Re: Bus Privatization

[Anna Catherine Morton <acmort@student.unimelb.edu.au>]

> 
> To mention again the Melbourne (Australia) system with which I am most
> familiar, Melbourne's tickets are mostly time-based (ie two hours or
> all-day) and allow unlimited transfers between tram, train and bus
> during the period of availability. Most passengers use day-tickets.

Maybe not now that you can't but them on trams...
 
> Melbourne's trains and trams mostly run from CBD to suburb (though the
> great length of train and tram lines mean both modes also act as
> cross-suburban lines as well as city-suburb lines) ((and three tram
> routes are solely cross-suburban lines)).
> 
> This means that there are many places where you can catch a train or a
> tram to the city. The very busy Sydney Rd (route 19) tram and the
> equally busy High St Northcote (route 86) trams run for much of their
> length less than 100 metres from the train lines. The modes compete for
> passengers (and are owned by different companies).

In some ways they compete, yes, but in general, the trams are used for
shorter trips and the train for longer trips, so you generally don't get a
lot of competition.  Also it is a lot easier for prople with prams or
mobility difficulties to use the train.

> 
> But there is no great attempt at transfers on the rail lines, with the
> exception of the many people from the outer suburbs who take trains to
> the city and catch a tram in contra-peak flow to their near-CBD
> workplaces such as down St Kilda Rd or the university.... these
> train-to-tram transfers ensure that the St Kilda Rd trams, for example
> (nine routes run down that major thoroughfare) carry almost as many
> passengers in the reverse-peak direction as in the peak flow.
> 
> Someone said there are not good connections from the bus feeders to
> railway stations in Melbourne. That is often true. But passengers can
> nonetheless use the same ticket for the train as they used on the bus,
> which makes the transfer cost-free.

It certainly does (although many people do not but tickets on trams
because it is so easy to get away with fare evasion).  Ticketwise I agree,
transfers are easy, but in practice, with the lack of coordination, they
are not.

Anna Morton