Balancing a commitment to child safety while targeting deliberate youth fare evasion is the challenge ahead following the Youth Fare Evasion Roundtable at Parliament House.
Transport and Main Roads Minister Mark Bailey said education campaigns targeting young people, working more closely with schools and parents to address fare evasion and harsher penalties for youth fare evaders were some of the suggestions raised at the event.
"Fare evasion across the south east Queensland public transport network costs Queenslanders about $25 million per year, and that's just the fare evaders our drivers spot," Mr Bailey said.
"There are complex and challenging reasons behind why people fare evade and a holistic approach is needed to address the issue.
"The majority of passengers do the right thing and pay their fare but we have seen a growing percentage of young people taking advantage of the government's commitment to child safety."
Mr Bailey said three key focus areas were discussed:
- prevention and education
- detection and enforcement
- and penalties and deterrents.
"The common thread through the feedback we received from participants today was that everyone has a role to play if we are to reduce fare evasion," Mr Bailey said.
"Each attendee listed what they believed were the top three actions to follow and the Queensland Government will now review priority actions nominated by the group to determine our response to this growing issue."
Mr Bailey said a youth co-lab with teenage public transport users will also be held to gain further insight into youth fare evasion.
Attendees at today's event included representatives from the education, police, university and justice sectors, as well as the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, Department of Transport and Main Roads, transport unions and the Queensland Bus Industry Council.
