For many university students, travelling to campus via bus, tram or train is no easy feat. The journey will often require route changes and vehicle swaps. And with the Albanese government’s announcement that young Australians who are under 18 and not enrolled in university will ride for free from 2026, ticket prices have also put a dent in the already tight budget. As the Australian government pushes to reduce the country’s environmental impact and reach a goal of ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050, shouldn’t making the swap from car to public transport be easier and more affordable for university students?
Psychology student Remy McDougall is among the 70 percent of La Trobe students who travel by car to the university, which is based in the northern suburbs of Bundoora. In her four years as a student, McDougall has never once taken public transport to campus from her home in Hawthorn. The trip would result in an extra hour of travel.
“The closest [train station] is Macleod and it’s like a massive one-kilometer uphill walk to get to the uni”, she tells upstart.
This issue isn’t unique to La Trobe. The Deakin and Monash University campuses are also located around 20 kilometres out of the CBD. While location and time allowance are both both factors in why students decide to drive, they are also being expected to fork out of their already limited finances for these trips. Erin Ivey is in her final year of a public relations degree at Swinburne University and takes public transport to the Hawthorn based campus every day. She says money is the biggest challenge for her. Another challenge was the process of getting a student concession to make it cheaper.
“I know as students, we have the option to get student myki, but they don’t make it very easy to get them,” she tells upstart.
Given the student meets the long list of criteria for a Tertiary Student ID, they must fill out an online form and attach a passport style photo. It then must be taken into a staffed PTV station for it be processed and approved. If the application does get approved they can ride PTV at a discounted rate with a fare cap of $5.50 per day.
Despite relying on two tram lines, which she describes as unreliable, Ivey still believes travelling via PTV is worth it for the environmental benefits.
“I’ve always really cared about the issue and catching public transport to uni is one of the easiest ways to reduce my carbon footprint,” she says.
Although sometimes inconvenient, Tenzin Fox, a PhD candidate with the Climate Change Adaptation Lab at La Trobe University, says that public transport is undeniably better for the environment.
“It takes people out of cars and makes moving large groups of people more efficient in terms of energy consumption and carbon output,” he tells upstart.
In fact, if just one in five Australians left their car at home and took public transport, the country would save around 1.5 million tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution every year. Transport is Australia’s third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, cars make up around half of that total.
Fox says that in cities and countries where public transport is prioritised, there is better air quality, less traffic, better spread of population and increased access to lower carbon impact activities.
“Even the negatives on the environment, they are, by comparison, still positive,” he says.
Fox’s studies involve examining La Trobe’s sustainability initiatives. He believes that the university would benefit immensely from increased public transport options. When it is easier and more accessible for students to get to university, Fox says they are more likely to attend class, complete their degrees and utilise campus resources to their full potential.
The Victorian government has announced that the Suburban Rail Loop (SRL) will create a new train line from Box Hill to Melbourne airport and will include a new train station in Bundoora, but the project isn’t projected to be finished until 2053.
“Having more students on campus means that the businesses that are located on campus, the food businesses and post offices, do better with more foot traffic,” he says.
“And it also means that the services that the university are running become more effective,” he says.
“You get more bang for your buck with things like support services, counselling services, Ask La Trobe, student advisors, all of those.”
Prioritising public transport to universities not only benefits students, but the environment and the economy too. Students like Remy McDougall think that making a sustainable choice shouldn’t come at the cost of time, money or effort — especially for students. She says it’s time for the government to catch up, and to reflect on things like Queensland introducing the 50 cent fares.
“The Victorian government could look at that as something to aim towards, because I think a barrier keeping a lot of people from getting public transport is just the cost alone.”
Photo: by Windmemories is available here and used under a Creative Commons licence. The image has been cropped.
