WA Transport minister, Rita Saffioti said there were no plans to introduce variable off-peak ticket prices in WA.
Off-peak ticket prices currently exist on major transport systems in other states.
The intention of lowering ticket prices for off-peak travel hours is designed to reduce congestion before and after regular work hours and is in place in other Australian states and internationally.
A 2016 reports said about 400,000 trips were made on TransPerth services each day.
About 36,000 passengers used the Armadale Train Line each day in 2016 and according to statistics, the busiest periods at Armadale Train Station were usually between 7am and 8am and 2pm and 4pm.
Mastercard Australia recently released a report, which stated that dropping prices at non-peak periods could reduce congestion on the services at normally busy periods.
In Queensland off-peak fares are 20 per cent cheaper than peak hour fares for users of the state’s transport smart card.
Prices in that state are dropped between 8.30am and 3.30pm and 7pm and 6am on weekdays and on weekends and public holidays the off-peak discount applied at all hours.
Ms Saffioti said the government was putting a high priority on improving the usage rates and efficiency of TransPerth services.
TransPerth made about $213 million in 2013-14 through ticket and SmartRider fares.
The former state government had said it would consider introducing a variable ticket price system as Perth’s population approached 3.5 million – which was expected by 2050.
Opposition leader Dr Mike Nahan said he was surprised to see a newly elected Government which campaigned so strongly on public transport blindly rule out off-peak fares.
“WA has an extremely large percentage of its public transport users commute during peak periods, during what is a relatively short period of time,” he said.
“We have to look at ways to address the low number of commuters travelling during off-peak periods in order to improve efficiencies overall.
Dr Nahan said the government should prioritise increasing the efficiency of current services.
