Are the trains getting less crowded?
Here’s the good news: the October 2010 Metro Load Standards Survey (released to the Greens under FOI) shows that overcrowding has dropped markedly.
Measured in terms of (deep breath) Rolling Hour Average Loads Above Desired Standards, the number of breaches has dropped from 38 in October 2007 to 6 in October 2010.
Part of this has been through putting on more frequent services, particularly at peak times, which is now possible given the train fleet is now expanding (about half of the order for 38 trains is now in service), and maintenance practices have changed which means there are more trains available. Other crowding has been fixed by running six-car trains at off-peak times where before they ran three-car trains.
Why has this happened? Because after years, decades of neglect, there’s finally investment in the rail network. An order for 10 trains in 2007 was expanded to 18, then to 38, and now to 45. Why? I think a key reason is political pressure brought about by extreme embarrassment from prolonged media coverage.
Remaining load breaches
Of course, despite the progress, there’s still bad crowding at times. The surveys try to filter out the problems due to cancellations and excessive late-running (which is fair enough — the data is being gathered specifically to plan new timetables, not just to count sardines). As The Age noted, a number of trains had loads in excess of 1000 (the “target” is 798). The most crowded train was the 8:08am from Sandringham to the city, with a very squishy 1017 people aboard, and second was the 5:14pm from the City to Werribee, with 1007.
The major problems remaining in peak are on the Epping and Hurstbridge lines. They got no extra services in the May timetable change, but should get some when a re-write of their timetables happens late this year or early next to coincide with the opening of the South Morang extension.
Off-peak problems were on the Craigieburn and Werribee lines. I’ve checked the detail and in both cases they were in the evenings, when short trains were running. That should be fixed by the May change to run long trains after evening peak.
And even once the crowding is fixed, they’ve got to stay on top of it by ensuring the system is reliable (keeping cancellations and delays down) and continues to expand to meet demand.
Other problems
Crowding is only one problem on the network of course. Door-to-door travel time (and competitiveness with the car) is another key one which has to be addressed, and encompasses frequency (still substandard at most times on most lines), interchange times, and of course the quality of connecting bus and tram services, which in most areas, are in dire need of attention.
Tags: Metro, public transport, trains
8 comments
Quest for the ultimate umbrella
Thankfully my umbrella was not in as bad a state as this one, but it was in need of replacement.
And of course via procrastination it was only on Thursday, when it had been raining, that I got motivated enough to go out and look. This is in part because I’m a terrible shopper. Or rather, I’m a terrible buyer.
But I decided I wanted to find out if there was some marvellous mega-brolly to be had. The perfect model for a PT user in a sometimes-rainy city. Something astoundingly compact, light, strong, and yet providing lots of cover… without being one of those stupidly large golfing umbrellas.
I was prepared to spend a reasonable amount on it, too, because I don’t think I’ve ever actually lost an umbrella.
Having spent a lunchtime looking around some CBD chemists, David Jones and Myer, I concluded that one could spend up to $200 on an umbrella, and there were plenty around the $60-70 mark, but it was not clear how or why they were any better than the $20-30 ones. For one thing, they were almost all the same brand (Clifton or Shelta) and none of them seemed to have a frame warranty longer than a year.
In fact the only thing that appeared to differ was how impressive the handle looked.
It left me a tad bewildered and I came away from my shopping trip empty-handed.
The next day I did some more looking and eventually I settled for a Shelta umbrella from a travel shop. At $38 it’s probably a bit extravagant, but I went for it because it claimed to be of a strong but light material, and did indeed seem lighter than the others, so good for carrying around in the glorified lunchbox that is my brief case. And, well, because by that point I was sick of shopping and just wanted something.
It’s probably not the ultimate in umbrellas. Maybe that’s still out there somewhere.
Tags: shopping, umbrellas
11 comments
RoadMorons strike again
Sometime last night, it seems. Update: Marita says it was Thursday night.
