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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 tram prototype design, and revealed that it is planned to display the prototype at this year’s Royal Show.

PTUA members who missed the meeting will find a summary of the meeting in the next newsletter.

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.

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More about PT Problem Of The Day, including how you can contribute your photos.

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 in Perth and Adelaide, making public transport trips easier to plan. Part of the popular Google Maps service, Google Transit provides trip-planning capabilities, and many PTUA members have remarked that it is easier to use than Melbourne’s official Metlink journey planner, including on portable devices such as smartphones.

“Years after we suggested that Melbourne be added, we’ve now learnt that the Department of Transport has met with Google and it’s underway. At last, it seems it will – eventually – happen”, said Mr Bowen. “When it finally arrives, it will be a big plus to passengers.”

But Mr Bowen said that public transport timetable data should be made freely available for other software developers to use.
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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 the timetable to catch up, it seems it’s gone too far.

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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 which stop is next, particularly when the tram or train is crowded.

Help our campaign for better public transport. Join the PTUA now. We rely entirely on member funding and enthusiastic volunteers to operate.

More about PT Problem Of The Day, including how you can contribute your photos.

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 problems with screens at some of Melbourne’s busiest stations, including Richmond, Flagstaff (pictured), Southern Cross and Flinders Street.

Some screens were periodically blinking off, some were updating so slowly they displayed the previous train instead of the one arriving, and some were not working at all, blank for extended periods.

Are you unhappy with public transport? Use our online tool to write to your local MP and demand action.

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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 every day, and there are similar speed restrictions right across Melbourne.

Is it too much to ask that Melbourne’s iconic tram network gets the investment it needs so that these speeds can be lifted?

Are you unhappy with public transport? Use our online tool to write to your local MP and demand action.

More about PT Problem Of The Day, including how you can contribute your photos.