Young people are allegedly abusing the "no child left behind" policy implemented after the death of schoolboy Daniel Morcombe to avoid paying for bus tickets.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
There has been a spike in fare evasion on public transport, particularly on school buses, costing the state about $25 million a year in lost revenue.
Last financial year, Queensland's school bus drivers recorded more than 1.53 million fare evasions, compared with about 875,000 the previous year.
The trend was mirrored on urban bus services, where there were almost 600,000 more fare evasions in 2017-18, compared with 1.06 million the year before.
The figures were released following an LNP question on notice.
Transport Minister Mark Bailey said the majority of passengers did the right thing, but there was clearly a growing problem with fare evasion on public transport.
Mr Bailey said "older teenagers" were taking advantage of the state government's duty of care.
"Bus drivers have told us about groups of young people who demand free travel, telling the drivers they have to let them on or the drivers could lose their job," he said.
"This kind of behaviour can cause other passengers to feel unsafe and more free rides means less revenue for new and improved public transport services."
The claim previously surfaced in 2012, when then LNP transport minister Scott Emerson said children were exploiting the principle, put in place after Daniel, 13, was abducted while waiting by the side of a Sunshine Coast road for a bus in December 2003.
Figures released recently revealed almost 900 children were left behind at bus stops in 2017-18.
Mr Bailey said he told TransLink to hire up to 16 new senior network officers, adding to the current workforce of 55 officers, to patrol the network.
"Officers handed out more than 17,000 fines for public transport ticketing offences last financial year, but it's not possible to have SNOs on every bus, train, tram or ferry," he said.
"We're committed to ensuring young and vulnerable passengers can get home safely but we need to have the conversation with our community about fare evasion and the best way to deal with it."
Mr Bailey said a roundtable would be held in April, with experts across government, community services and education to share their views on how to discourage fare evasion and behavioural issues.
"We'll use it as an opportunity to discuss policy options, enforcement, penalties and whether we need more education or early intervention programs," he said.
"It will also look at how our frontline staff deal with fare evasion and discuss whether legislative changes would have an impact."
LNP transport spokesman Steve Minnikin said blaming school children for an inability to curb fare evasion was a "new low".
"Bus operators have been dealing with a surge in fare evasion and anti-social behaviour for the past two years," he said.
"Without appropriate enforcement action, the majority of honest, fare-paying passengers are forced to pay more to cover the losses from fare evaders."
Greens MP Michael Berkman said the issue was a "distraction".
"If we made public transport free for every kid in Queensland it would cost just $56 million per year and we could all focus on more important issues," he said.