Timetable Mastermind: confusion on the Frankston line 6pm-7pm
One of the things planners should be aiming for in making public transport easy to use is ensuring that the choices are few.
The new Frankston timetable line does this in the off-peak (and evenings) with a consistent pattern: Frankston to Flinders Street (direct), stopping all stations.
In peak, in theory, there are two patterns: Frankston to Cheltenham, then express to Caulfield, to South Yarra, then to Flinders Street (direct); and Frankston to Flinders Street via the City Loop.
On weekends everything stops all stations and runs via the Loop (fair enough given lower frequencies are unlikely to cause Loop congestion, and cause long waiting times if changing trains — arguably this should also be the case on weekday evenings after 7pm).
So that’s three main patterns.
The problem is there are lots of other variations, particularly during peak-shoulder periods.
In peak hour
If you’re going into the city it’s not too onerous. Go to the station, catch the next train to the City. If you’re at Cheltenham or further out and it’s peak hour, you might want to wait for an express for a quicker trip.
If you’re coming out of the city, and you’re going to a station closer than Cheltenham, you’ll probably just jump on the first train stopping at your station. If not, you’ll want to go to Flinders Street or Richmond, as most of the express trains (eg, faster) don’t run via the Loop, and overtake the stopping trains.
Okay.
Shoulder-peak
But the peak-shoulder period is a mess. Between about 3-5pm, and again between 6-7pm, they’re all over the place. The patterns are such that if you miss a train at Southern Cross or a Loop station, you’re likely to wait longer than is necessary for the next one.
In detail…
Between 6pm and 6:59pm (timed at Richmond), there are 8 trains to the Frankston line; the basis for a pretty good service. Even if they were evenly split between expresses and stoppers, that would be an average wait of 15 minutes between trains.
But they’re not evenly split.
There are expresses from Flinders Street, some of which also serve Southern Cross, but some don’t.
And there are stopping Loop trains. But there are other stopping trains direct from Flinders Street, and again, some of them also serve Southern Cross, some don’t.
If you’re at Flinders Street going to Cheltenham or beyond, it’s easy:
You get on an express: 6:09, 6:26, 6:46.
But it may not be obvious that you could also get the direct stoppers at 6:32 or 6:52, which don’t get overtaken by expresses.
If you’re at Flinders Street going to before Cheltenham, you want a stopper.
5:53 (via loop)
6:11 (via loop)
6:31 (via loop)
6:32 (direct, so it beats the 6:31 by 8 minutes)
6:51 (loop)
6:52 (direct, ditto).
If you’re at Southern Cross going to Cheltenham or beyond, and we assume that those trains running via Southern Cross really do work (they often don’t), we have:
5:56 (stopper via loop, platform 12; it doesn’t get overtaken)
6:16 (express via Flinders St, probably platform 13)
6:19 (stopper via Flinders St, probably platform 13; it doesn’t get overtaken)
6:38 (express via Flinders St, probably platform 13)
6:46 (stopper via Flinders St, probably platform 13; it doesn’t get overtaken)
7:00 (express via Flinders Street, probably platform 13).
If you’re at Southern Cross going to before Cheltenham, the stoppers are:
5:56 (via loop, platform 12)
6:14 (via loop, platform 12)
6:19 (via Flinders Street, probably platform 13)
6:34 (via loop, platform 12)
6:46 (via Flinders Street, probably platform 13)
6:54 (via loop, platform 12).
If you’re in the Loop wanting Cheltenham or beyond, you’d do best to go to Richmond and change to the first express that comes along; unless the stoppers at 6:35 or 6:55 turn up, as they don’t get overtaken by expresses.
If you’re in the Loop (say at Melbourne Central) wanting before Cheltenham, you’ve got the 6:01, 6:18, 6:38, 6:58. But you’ll wait longer than necessary because some of the stoppers are running direct from Flinders Street.
Are you following all this so far?
