![Richmond fans Brock Goldsworthy and Darcy Gray at Ballarat Station on Friday before making their way into Melbourne for a match. Picture by Lachlan Bence. Richmond fans Brock Goldsworthy and Darcy Gray at Ballarat Station on Friday before making their way into Melbourne for a match. Picture by Lachlan Bence.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/160696252/90b02bff-4273-4b03-89e4-afd67686a891.jpg/r0_0_3795_3694_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The first weekend of cheaper flat fares on V/line trains was welcomed by passengers - and their wallets - but questions remain over whether the change will put pressure on the network.
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From March 31, V/Line's daily travel fare was capped at $9.20 in an effort to bring balance between regional and metro commuters.
Under the previous pricing scheme, non-concession adults could pay up to $45.60 per day to commute from Ballarat to Melbourne return.
Ballarat commuter Jake Dunne, 30, catches the train four times a week to work in Melbourne and to the occasional football match when his team plays.
"[The lowered fare] makes a fair difference, it's $50 a week if you go down once a week," he said.
"It's a pretty expensive time in our lives at the moment and it's just a bit of help ... cost of living is obviously higher than it has been in the past."
Federation university student Noor Sekhon echoed this, and said the fare change was welcome to a student budget.
"It's good for us because definitely you have to keep on topping up your Myki, and we're like, 'oh my god, it's already been used' and so now it's gonna be easier for us. Definitely expenses are going to decrease," the 20-year-old said.
We need to wait and see what those patronage levels look like, and we need to be paying close attention to those patterns as they settle down so that we make the right interventions to serve our customers.
- V/Line's chief executive Matt Carrick
However, the issue of overcrowding on services as a result of the cheaper fares has already began to show, with reports of full carriages on early trains on the weekend.
In March, V/Line's chief executive Matt Carrick did not rule out the possibility of fuller trains heading into Melbourne.
He said overcrowding may still be an issue on some lines, with the government taking a "wait-and-see" approach on where to fix the most pressure.
"What we think is that during COVID there was more flexibility for people to work out when they travel and how often they travel," he said.
"We need to wait and see what those patronage levels look like, and we need to be paying close attention to those patterns as they settle down so that we make the right interventions to serve our customers."
The Victorian opposition has also raised questions about the pressure cheaper fares will put on the state budget.
Shadow Minister for Public Transport Richard Riordan said the move to lower fares came with a $155 million funding shortfall and the Andrews Government would not be able to afford to keep fares low in the long term.
"People from every corner of our state deserve cheaper fares and better services," Mr Riordan said.
"What services will be cut or when will V/Line fares be increased again ... How does [Labor] intend to deliver cheaper fares indefinitely without raising taxes or cutting jobs to make up the billion dollar shortfall?"
Since 2019, hundreds of extra services have been added to the network, including 25 extra trains, and, Mr Carrick said, "there is more to come".
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