High-profile human rights barrister Julian Burnside QC is considering organising a team of pro-bono lawyers to act for public transport users who are fighting Myki fines.

He said people with a valid case should be able to contest their fines without feeling pressure to pay a lesser on-the-spot penalty.

The on-the-spot 'penalty fares' were introduced in August last year after a 12-month trial.

Commuters caught without a valid ticket are given the choice of paying $75 immediately or going to court and facing a fine of $223 or more.

Authorised officers are equipped with portable EFTPOS machines to collect the 'penalty fares'.

"A lot of people have been bluffed into paying $75 on the spot instead of going to court," Mr Burnside told 774 ABC Melbourne's Libbi Gorr.

He said even if people have a good defence, they are often put off contesting the fine in court due to the time and expense involved.

"A lot of people, I think, are just nodding to it because they know it's too expensive to resist it and that really offends me," Mr Burnside said.

"That's bullying, big time."

Mr Burnside came up with the idea to organise a team of lawyers after providing pro-bono representation to two people fighting the fines.

"I thought I might organise a little team of [lawyers] to be up at the court on the day that they have all their public transport prosecutions," said Mr Burnside.

"They can just check what people's circumstances are and say 'righty-o, we'll act for you', and go in and knock them off one-by-one."

'Sounds like a standover racket' says QC

Mr Burnside first became aware of the penalty fares after being contacted by a legal academic about the case of Adrian Dyer, who was contesting a fine for travelling on a train without a valid ticket.

"This guy believed he'd touched on, then he has trouble getting out of the gates in the city," Mr Burnside said.

Mr Dyer was guided out the gates and taken to three authorised officers who checked his ticket and found it was touched off.

"They then say 'OK, you've got a choice. You can pay $75 now or we'll take you to court'," Mr Burnside said.

The officers warned the man that if he chose to pay later or appeal the fine he would be up for the full infringement notice penalty of $223.

"That sounds like a standover racket to me," said Mr Burnside.

"I agreed to act pro-bono for him because I just don't like seeing people done over like that."

Julian Burnside has represented two people fighting Myki fines, both of whom had their cases withdrawn.

Two days before the hearing, the prosecutor was contacted by a journalist from The Age newspaper asking about the case, and the case was dropped shortly afterwards.

"Because of that, quite a few people have been contacting me with real horror stories about the way Myki have treated them," Mr Burnside said.

He agreed to take on the case of Lindy Muto, who was also contesting a fine she received in 2014.

Ms Muto was not a regular public transport user and had mistakenly touched her card onto a balance checking machine instead of a ticket validator.

She had written a letter stating her case but was told the prosecution would proceed.

Mr Burnside said he found it disturbing that the case was dropped as soon as he approached the prosecutor.

"I explained to her the same facts that Lindy Muto had put in her letter over a year ago and the prosecutor agreed to withdraw the charge," he said.

"Why didn't they do that over a year ago?"

The aim of the proposed pro-bono team would be to encourage people to contest public transport fines.

"Maybe then the standover thing will stop happening," Mr Burnside said.