The upshot of it is that although there are 8 trains in that hour, because they’ve split them across three patterns, it’s confusing enough that most people will give up and wait up to 20 minutes — which is longer than they would have to wait if they’ve managed to decipher the timetable and know exactly where to go and where to change trains to get home quicker.
But nobody is likely to figure that out. It’s like the timetablers are trying to play some kind of mind game with the passengers.
The official route description
Just to illustrate how confusing the whole thing is, here’s how the Metlink web site describes the service patterns on the Frankston line:
To City
Trains will depart Frankston Station, Kananook Station… [list of stations snipped]… South Yarra Station, Richmond Station, City. Express services operate during peak periods – see below.
City stations are: Flagstaff Station (weekdays only), Melbourne Central Station, Parliament Station, Flinders Street Station and Southern Cross Station (Spencer Street).
City Loop: Direction of travel through the City Loop depends on the day of week and time of day. From 8 May 2011 most weekday services will operate direct to Flinders Street.
The main exceptions are weekday morning peak all stations trains which will operate to Flinders Street via the City Loop. Weekend trains will also operate to Flinders Street via the City Loop.
Weekday am peak direction services: Operate two main stopping patterns: A. Stop all stations to Flinders Street via the City Loop. B. Express service direct to Flinders Street. Most express trains stop all stations to Cheltenham, express to Caulfield, Malvern, express to South Yarra, Richmond and then direct to Flinders Street, with some extending to Southern Cross. Passengers for loop stations are advised to change at Flinders Street or Southern Cross.
Weekday off-peak, weekend and evening services: Stop all stations to City. From 8 May 2011 Weekday interpeak services will operate direct to Flinders Street, continuing to Southern Cross Station and then Werribee or Williamstown. Some counter-peak services operate express between Malvern and South Yarra. Note: the above is a general guide and some service variations exist. Please consult timetables for detailed information on stopping patterns.
Please note, I added paragraph breaks to that to help make it clearer. Ha! Oh, and I’ve excluded the description for the other direction.
In conclusion
You shouldn’t have to be a genius to get the most out of public transport: to get the quickest trip possible, and to minimise your waiting time.
The Frankston timetable isn’t too hard to understand during off-peak and the rush hour, but in shoulder-peak it’s utterly diabolical.
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden is a good example of a moral issue that for me is more grey than black and white.
I would like to think that I would never wish anybody dead, nor be glad at hearing of someone’s demise.
But if ever I were to waver on that, it would be for someone who caused the deaths of thousands of people.
There are questions over the operation of course. At first they seemed to be claiming that he was armed, and used a woman as a human shield. Now they’re saying he was unarmed… but reaching for a gun?
The compound was described in some reports as a “mansion”. Gotta say it doesn’t look much like a mansion to me.
The future
I think we all know it doesn’t mean the end for al-Qaeda of course, nor for global terrorism.
But as some commentators have said, perhaps other events are overtaking them. Perhaps we can hope that the democracy movement and protests in Egypt and elsewhere will continue to spread, bringing change to the Middle East that makes extremists obsolete and/or marginalised, as most of them are in democracies around the world?
MX
Have to pity MX. The biggest story of the week, and it was breaking just as they were going to press. Normally they have their stories written by midday, but this was emerging at about 12:30pm, and wasn’t confirmed until about an hour later.
Credit to them though; they managed to re-do their front page (though I saw some copies without the OBL story). However they obviously got the page done before the detail was confirmed, as it referred to bin Laden’s death being a week earlier, using a bomb, citing Fox News’s “multiple sources”.
Whoops. I suppose in that situation you just have to do what you can.
Less vs Fewer – gets me every time
“Less loop trains” isn’t true in peak. 7:01-9am Richmond to Parliament: was 73, now 77, because more trains on most lines #MetroTrains
Sorry, but Less vs Fewer gets me every time.
I know the rule (“fewer” should be used when what you’re talking about can be counted)… I just never remember to invoke it.
