November 13, 2012

The Victorian Government is paying Monash University more than $100,000 to study the psychology of fare evaders.

Public Transport Victoria has awarded a 16-month contract worth $107,545 to the university to study the psychology behind fare evasion in a bid to reduce millions of free rides taken each year.

The Victorian bus association has voiced support for the initiative, which has already faced heavy criticism from the Public Transport Users' Association and the Opposition.

BusVic Executive Director Chris Lowe says policy changes regarding fare evasion need to be backed by research.

“The government decided they would go it alone to fund this research, and I am all for it,” Lowe says.

“If you are going to implement policy changes it needs to be soundly underpinned, and you do that by investing in academic research.”

"And if we can get some serious policy changes that see behavioural change in order to realize the reduction in fare evasion, then that is a good thing."

Lowe says each year fare evasion costs the state millions of dollars that it needs to invest in more transport services and infrastructure.

“$100,000 in the scheme of things is not a lot of money,” Lowe says.