TRAIN commuters who fail to touch-off their go card will be slugged with a $10 fee from the end of the month.

Transport Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk will today announce the "fixed fare" charged by Translink will double from May 30, in a crackdown on commuters who deliberately fail to touch-off because the penalty is cheaper than the train or bus fare.

She said that fare evaders were costing the State Government about $18 million in lost revenue a year.

"Translink studies show about 70,000 trips a month are fare evaders taking advantage of the low penalty rate by deliberately not touching off at the end of their journey," Ms Palaszczuk said.

She said the penalty rate was initially kept low to allow the large number of new go card users to get used to the system.

"With go card use now at 80 per cent and the system operating to world-class standard, we are looking to target those who evade fares by deliberately abusing the system," Ms Palaszczuk said. "Raising penalties will minimise this type of fare evasion."

The fixed fare for bus users would rise from $2.50 to $5, she said.

Opposition transport spokesman Scott Emerson said it would be those commuters who forgot to touch-off who would be unfairly penalised by the planned price hike in the fixed fare.

"Measures need to be introduced so the honest commuter who accidentally forgets to tag off has a chance to rectify the problem," Mr Emerson said.

"They could be sent an email, for instance, alerting them that they had failed to tag off and given a 12-hour grace period to go and do it."

But Translink chief executive officer Peter Strachan said the higher fixed fare would not disadvantage honest commuters.

"Customers who make an honest mistake or are unable to touch-off can still simply go online to request an adjustment," Mr Strachan said.

"Users who touch-on or touch-off incorrectly receive a message displayed on the card reader next time they use their go card."

Translink has also installed barriers at nine train stations to reduce fare evasion, and is in the process of adding barriers to two more Gold Coast stations.

Originally published as Go card penalty fares to double