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The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has warned that expansion of the Chadstone Shopping Centre will lead to greater mayhem on roads and buses around the centre if high quality public transport is not provided.

PTUA President Daniel Bowen said that the expansion should not take place unless it was accompanied by an overhaul of public transport in the area: a railway connection, an extension of the number 3 tram route and major upgrades to bus services.

“The car parks at Chadstone are already unable to cope with the volumes of visitors, and nearby roads are regularly gridlocked”, said Mr Bowen. “If public transport services remain as they are today, it would be a disaster to upgrade the shopping centre.
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The Public Transport Users Association has described as “pure spin” Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder’s excuse for regional trains not stopping at North Melbourne station under the Regional Rail Link (RRL)

“The minister is trying to dress up a downgrade as an improvement,” PTUA regional spokesperson Paul Westcott said.

Mr Mulder has said that continuing to allow V/Line passengers to use North Melbourne would “add to congestion” at the station, yet it was recently rebuilt at a cost of $30 million to increase its capacity.

“It’s nonsense to claim that regional trains will suffer delays from congestion by stopping at North Melbourne because they will now all stop at Footscray instead,” Mr Westcott said.
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Route bus services along Point Nepean Road face collapse over the Christmas/New Year period as thousands of revellers descend upon bayside holiday spots.

“What is supposed to be a relaxing family time of the year is likely to be reduced to bedlam as visitors try to cram on to infrequent bus services, while the road network and car parks overflow,” said Public Transport Users Association spokesman Jeremy Lunn.
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The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has found in a comparison study that — measured by first train time — Melbourne has some of the worst Sunday morning train services in Australia.

“Our trains start too late, and are too infrequent on Sundays”, said PTUA President Daniel Bowen.

The PTUA compared train timetables from across the country and found that Melbourne’s earliest trains into the CBD arrive later than anywhere else in Australia except Adelaide.

Median first arrival times are Sydney 5:11am, Brisbane 6:48am, Perth 7:39am, Adelaide 8:38am and Melbourne 7:56am.[1]

“First trains arriving around 8am into Melbourne’s CBD causes a lot of problems for those working on Sunday, particularly shift workers and those in the hospitality industry, many of whom need to start work earlier.

“The train system waking up at 8am might have made sense in the 1950s, but it doesn’t in 2011.”
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Boroondara is fencing in tram passengers, delaying trams and resulting in greater road congestion according to the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA). Pedestrian fencing exists at a number of tram stops in the City of Boroondara, including the intersection of Glenferrie and Riversdale roads, Hawthorn and is making it difficult for passengers to board and alight from trams.

“These ugly fences do nothing to enhance safety, instead putting pedestrians, cyclists and tram passengers in greater danger,” said PTUA eastern spokesman Jeremy Lunn. “They are an inconvenience to pedestrians and tram passengers, while often delaying trams and cars as passengers queue up single file to squeeze through the narrow gaps.”
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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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The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has welcomed an end to the uncertainty over Myki, but criticised the dumping of single-use tickets for new and occasional public transport users.

“Finally, there is an answer – Myki will be staying”, said PTUA President Daniel Bowen. “But the apparent move to run the system only with reusable Myki cards, with no single-use tickets available, means a significant barrier to people who do not regularly use public transport – the very people we need to entice out of their cars.”

The state government’s plan is to remove vending machines from trams, and will be “eliminating to the extent possible the introduction of disposable short-term cards” [1]. Mr Bowen said this would mean that no single use tickets at all would be available once Metcard is scrapped.
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The Public Transport Users Association has called on the Gillard Labor Government to ensure public transport users are not penalised relative to motorists under a future carbon price.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard stated on Sunday that motorists’ fuel purchases would be excluded from a carbon price in perpetuity.

However, the government has not made any guarantees about the effect on public transport costs. If electricity and fuel for trains, buses and trams is subject to a carbon price, as seems likely, public transport operators and authorities may be forced to pass the cost on to passengers through increased fares.
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The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has called on the Public Transport Minister Terry Mulder to clarify the position regarding Myki short-term tickets.

PTUA Regional Spokesman Paul Westcott said yesterday’s announcement about Myki had created uncertainty for regional bus users in areas using Myki, including Geelong, Ballarat and Bendigo.

“Over sixty percent of bus travellers are using short-term tickets[1], yet Mr Mulder says that they are going to be eliminated ‘to the extent possible’. That threatens to create a huge problem for bus passengers and is likely to be a disincentive for people to use public transport.”
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The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has criticised as short-sighted plans by the Department of Transport to terminate route 8 trams at Kooyong.

“The objective should be to extend the number 8 tram east to Hartwell where it would connect with several other tram, train and bus routes,” said PTUA eastern spokesman Jeremy Lunn. “Kooyong is in the wrong direction as it should be going further east.”
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