N e w s Public Transport Users Association www.ptua.org.au ISSN 0817–0347 Volume 36 No. 3 July 2012 Metro's stop skip shenanigans A loophole in Metro’s contract allows the operator Under its contract with the government, Metro can tem- to avoid fines by skipping stations with barely any porarily alter its timetable (such as to convert stopping warning, with passengers the losers. This perverse services to express) whenever it judges this is necessary behaviour occurs only because we have a privatised due to an ‘incident’ or ‘external disruption’: in practice, system lacking proper oversight by PTV. anything which can cause a train to be late. And while In April, passengers were introduced to a new way of a service is treated as a part-cancellation if it bypasses running Melbourne trains. Upon arriving at a station, the City Loop or the Altona Loop, it does not count if passengers would be told the train will skip its remain- it merely fails to stop at stations other than these; and if ing stops and run express to its destination. Passengers the train then arrives at its destination on time or early, needing intermediate stations would be left at the plat- it will tick all the boxes for good performance. form to wait for the next service. Those at the skipped This is a textbook example of a private operator ‘gam- stations found their train effectively cancelled. ing’ the rules of a privatised system, in order to legally As the Herald Sun reported on 19 April (after being profit at public expense. The public interest in this case tipped off by the PTUA), Metro admitted to introduc- is represented by Public Transport Victoria, to which ing the practice after failing to meet punctuality targets Metro is supposed to be answerable but which is prov- in February and March. A driver on a late train would be ing to be a deep disappointment. As Metro’s operation instructed by controllers to offload passengers and run comes more and more to resemble the famous Yes Min- express to the final destination. Metro claims this prac- ister hospital with no patients (yet undeniably clean and tice is aimed at the greater good, but of course there is a efficient), PTV must prove its worth, or be exposed as commercial benefit: Metro is fined when trains run late, another sham initiative of the political spin machine. and receives bonuses when they run on time. PTV a rebranding exercise? =) Page4 Subsequently, Metro has taken the practice to ludicrous Clifton Hill not so Metro =) Page6 extremes: even before they depart, trains are being al- tered to stop at only a handful of stations en route (see photo). In many cases, including that shown, Metro In this issue could have avoided knock-on delays without inconve- Metro ‘games’ the system.............. 1 nience to passengers, simply by recalling trains that Keeping in touch................... 2 were on their way to stabling. But that would not avoid PTUA Activities in Autumn 2012.......... 2 the hit to its punctuality statistics. Farewell to Kerryn Wilmot............. 2 CIty of Yarra campaign................ 3 5000 sign up for Mernda rail............. 3 Myki progress and pain................ 3 Members' meeting: Felipe Carvajal......... 3 Driven around the bend: bus directness...... 4 PTV update: it looks like status quo......... 4 Greg Barber vs. State of Victoria.......... 5 Redspots and greenwash: RACV's push polling... 5 Geelong Branch.................... 6 Clifton Hill line not so Metro............ 6 More fare hikes not way to price carbon...... 7 Vancouver's network maps............. 7 PTUA News—July 2012—Page 1 Keeping in touch: Committee Member Meetings Daniel Bowen—President Melbourne PTUA Office Tony Morton—Secretary Thursday 23 August Ross House Malcolm Simister—Treasurer Ground Floor, Ross House 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne Matthew Ferrantino 247 Flinders Lane, City Telephone (03) 9650 7898 Michael Galea More details: see opposite Email: [email protected] Tim Hoffmann Eastern Suburbs Membership Enquiries Ian Hundley Third Tuesday of every month, 7pm Call or email the office (see above). Terry Konstandelis ‘The Barn’ (behind Box Hill Baptist Tim Long Church) Commuter Club Tim Petersen PTUA members can obtain cheap 3 Ellingworth Parade (off Station St) Charles Pick Box Hill yearly Myki Passes. See www.ptua. David Robertson org.au/members/offers. Geelong Branch convenors Internet First Saturday of every month (except Paul Westcott—Geelong Jan), 10:30am Our website is at www.ptua.org.au. Jeremy Lunn—Eastern Suburbs The PTUA runs email lists for mem- Multimedia Room ber discussions, and to stay up to date 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]. PTUA Activities in congestion in