The recent fuel price increase has lumped on even more misery to the cost of living for Australian citizens. While recent federal budget announcements have provided some temporary relief, the Tasmanian state government has taken matters into its own hands by announcing earlier this year that it would make bus fares free for five weeks.
But is this move as beneficial as it sounds?
Tasmania’s state government and metro service think so. One week into the initiative, statistics from the office of Tasmanian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Michael Ferguson suggested that people are taking advantage of the five-week free ride, with a passenger increase of 13 per cent, or 4,300 passengers a day, state-wide.
