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In yesterday’s Herald Sun we said that low-income full-time post-graduate students are unable to get concession public transport fares. This is incorrect. Recent rule changes mean that anyone eligible for a Centrelink Healthcare Card (including Low Income Health Care Cards) can now get concession fares.

THE RACV wants us to believe that while WestLink may not be economically viable on its own, the full east-west freeway link would be (”Freeway not worth the cost: report”, The Age, 21/5). But it is not so: the Eddington study in 2008 found that the full East-West freeway had a benefit-cost ratio of just 0.5.

No amount of phoney ”benefits” and goalpost-shifting was able to generate a payoff to match the enormous cost of building the thing.
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A study by the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has highlighted the poor co-ordination between train and bus timetables on many routes around Melbourne.

It found that just 37.5% of train arrivals have bus connections at stations — 39.8% on weekdays, 32.3% on Saturdays, and just 25.3% on Sundays.

Of those connections, 42.5% require passengers to wait more than 10 minutes — 39.7% on weekdays, 56.7% on Saturdays, and 58.6% on Sundays.

The average connection time is 11.2 minutes — 10.3 on weekdays, 12.6 on Saturdays, and 14 minutes on Sundays when fewer buses run.

“Good connections are vital for public transport, because many trips simply can’t be made using a single service”, said PTUA President Daniel Bowen. “To make connections quick and easy, the network either has to have careful timetable co-ordination, or have frequent services. But most of Melbourne’s public transport has neither.”
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The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has welcomed rail and tram spending in the State Budget, but expressed disappointment at the lack of upgrades to bus services.

“The total amount being spent on public transport certainly sounds impressive, but most of that is a re-announcement of the $4.3 billion Regional Rail Link project, largely funded by the Federal government last year”, PTUA President Daniel Bowen said.

“Staffing more stations is definitely a step forward, and will assist with customer service and security, especially after dark when stations can be quite intimidating places. But around half of all stations will continue to have no fulltime staff presence.
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