Victoria. This follows on from last year’s audit of the man- Farewell to Autumn 2012 agement of major road projects, which Kerryn Wilmot found that agencies risked overstating Station User Panel wound up: Long-time PTUA campaigner Ker- Useability principles published their benefits, and did not adequately test their costing assumptions. ryn Wilmot has recently relocated The Station User Panel was wound up to Sydney, and as a result has re- in March after agreeing the Railway The PTUA prepared a briefing paper, signed as the PTUA’s Treasurer. Station Useability Principles and advis- and met with VAGO staff in early June. Kerryn served as Treasurer of the ing about community engagement for Our key message is that of transport PTUA for the last six years after join- future railway station developments. planner J.M. Thomson in his classic ing the committee in 2005, and has 1977 book Great Cities and Their Traf- been instrumental in many of the ac- The Principles are now published fic. Congestion is a mere byproduct of and available online at http://www. tivities of the organisation. latent demand for private car travel that Apart from coordinating our office transport.vic.gov.au/projects/ is virtually limitless, and can therefore transport-strategies-and-plans/ volunteers, Kerryn has managed the respond to increased road supply indef- Commuter Club programme—which planning/station-user-panel. initely. The level of congestion will ac- The Principles are intended to inform has been very successful at attracting cordingly depend not on the supply of new members—and our presence at the planning, design and operation of road space, but rather on the quality of railway stations and are directed at the the Sustainable Living Festival. the alternatives, and how well they com- Kerryn’s contribution will be greatly project teams involved. They are not pete with car travel. available to the public in hard copy. missed, and we wish her well. Our thanks go to PTUA committee The Panel was advised that the Princi- member Malcolm Simister who has ples were recommended to PTV in the stepped in as Treasurer for the time handover from DoT, but it is not known being. However, now would be a whether they have been adopted. great time for any members who are willing and able, to get more in- PTUA meets Auditor-General volved in the organisation. If you on traffic congestion can help, please contact the office: The Victorian Auditor-General’s Office [email protected] is commencing an inquiry into traffic PTUA News—July 2012—Page 2 City of Yarra gets behind Doncaster rail, no East West road Yarra City Council has embarked on likely to be the cheapest and most effec- based initiatives since the early 2000s. a $100,000 campaign to support rail tive option (see our April issue). PTUA members Tony Morton and John to Doncaster and oppose the Baillieu McPherson are participating in the Government’s (and now Tony Ab- The council is to be congratulated steering committee for the campaign. bott’s) east-west motorway. for embracing the campaign plan after Watch PTUA News for regular updates. strong action from the local commu- Council has formally declared its sup- nity. The PTUA has long understood http://www.yarracity.vic.gov. port for Doncaster ‘Option 1’ via the that council support can be decisive in au/Parking-roads-and-transport/ Eastern Freeway median. This route political decisions on transport projects, Sustainable-transport/ has long had community support, and is and has campaigned for such council- trains-not-tollroads 5000 residents sign up for Mernda rail After months of dedicated work paign effort in 2006, when the Alliance to enact a policy to extend the railway by volunteers, local businesses and raised 3600 signatures supporting the to Mernda immediately, should they residents, the South Morang and original extension to South Morang. be elected in 2014. It is also hoped Mernda Rail Alliance (SMMRA) has Labor MP for Yan Yean Danielle the Baillieu Government pays heed to raised 5185 signatures supporting a Green submitted the petition to Parlia- the massive support and throws its own rail extension from South Morang to ment on 21 June. weight behind the extension, which Mernda. The Alliance hopes this petition will would follow the still-extant Whittle- This mirrors an earlier successful cam- provide the ammunition for the ALP sea rail reserve. Myki progress, pain The removal of ticket machines from with Darebin City Council. In his for- trams will cause further issues, with no mer role at the National Planning De- The Myki rollout rolls on. By mid- top-up or ticket purchase option pro- partment, he played a key part in one of June all Metcard machines at sub- vided on board.