The Public Transport Ombudsman is a fair, free and fast service to sort out your unresolved public transport complaints and help make public transport in Melbourne and Victoria better for everyone.
We’re not a government organisation and we’re independent from public transport operators. We’ve helped more than 40,000 people since we started in 2004.
We work with you and the public transport operator to resolve your complaint. It’s an informal process where we talk with you to understand your complaint, and then we talk with the public transport operator that your complaint is about. We then try to find a fair and reasonable outcome that you can both agree upon.
If you’re not sure who to contact about your complaint, you can contact us and we will give you advice.
We are committed to providing an accessible service. If you need help accessing our service,such as translation or interpreter services, contact us.
Who is your complaint about
We can only investigate a public transport complaint if it’s about a member of the Public Transport Ombudsman (PTO) Scheme. Members of the PTO Scheme include train, tram and bus operators and organisations involved in major public transport projects. You can check the list of our members here.
We will provide you with referral information if you contact us about an agency or operator that we can’t look at, such as a complaint about a taxi or an airline.
What we look at
We look at many different aspects of public transport and how public transport issues can impact passengers and the community. If you want to check whether we can look at your public transport complaint, contact us and we can discuss it with you. You can see examples of what we can and can’t investigate here.
Fair and reasonable outcomes
When we investigate your public transport complaint, we work with you and the operator to find a reasonable and fair outcome.
We handle complaints independently, promptly and for free. If an agreement can’t be reached, the Public Transport Ombudsman has the power to make a binding decision.
Making public transport better
We also look at the bigger picture – the public transport complaints and issues that affect or could affect more people. We call these systemic issues. The work of the Public Transport Ombudsman in this area allows us to help improve public transport and make the public transport system better for everyone.
Check out our FAQs for more information.
The Public Transport Ombudsman respectfully acknowledges the traditional custodians of the land on which we operate our services. We pay our respects to the ongoing living cultures of Aboriginal peoples, and to Elders past, present and future.