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Month: March 2012

  • PT Problem of the Day: Replacement #MetroTrains buses stop a kilometre from the station

    As publicised last week, a blitz of maintenance is happening on the rail network in coming months, meaning many weekend shutdowns and replacement bus services. Regular commuter Terry sent us this picture: the replacement buses stop a kilometre from Officer station. Admittedly there’s not much around Officer station – many people might find the stop…

  • PT Problem of the Day: “#Myki users urged to swipe, not touch or wave” – WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

    On Thursday the Transport Ticketing Authority issued a media release with some good advice for new users of Myki: “touch, don’t swipe, touch, don’t wave, touch don’t rub, touch, don’t tap”. The Myki web site, however, managed to turn this message backwards, highlighting on the home page the completely wrong advice to “swipe, not touch…

  • Support Doncaster rail – attend a community workshop

    The Victorian government is undertaking a study to provide a train service between Doncaster and the Melbourne CBD. The PTUA strongly supports a rail service to Doncaster as a vital link in Melbourne’s public transport network. We encourage you to attend one of the community workshops organised by the Doncaster Rail Study Team. The purpose…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Whose bright idea was it to shut the Sydenham line on Grand Prix weekend?

    Next weekend, the Grand Prix weekend is one of the train network’s busiest. No wonder, as big public events are what public transport does best, and organisers quite rightly encourage people not to drive. Apart from efficiently moving crowds, it’s also a chance to show off the system to occasional users who (if they have…

  • Badly advised

    THE idea that the Rowville line can’t be built without a $5 billion metro tunnel is nonsense (”Monash Uni train line plan derailed”, The Age, 9/3). The line was included in the 1969 transport plan, which gave us the City Loop, but did not say an extra tunnel from South Yarra was required: only some…

  • Metro’s trains every ten minutes welcomed – more please!

    Trains every ten minutes on weekends on the Dandenong, Ringwood and Frankston lines have been welcomed by the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA). PTUA President Daniel Bowen said the proposed services, due to start in late-April[1], would be a good step towards more frequent train services, seven days-a-week, that would encourage people out of cars.

  • Fares rising at almost double rate of inflation – Monthly fare cuts could ease myki pain

    Public transport fares have risen at double the rate of inflation, a study of fares over the last twenty years by the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has shown. PTUA President Daniel Bowen said that the Consumer Price Index was 66.7% over the last two decades[1], but that many fares had jumped by about 120%.…

  • PT Problem of the Day: #MetroTrains unique in Australia: no internal carriage numbers

    What have the train carriages in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney, as well as Melbourne’s trams all got, that Melbourne’s trains don’t? Internal carriage numbers. On suburban trains in every other state in Australia, the carriage numbers are marked on the inside, which makes it easier for passengers to report issues such as vandalism, faults…