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Paulos' story

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The Complaint

Paulos* couldn’t get a clear answer about SkyBus ticketing rules and was concerned they might be discriminatory.

Paulos had never had a problem using his PTV-issued Access Travel Pass on SkyBus before. But after COVID-19 travel restrictions were lifted, staff sometimes refused to accept his Pass as a valid ticket.   

Paulos asked SkyBus what the rules for using a Pass were, and if they had changed. He got conflicting information from different staff and from the website. 

Paulos also noticed that the SkyBus website only listed some Access Travel Passes (such as the Vision Impaired Pass) as valid for use. Other Pass types weren’t on the list. Paulos thought this might be unlawful discrimination. He emailed SkyBus to find out why some Passes weren’t listed but he didn’t get a reply.

Why did Paulos complain to the PTO? 

Paulos contacted the PTO for two reasons. First, he wanted our help to clarify the Access Travel Pass rules for SkyBus services. And second, he wanted to ensure fair and equitable access for all Passholders.

How did the PTO handle Paulos’ complaint?

Our first step was to talk with Paulos, to ensure we understood the issues he wanted addressed. Our next step was to ask SkyBus to respond to a series of questions, including:

  • why had Paulos' experience using Skybus changed?
  • had he been given conflicting information?
  • why were some PTV-issued Access Travel Passes accepted but not others? 

In their response, SkyBus acknowledged that its policy to accept only some PTV-issued Access Travel Passes could be seen as discriminatory. However, this wasn’t the policy’s intent.

SkyBus also acknowledged that – although they operate a ticketing system that’s separate from PTV’s ticketing system – there was an opportunity to change their ticketing policy so that all Passholders benefitted equally.

What was the outcome?

SkyBus decided to start accepting all PTV-issued Access Travel Passes, as well as other free PTV travel passes, and worked with PTV to update its ticketing policies.

SkyBus apologised to Paulos for his experience.

* Names and other identifying details have been changed 

More stories from the Victorian Public Transport Ombudsman

*Names and other identifying details have been changed