V/Line price cap will make Victorian public transport cheaper from March 31

This means a full-fare daily ticket will cost just $9.20 - matching metro Melbourne prices.

According to the Victorian government, hundreds of thousands of passengers will benefit from cheaper prices, with commuters in some areas set to save more than $40 per trip.

The cap will apply to all PTV regional buses, town buses and V/Line trains and coaches, as well as interstate travel within 60 kilometres of the Victorian border.

Bendigo manager for tourism and major events Terry Karamaloudis said the move would make a "tremendous difference" for encouraging visitors to the area.

Mr Karamaloudis said survey data showed about half the population of Melbourne have never travelled to regional Victoria.

There are a number of reasons why this might be, but according to Mr Karamaloudis a likely reason was affordability.

Because of this, he is anticipating the move will trigger more tourists to visit greater Bendigo.

"The fee reduction is music to our ears," he said.

"The rail option ... is going to make it a whole lot more attractive, because it's now going to be a lot more affordable for I'm sure tens, if not hundreds of thousands of people."

Over the next 12 months, there will be several big events in Bendigo to entice visitors to the city.

These include exhibitions at the Bendigo easter festival, performances by the Melbourne Opera company and packed programs at the Capital and Ulumbarra theatres.

This is in addition to other permanent attractions, such as the Bendigo Art Gallery, the largest buddhist temple in the western world and Australia's oldest working pottery.

Mr Karamaloudis said he hopes people in Melbourne will take advantage of the cheaper public transport prices, and spend more money in the region while they are saving on travel.

But as a Bendigo resident, and father of two, Mr Karamaloudis can also attest to how much of a relief the price cap will be from a personal perspective.

For the family of four to travel to Melbourne, it would cost them over $100 in return tickets, a serious expense for anyone regardless of income.

"As a result, we rarely if ever took the train," he said.

"I think I would be speaking for a significant number of regional Victorians in saying this is a very positive and very welcome move by the Andrews state government."

Another person welcoming the change is Ballarat Provincial Hotel owner Simon Coghlan.

The establishment, which offers dining and accommodation, and sits almost directly opposite Ballarat station is in the ideal location to profit from increased travellers.

Mr Coghlan said the change would help them in recovering from COVID-19 lockdowns, after experiencing lighter numbers post pandemic.

"It'll make people rethink how they come up to the country, or to regional areas absolutely," he said.

"It's really positive, and we're going to be very interested to see if there's a noticeable uptake in it."

While the business sector and commuters are celebrating the changes, there are some concerns about the system's capacity to keep up with increased passengers.

Public Transport Users Associaiton regional spokesperson Paul Westcott said they were expecting V/Line patronage to "rise considerably."

But while increased usage and cheaper fares are positive, there are fears it will lead to overcrowding on services.

The PTUA is concerned the government hasn't made any announcement about increasing services or carrying capacity to accommodate the rise in passengers.

Mr Westcott said while many commuter trains aren't at peak levels, they were seeing many services, particularly on weekends, that were overflowing.

This has sparked fears among the PTUA, people attracted to the cheaper fares will soon be deterred from V/Line services if they can't get onto the train, or find them uncomfortably overcrowded.

Mr Westcott said it was particularly important to have seating options on regional services, as passengers could be travelling for hours at a time.

"We're really pleased about the fare cuts, somewhat amazed they're so considerable," he said.

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"But the concern is, how's the system going to cope? Time will tell of course, but it's hard to believe it's just going to sort itself out without extra services, or without extra capacity on existing services."

In a statement, the Victorian government said they have added an extra 800 V/Line services since 2014, and there will be almost 200 extra weekend V/Line services introduced from 2024.