*/

The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has extended a marvellous Melbourne greeting to new train operator Metro Trains and new tram operator Keolis / Downer, but reminded the government that it still needs to do more to coordinate services and fix infrastructure problems on trams and trains.

“We hope both the new operators will do their best to provide Melbourne with a reliable public transport service, but we also know that many of the problems the network has fall squarely on the shoulders of the government.”

Mr Bowen said that if there was to be any tangible improvement on trains and trams, the government had to commit to, and deliver:

• centrally planned and managed services, with an independent passenger-focussed transport authority to ensure trains, trams and buses worked together as a cohesive network;
• duplicating single track bottlenecks on the rail network, which cause delays;
• upgrading signalling to allow trains to run more frequently and more reliably;
• genuine traffic light priority for trams (and buses) to ensure they moved more quickly through street intersections; and
• accelerating the sleeper replacement programme to reduce the incidents of track buckling during summer.

Read the rest of this article »

A new report by the Rapid Active & Affordable Transport Alliance (RAATA), Investing in sustainable transport: Our clean, green transport future, urges the Federal Government to catch up on years of neglect by investing two thirds of the transport budget in public and active transport measures.

Speaking today at the report launch in Canberra, ACF executive director Don Henry said public and active transport infrastructure has been neglected for too long and some money allocated to roads should be spent on public and active transport infrastructure.

“Climate change and peak oil are key challenges for Australia. Investment in public and active transport infrastructure will help make Australia more sustainable, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help wean us off our addiction to oil,” Mr Henry said.

“For the same amount of money currently being spent on roads, we can provide more transport services for more people.”
Read the rest of this article »

The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has condemned Vicroads for the lack of public consultation before releasing their concept plan for the Springvale Road Rail Separation Project. As the plan does not meet the basic design principles for a proper transport interchange, the PTUA has called for a complete redesign of the project.

“A railway station needs to be properly designed to serve the community, and should not be a costly, short-sighted inconvenience,” said Jeremy Lunn, the PTUA’s Outer East Convenor. “The designers and bureaucrats behind this project seem set on a less functional design.”
Read the rest of this article »

The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has criticised the inadequate weekend timetable for the 903 bus, stating that its lopsided frequency is resulting in overcrowding and confusion. To rectify the problem it has called for buses every 15 minutes between Mordialloc and Heidelberg.

“Here we have this bizarre arrangement where Saturday buses run at mixed intervals of 15 minutes and half an hour,” said PTUA Outer East Convenor Jeremy Lunn. “So you might have buses at 12:00pm, 12:15pm, 12:30pm, then not another bus until 1:00pm. Then it repeats all over creating long waiting times, confusion and overcrowding on this otherwise successful service.”
Read the rest of this article »

The PTUA submission to the Victorian upper house Select Committee on Train Services has been released.

PTUA submission (PDF, 449Kb)

Summary:

The present inquiry has been prompted by an ongoing and widespread pattern of failure in Victoria’s train services, culminating in the near-total shutdown of the metropolitan system in extreme heat conditions in late January 2009. In keeping with the terms of reference, this submission does not aim to catalogue the failures that have occurred in Victorian train services in recent years, but to analyse the underlying factors.
Read the rest of this article »