The Queensland Budget committed a record $55 billion to roads and rail last week. The line that will matter most to everyday commuters is a smaller number: 50 cents. Fifty cent public transport fares are set to be locked in by legislation. Alongside that sits the largest roads and rail pipeline the state has put forward, including the Logan to Gold Coast Faster Rail program and up to 630 new buses for the south east. Most of the attention will go to the build, and it should. New rail and hundreds of new buses are easy to picture. But a transport network only works when two things are true at once: people can reach it, and they can afford to use it. The $55 billion answers the first. The fare answers the second. I have spent a large part of my career on transport and roads in this state, and the projects that earn lasting public support are rarely the ones with the cleanest delivery schedule. They are the ones where people feel the network is being built for them, not around them. A fare you can count on, set to be locked in law, is a quiet signal of exactly that. It tells a parent planning the week, or a shift worker counting every dollar, that the system is theirs to rely on. The money is committed and the fare is set. The work now is bringing communities along as the build reaches their streets, so a record pipeline becomes a network people feel part of. — Working on a project that needs to bring its community along? Talk to Anna. Email: hello@evokeadvisory.au Message me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annacush #TransportQLD #PublicTransport #Infrastructure #CommunityEngagement #Brisbane2032