New Train Timetable Frees up ‘Nonexistent’ Capacity
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N e w s Public Transport Users Association www.ptua.org.au ISSN 0817–0347 Volume 34 No. 2 May 2010 New train timetable frees up ‘nonexistent’ capacity Next month, train operator Metro releases a new western suburbs, as was normal prior to 1993. Much of the timetable for Melbourne’s trains. The real importance resulting inconvenience could have been avoided by a more of this won’t be seen for a while yet—at any rate, not thorough reworking of the timetable, taking in all lines. until more new trains arrive. But with this timetable, But this highlights the other impediment to boosting peak the operator has ‘found’ a lot of space to run additional hour trains: that the trains aren’t there to run, thanks to poor peak hour trains, that the government and Connex two planning. The addition of new trains to the system still goes years ago were saying didn’t exist. on at an agonisingly slow pace, which means the benefits of In 2008, Sir Rod Eddington’s Investing in Transport report timetable revisions aren’t being seen quickly enough. We called for $8 billion of expenditure on a rail tunnel linking are still suffering from awful decisions taken 10 years ago— Footscray and Caulfield. Astoundingly, it made this recom- starting with the one to privatise the rail network. mendation despite forecasting no overall increase in mode =) share for public transport between 2008 and 2031. The tun- The fine print Page5 nel was needed, apparently, because the inner-city rail net- Performance woes =) Page4 work would soon reach the limit of its ability to handle even modest growth in peak-hour patronage. Eddington came to this conclusion by relying on advice from the State Government. Consultants to the Eddington study, meanwhile, had pointed out that there were many opportu- nities to release wasted capacity in the core network. Pos- sible measures included running a mix of Loop and direct services, simplifying stopping patterns, and making driver changeovers more efficient. These contrary views were echoed by former PTC executive Ed Dotson, in evidence to last year’s Parliamentary inquiry into train services. A new rail tunnel makes sense, Dotson said, but probably only after 2030, once all that spare capacity is used up. In this issue The 2010 train timetable represents the first big step toward taking the consultants’ advice. Initial changes have focussed Train capacity found................. 1 on the Caulfield group, which serves a major growth corri- Keeping in touch................... 2 dor. The result is that in the busiest hour of the morning peak Meet Metro CEO: 1 July............... 2 there will be 12 trains on the Frankston line and 15 on the Train-bus connections study............. 2 Dandenong line: a 35% increase since 2005 when it was first PTUA at GAMUT Forum............... 3 claimed the system was ‘at capacity’. Simplified operating Rail to Mornington.................. 3 patterns also promote greater reliability, so we will be ex- Myki still AWOL................... 3 pecting fewer delays and hence less crowding (which often State budget...................... 4 results simply from uneven arrival patterns). Metro's performance................. 4 New timetable: the fine print............ 5 Unfortunately, the focus on one group of lines has resulted Geelong Branch.................... 5 in some drawbacks. Frankston express trains will run direct Letter to the Editor: Swanston St.......... 6 to Flinders Street and not via the Loop, and we are not yet 902 SmartBus..................... 7 promised any cross-city linkages to Southern Cross and the In brief......................... 7 PTUA News—May 2010—Page 1 Keeping in touch: Committee Member Meetings Melbourne PTUA Office Daniel Bowen—President Tony Morton—Secretary Thursday 1 July, 6pm Ross House Kerryn Wilmot—Treasurer Ross House 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne Michael Galea 247 Flinders Lane, City Telephone (03) 9650 7898 Myles Green More details: see below Email: [email protected] Ian Hundley Eastern Suburbs Membership Enquiries Mark Johnson Third Tuesday of every month, 7pm Call or email the office (see above). Jason King ‘The Barn’ (behind Box Hill Baptist Commuter Club Tim Long Church) PTUA members can obtain cheap Rob Meredith 3 Ellingworth Parade (off Station St) yearly Metcards. See www.ptua. Tim Petersen Box Hill org.au/members/offers. David Robertson Geelong Vaughan Williams Internet First Saturday of every month (except Our website is at www.ptua.org.au. Branch convenors Jan), 10:30am The PTUA runs email lists for mem- Paul Westcott—Geelong Multimedia Room ber discussions, and to stay up to date Jeremy Lunn—Eastern Suburbs Courthouse Youth Arts Centre with PTUA events. Members can Contact Corner Gheringhap and Little Malop also view archived