Maybe I was away the day that was taught in English.
Tags: grammar
19 comments
Changing trains is not evil
There’s intense interest in the new train timetable, which technically started today, but has its first actual changes tomorrow. The level of interest should be a reminder to politicians that public transport is still very much a live issue.
It should (hopefully) bring some genuine benefits in helping to fix punctuality and overcrowding.
There are some genuine cases where people at individual stations are disadvantaged. Altona (off-peak they’ll have to change up to twice to reach some CBD stations), Werribee (off-peak frequency halved for some stations), Frankston line travel times longer (they really need to fix the damn Siemens train brake problems once and for all), less fewer peak-hour trains to Laburnum, Camberwell, Glenferrie, and some others.
The change for the Glen Waverley line is that in the mornings, their trains won’t run through the City Loop. I’m afraid, however, I find it a little difficult to join in the outrage.
1. Flinders Street is not some godforsaken backwater. It’s Melbourne’s busiest (most popular) station, with 37% of patronage — and I would argue it’s only that low because of Loop operating patterns, which has it as (mostly) the CBD station with the longest travel time to/from the suburbs.
It’s the best station for serving much of the south and central parts of the CBD. It’s also closest to the Arts Precinct and St Kilda Road. People changing to trams to places like Melbourne Uni will probably find it makes little difference, because exiting Flinders Street is much quicker than getting through Melbourne Central’s maze-like exit.
2. Those who do have to change from Glen Waverley trains to Loop services have a simple walk across the platform at Richmond, onto another train that runs about every three minutes in peak. It’s an easier change of trains than any other anywhere in Melbourne.
Even outside peak hour, there will be 12 trains per hour from Richmond into the City Loop until lunchtime (most on the platform across from where the Glen Waverley trains arrive). I would expect that to go up to 14 when the Dandenong line switches to every 10 minutes, a change which is hopefully coming before too long.
3. Glen Waverley trains will still run through the Loop after lunchtime, so no difference to afternoon patterns.
4. The change is to avoid conflicts at Burnley, and also between Richmond and Flinders Street. It’s not only allowing more frequent Glen Waverley trains, but (hopefully) will actually fix some of the punctuality problems.
5. Sandringham passengers have been changing to and from the Loop for fifteen years, under far less ideal conditions than will be inflicted on Glen Waverley passengers. They may not like it, but the line is busier than ever, and the semi-independence of the line now allows a train every 7-8 minutes in peak.
Changing trains is not evil
The City Loop’s four tracks are a bottleneck, while the ten tracks into Flinders Street (from the east — another four from the west) are underused. Given Flinders Street’s central location, I absolutely support having some trains bypass the Loop to allow more services, to fix conflicts/punctuality, and reduce overcrowding. We need more trains on the tracks, and this is how to do it.
People might not like it, but changing services is not evil. It’s a necessity in many bigger cities around the world, because not every train can go to every destination. This is described in more detail in this article: Why “transferring” can be good for you, and good for your city.
The question always must be: will the waiting time be short? Will the other service have the capacity? And is it as convenient as possible? Unlike for many other passengers around Melbourne, for Glen Waverley to City Loop, the answer is Yes, Yes (most probably), and Yes.
Tags: Metro, timetables, trains
28 comments
Lucky this Age story didn’t make page 1
Probably just as well for this onsert:
…that this story landed on page 6, not on page 1:
The full story text is here: Stations to lose peak services. And here’s a big version of the map.
The document the article talks about is here: Passenger Impact Statement.
To decode it, you’ll need to look at the station code list. “AMP” is AM peak, “PMP” PM peak, “AOP” AM off-peak, “POP” PM off-peak. “a/c” is railways code for “because of”.
- See also: PTUA’s PT Problem of the Day: Train timetables getting more, or less complicated? (and Laburnum loses out)
- My post back in March about the changes
PS. I noticed that in fact there’s a Metro advert on pages 6-7, below the story. Not ideal placement.
