Free Public Transport In A Bid To Bring People Back Into Melbourne’s CBD

Victorians can travel on public transport with confidence and for a short time it'll be free.

A quarter of a mullion travel vouchers will be up for grabs from Thursday on the PTV website.

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Public transport Minister Ben Carroll said it is first in, best dressed.

"We're going to re-ignite the passion for Melbourne's CBD through public transport," he said.

"Download the voucher and go and do what you love doing, being a Melbournian, going into the CBD - more services, better cleaning."

"We really want Victorians to take the opportunity and try public transport again," Mr Carroll encouraged.

Meantime, major disruptions are coming for Metro passengers with the entire City Loop to be shut down for an undefined period.

The Department of Transport has confirmed urgent safety repairs are needed to fire sprinklers and smoke extraction systems after maintenance was put off for more than a decade.

The Department recently revealed the Loop shutdown was necessary to finish the upgrade of Parliament, Flagstaff and Melbourne Central stations.

Chief executive of the Level Crossing Removal Project, Kevin Devlin told the public accounts and estimates committee last month that the closure would need to go ahead in the imminent future.

“It is essentially a very major event and when we do that work, we will have to close the [City Loop] for a period of time and that is a significant disruption, so we are just looking to find the right time,”

The delay was caused by the collapse of a contractor hired for the repairs, identified way back in 2011.

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