Re: [VIC] New Swanston Timetables

["Mike Alexander" <malex@bigfoot.com>]

>> "Mike Alexander" <malex @ bigfoot com> wrote in message
>> * The 78 now only runs a 15-minute peak frequency, rather than the
12-minute
>> it used to have. All the posters on the trams make grand apologies about
>> the 16 & 69 having their peak frequencies reduced (from 10 to 12, I
believe)
>> due to the lack of Ws, but no mention of this extremely inconvenient
cutback
>> to the 78.
>
> Why is this "extremely" inconvenient? A 15 minute frequency is "extremely"
> easy to remember, certainly much easier to remember the times than a 12
> minute frequency. And it is only an extra 3 minutes between trams.

Now I've had a chance to check out an actual timetable, rather than just a
cursory glance at the stop timetable, it's not quite as bad as I'd feared.
The 12-minute peak frequency is still there, except (just my luck) between
the three trams that I can choose from to get me to work in time (Yes, I'm
one of the unfortunates who has to commute to work on the Chapel St tram).

Instead of (tram)-(12 min gap)-(tram)-(12 min gap)-(tram) we now have
(tram)-(15 min gap)-(tram)-(13 min gap)-(tram)

But either side of this strange hiccup is still a 12-minute service.

> Why is this "extremely" inconvenient?
Well, anything that reduces the frequency is extremely inconvenient for me,
and I'm sure for the many who use one of these three trams to make the
connection at Windsor station for the train to the city. This is around the
time of the last train that will get you into the city before 9:00am. IMHO,
even a 12-minute gap in peak hours is too long (even if everything always
ran to time), especially when the train it "connects" to is running every 10
minutes around then.

Also interesting is that the run times along Chapel St have been extended in
this new timetable. Instead of the very optimistic 10 minutes allowed for
Carlisle St to Toorak Rd at that time of morning, they now have 14 minutes
to do the distance. 10 minutes could be done, but it was a stretch.
Interestingly, on Saturday night, at the height of the "Mario traffic", they
are only given 15 minutes to do the distance (one extra minute). In my
experience this stretch can take half an hour or more.

Best regards,

Mike Alexander
(malex @ bigfoot com)