newsletters online. All committee members can be Streets, Geelong See: www.ptua.org.au/members/ emailed using the format firstname. resources. [email protected]. Meet Metro Trains CEO Andrew Lezala: 1 July The next PTUA Members’ Meeting will bership at this meeting, and to take take place on Thursday 1 July at 6pm at questions from members. He will dis- Ross House. cuss the changes Metro is making to the Metro Trains’ chief executive, Andrew suburban train system, in particular the Lezala, has agreed to address the mem- new train timetables. PTUA's train-bus connections study It’s no great secret that Melbourne’s The average connection time is 11.2 As part of our Every 10 Minutes to buses aren’t very well coordinated to minutes: 10.3 on weekdays, 12.6 on Everywhere campaign, the PTUA has the trains, but a new PTUA study has Saturdays, and 14 minutes on Sundays called for frequent services every 10 proven it. when fewer buses run. minutes or better on train, tram and main bus routes, seven days a week un- Analysis of train arrival times and bus The best connections were the Train- til late. departure times (taken from Metlink Link buses in Epping and Cranbourne, We’re also continuing to call for a data released by the government as part with other frequent routes (including shake-up of the management of public of its ‘App My State’ initiative) has SmartBuses) also performing well. transport, to ensure that bus routes (par- found that just 37.5% of train arrivals ticularly minor infrequent routes) are have bus connections at stations: 39.8% Good connections are vital for pub- co-ordinated with train times to ensure on weekdays, 32.3% on Saturdays, and lic transport, because many trips sim- quick and easy connections. just 25.3% on Sundays. ply can’t be made using a single ser- vice. To make connections quick and See all the details of the study, and look Of those connections, 42.5% require easy, the network either has to have up the connections at your local station passengers to wait more than 10 min- careful timetable coordination, or have or on your bus route: utes: 39.7% on weekdays, 56.7% on frequent services. But most of Mel- =) www.ptua.org.au/2010/05/ Saturdays, and 58.6% on Sundays. bourne’s public transport has neither. 09/train-bus-connections PTUA News—May 2010—Page 2 Transport disadvantage in outer Melbourne given airing at Mornington forum Transport disadvantage and social ex- days. The forum was told the 788 is port greenhouse gas emissions are rel- clusion in Melbourne’s outer suburbs often overcrowded to the point where atively high internationally. There was under the spotlight at a forum held would-be patrons have been unable to was discussion of the urgent need for in Mornington on 11 May. The fo- board. more effective development and in- rum heard speakers from PTUA, the Bizarrely, funding for new bus services vestment in public transport to halt ur- Bus Association, Monash Sustainabil- across Melbourne under the $38 bil- ban sprawl and protect Melbourne’s ity Institute, Melbourne Transport Fo- lion Victorian Transport Plan is drying green wedges. rum, Department of Transport and the up just as population pressures build A second forum is expected to be held Planning Institute. in outer Melbourne. This is a major in Whittlesea in late July. Both have Several PTUA members from concern because car dependency is es- been organised by the GAMUT centre Frankston and the Peninsula attended pecially high in outer suburbs and ru- at Melbourne University in collabora- and made their voices heard. Concern inously expensive for household bud- tion with local councils. PTUA mem- about the poor quality of local bus gets. Lack of transport is a major cause bers are encouraged to attend and be services was palpable, with strong crit- of social isolation and seriously limits heard. icism of the 788 Portsea service in par- access to employment. The presentations made by speakers at ticular. This is one of the most highly Speakers also highlighted high per both forums, together with ideas for re- patronised services in Melbourne, yet capita use of motor vehicles as a form put forward by participants, will only runs every 45 minutes on week- major reason why Australia’s trans- be published on the GAMUT website. Mornington electrification on the agenda? The Frankston Independent on 11 May Moorooduc. This contrasts with pre- University campus near the old station reported that “the state Department of vious examples of poor planning, such at Leawarra, and the ongoing develop- Transport has a long-term plan to elec- as the failure to grade separate the ment of housing in the Baxter region. trify the rail line between Frankston and Burke Road level crossing in Glen Iris Baxter and eventually the spur line to when the parallel Monash Freeway was The former rail reservation into the cen- Mornington.” bridged in the mid-1990s.