficiently responded to patronage.
Transport Minister Terry Mulder said, since privatisation, patronage had grown by more than 200 million trips to 536 million a year, and many routes had more frequent services.
He said: "The previous Labor government did not adequately maintain Melbourne's rail network, leaving a backlog of maintenance work that often left commuters frustrated."
Mr Mulder said the Coalition had invested more than $560 million, adding 1078 Metro train trips a week and more than 2000 bus trips.
He said inflation since September 1999, when private operators took over, had been 48.5 per cent.
In January, Mr Mulder went ahead with a 6.8 per cent fare hike, on top of an 8.6 per cent rise last year, to help pay for improvements.
The abolition of Zone 3 fares in 2007 lessened cost impacts for some commuters in outer suburbs.
But the axing of popular and cheap short-trip tickets on trains and trams, and discounted 10x2-hour tickets, have magnified costs for thousands more.
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