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Month: August 2011

  • Minister Mulder addresses PTUA members

    Last Thursday night Minister for Public Transport Terry Mulder attended a meeting of PTUA members. Mr Mulder’s address was followed by a lengthy question and answer session, covering issues such as Myki, bikes on trains, station facilities, Altona Loop timetables and the government’s planned Public Transport Development Authority. The Minister also discussed the new Melbourne…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Long exit queues at city stations

    Long queues to exit city stations are becoming more common in peak hours. This picture was taken at Flagstaff, and is a little more orderly than South Yarra. At both these locations and others, fare gates present a bottleneck, and it’s obvious more needs to be done to help passengers exit the stations quickly. Help…

  • Melbourne to get Google Transit eventually, but data to remain secret?

    The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has learnt that moves are underway to include Melbourne’s public transport timetables in Google Transit, but it seems there are no plans to release timetable data publicly. PTUA President Daniel Bowen said that Google Transit had timetable data for over four hundred cities around the world[1], including all services…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Some trains consistently run early

    Since the May timetable changes, some trains have been given too much slack in the timetable, and regularly either depart early or wait for up to two minutes at stations. It could be argued that some extra time was needed to make the timetables more reliable, but if the same train is consistently waiting for…

  • PT Problem of the Day: All-over advertising reduces visibility on trams and buses

    While it may make sense for public transport operators to use advertising to earn more money (which, hopefully, funds extra services), buses and trams often have this type of all-over advertising, which limits visibility. Even with some sections left unblocked, passengers find that, particularly at night, it becomes difficult to see where they are and…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Platform information unreliable

    Realtime information is important, particularly at busy stations such as those in the CBD. It’s also very important at major interchanges, where people need to know which platform to change to, and whether they’re getting on the right service. Last week may have brought good news with Metro improving punctuality, but there were also repeated…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Speed restrictions slow trams to as little as 15 km/h

    It’s not just a lack of traffic priority that slows down trams. Poor track conditions like here on St Kilda Road result in speed restrictions. While cars are able to whizz by at 60 km/h, trams are meant to slow to a mere 15 km/h. This affects some 7 tram routes, and thousands of passengers…