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Ray Gibson relies on public transport to travel to his business in suburban Brisbane.
The journey requires catching a train and two buses six days a week, and typically costs $70 in total.
From tomorrow, his commute will be dramatically cheaper.
The Queensland government is rolling out its six-month trial of cheaper public transport on Monday, with all fares on Translink buses, trains, ferries and trams to be reduced to 50 cents for any one-way trip.
Like many feeling the cost-of-living pinch, Mr Gibson is looking forward to the savings — he's keen to swap the regular sausages and mince for a nice piece of steak.
But he's worried accessibility to public transport in south-east Queensland will extend beyond the cost.
The former truck driver has depended on the network since sustaining vision loss in an accident, which made him ineligible to hold a licence.
Mr Gibson told the ABC that his commute — from his Strathpine home to the Arana Hills workshop — can sometimes take up to two hours due to infrequent services and a lack of connection between the routes.
"They don't put too much thinking into connecting trains and buses," he said.
"At peak times … some of the trains don't even have standing room — people are trying to push in further to even get in the doors."
A Climate Council report released in July found Brisbane had the worst public transport access of all Australian capital cities — with 66.4 per cent of areas not having frequent all-day services available.
Its analysis, based on General Transit Feed Specification data, concluded access to good public transport in Brisbane ended just eight kilometres from the CBD.
Mr Gibson said the cheap fares could spike public transport patronage and "cause all sorts of dramas".
"It's going to be interesting, trying to iron out the problems," Mr Gibson said.
Queensland Premier Steven Miles said if the trial proves popular there could be "crowding of some services".
"We can track which services are close to, or over, capacity now and they are the services that will be monitored the most closely," he said.
"We want to make sure that we have the planning in place to respond quickly to those changes … making sure we have a lot of people out there able to assist commuters who might not be used to using public transport."
Mr Miles said most services had additional capacity — with public transport use still sitting about 13 per cent below pre-pandemic levels — and he announced that an 50 extra buses would be added to boost the network's capacity.
Transport Minister Bart Mellish said a "service capacity tracker" would measure demand for public transport under the 50-cent flat rate and reminded Queenslanders to pack their Go Cards for bus tap-ons.
"We're expecting to see people on the network who haven't used public transport for a number of years, so please be courteous," he said.
"All our Translink and Department of Transport and Main Roads staff have been working around the clock over the last couple of months to make sure that we're ready for 50-cent fares."
The minister said fares on Airtrain services to Brisbane Airport — which is privately owned — will be cut to half-price.
Brisbane City Council has argued more than 1 million passengers could be stranded at bus stops during the trial if patronage increases by 10 per cent, however Translink said its modelling did not support that claim.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said he was excited to see how the trial plays out, committing to review the results if the LNP wins power at the October election.
"For public transport to be effective, I needs to be affordable, reliable, safe and frequent," he said.
"All of those have to go together to make a really good public transport mix in the state."
Car trumps transport despite savings
Rahul Nuthakki — who lives in the outer Brisbane suburb of Pallara — would like to catch public transport to work in the city, but said it was not feasible without a bus route from his home to his closest train station, or directly into the CBD.
"I would absolutely take the bus because it takes just as long, but I wouldn't have to drive, and I could do some life admin tasks," he said.
Griffith University lecturer Kelly Bertolaccini is calling it the first-and-last mile problem and says it is a challenge in cities across the world.
"It gets really difficult because as people spread out, which happens as you get to the further out suburbs, it becomes really challenging to provide good public transport," she said.
"When people are more spread out the only way we can get more people [on public transport], is to have more stops and more winding routes, but of course, that has the trade-off of making the route incredibly long, and then people don't want to take it."
Demand responsive transport services, which aim to tackle this issue, operate in Hervey Bay, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Logan and the Gold Coast — and will be part of the 50-cent trial.
Translink described it as a flexible, shared and pre-booked service that connects people to the wider transport network, shopping, healthcare and employment.
The services operate in a specified zone where it picks up and drops off passengers and, in some cases, also completes a fixed route.
On Friday the Queensland government announced the on-demand transport trial on the Gold Coast would be extended, with patronage steadily growing and 184,000 trips taken since it launched.
Dr Bertolaccini said such services are a step between a bus and a ride-sharing app.
"I would like to see a lot more of that in-between type of transport where it might pick you up at your house, and then drop you off at the nearest train station or drop you off at the nearest shopping centre," she said.
Queensland's growth presents opportunity
As Brisbane gears up to host the 2032 Olympic Games, the state's biggest railway project is underway.
The government's $6.3 billion Cross River Rail, expected to open in 2026, will run for 10km, including under the Brisbane River and CBD, with four new underground stations and one new station above ground.
In October, the Brisbane Metro — which the council describes as a high-capacity and high-frequency system linking the city to the suburbs — will join the bus network running from Eight Mile Plains to the University of Queensland.
This comes as the state government forecasts six million people will call the south-east home by 2046.
Dr Bertolaccini said as a growing region, more high-density housing would be key to making it easier for people to access public transport.
"At the end of the day, higher-density housing and better planned communities will lead to us being able to provide better public transport." she said.
"It is really hard to provide traditional public transport in low-density areas, there's really no way to make it great for a lot of people in those cases."
She'd like to see more deliberate planning to ensure there is a higher density of housing in areas near current public transport services.
"If you can't easily walk to the station, I think it's going to be hard for most people in that situation to end up choosing public transport regularly," she said.
"It's also really important that people have access to a station in a reasonable amount of time. It needs to be somewhat comparable, it won't be exactly the same as a car but you know, it needs to be more reasonable."
Hopes cheap fares will reduce congestion
Paul Whewell, another outer-city commuter, spends half an hour on the train travelling from Ipswich's Ebbw Vale station into Brisbane each week day.
His daily spend on public transport will drop from $13 to $1 from tomorrow.
"In this cost-of-living crisis [this trial is] going to save me a lot of money," Mr Whewell said.
"I was always going to take the train, regardless of the cost, it's just lucky that we've got the 50-cent fares.
"I'm hoping that it gets more people off the increasingly-congested roads in Brisbane."
The first home owner is grateful to be in close proximity to services, but said more availability is needed if the region wants to keep up with its rapidly-growing population.