Public transport - mode of choice

The Public Transport Users Association rejects the proposition that public transport is a last-resort option for central city commuters, school children and old-age pensioners. Rather, for the sake of the liveability of our cities, we believe that public transport must provide a genuine alternative to car travel for everybody. This means that service quality must compete with the car on fundamental measures like speed and convenience. It is only by doing this that public transport can seriously hope to attract “choice” passengers - that is, those with an alternative. These choice passengers bring the revenue and the impetus for the service improvements that benefit everybody, and reduce public transport’s drain on the public purse. Persuading passengers with a choice to choose public transport, and realising its social, economic and environmental benefits, is the challenge facing our decision makers today.

Time is of the essence

People will not use public transport unless it offers door-to-door travel times that are competitive with those offered by the car. Total journey time on public transport has two major components: waiting time and travelling time. Both can, and must, be reduced if public transport is to succeed.

Shorter waiting times

The reduction of waiting time requires better service frequencies. In Toronto, a city similar in many ways to Melbourne, trains, trams and most buses operate every six minutes or better from 6 a.m. until well after midnight, 365 days a year. Most rail and bus services in Melbourne should run at least every ten minutes, and most tram services every five minutes or better.

High frequencies must be supported by high reliability, so the waiting times shown on the timetables actually match the real ones.

Service coordination, which is almost nonexistent at present, must be dramatically upgraded. Every train should be met by a connecting bus at interchange stations, with passengers able to change vehicles under cover, adjacent to the station platform.

Some sections of the Melbourne train network still have single track, which acts as a bottleneck preventing more frequent services. These sections should be duplicated to allow services to improve. In other cases, signalling improvements and timetable reviews would allow more trains to operate on existing track.

Shorter travelling times

The average speed of public transport vehicles must be increased. Melbourne’s rail services are the slowest in Australia, with many speeds unchanged since the days of the “red rattler”. Full use of current technology would raise speeds by 20%. Trams and buses must receive real priority over other traffic, through an effective and enforced “fairway” system and absolute preference at traffic signals. Peak period running times can be reduced 20-50% by these means. A revision of express services could also lead to reduced travel times to outer suburbs, but this must not be at the expense of services to the intermediate stations. For more details on our proposed express running patterns, see our policy document ‘Time to Move‘.

Improved customer service

Public transport must offer a safe, clean and friendly travelling environment. This requires roving train staff and tram conductors, whose first priorities are passengers’ welfare, along with staff at every station from first to last train. This would improve customer service, reduce fare evasion, decrease vandalism and improve passenger safety. Public transport employees must be trained to treat passengers like valued customers, instead of potential criminals.

Stations and tram and bus stops must be made clean, safe and comfortable, with timetable and route information available. Where it can be provided in a cost-effective manner, accurate real time information should be available at major interchanges, as well as off-system.

Fair fares

Public transport fares must be set at an economic level competitive with the car, so that prospective passengers are not chased away by the cost. We must also be mindful of the many disadvantaged people in our society who rely on affordable public transport. Our detailed policy on fares can be found in our Fares Policy.

Where do we start?

Naturally, it is not possible to do everything at once. We propose starting with some “demonstration projects” for service improvements carried out with the cooperation of the PTUA, operators, Vicroads, local councils and community groups.

One such project with a positive outcome occurred on the Sandringham rail line in 1992. Here, a modest increase in off-peak train frequencies (achieved without any increase in the number of train crews) led to an increase in patronage by 38% over just a few months. The additional revenue collected was more than covering the small additional expense of the new services.

Sunday upgrades to trams and trains in 1999, some of which doubled service frequencies, have resulted in patronage boosts that now cause overcrowding on some lines.

As public support for improved services grows, and the benefits become clear, the remainder of the system can be brought up to the same standards.

Updated: March 2007