Weekly,monthly tickets to be scrapped

Commuter lobby group Rail Back on Track spokesman Robert Dow said a lack of capped weekly or monthly tickets would make motorists of some existing commuters.

"Without Go Card capping the government is probably going to force users of the existing system back onto the road,"Mr Dow said.

If we're going to provide even more infrastructure and more services in a growing region we need to make sure the system has a sound financial base

But he welcomed the introduction of off-peak Go Card fares and said widespread uptake of the electronic ticket would improve travel times across the bus network.

"People will see a marked improvement in the efficiency of the network,once everyone is using a Go Card. They will be able to tweak the timetables a lot better,because they will have real time-loading information and know exactly when passengers are travelling and where."

The price hikes are designed to reduce government travel subsidies from 75 per cent to 70 per cent within five years.

Transport Minister Rachel Nolan said fares for a typical zone two ticket would therefore increase up to 60 cents each year between 2011 and 2014.

"For every dollar that a passenger spends on a fare,taxpayers spend three in subsidy and that ratio needs to decrease rather than increase in the next five years,"Ms Nolan said.

"Public transport in SEQ currently costs $1.2 billion and our funding won't go backwards - extra money brought in through the fare box will directly fund new services."

The extra funds will be pay for 301,000 additional passengers to come with the the rail line extension to Varsity Lakes on the Gold Coast from July next year,Mr Lucas said.

"If we're going to provide even more infrastructure and more services in a growing region we need to make sure the system has a sound financial base,"he said.