RE: [MELB] City Loop issues

[Vaughan Williams <ender2000@MailAndNews.com>]

>Tram - significantly slower than a train
>Walk - even more slow - what about older people, or even disabled people
>who wish to travel around the CBD quickly and efficiently??

I didn't say it was ideal, only that its the only way to do what you 
described.

Dave's suggestion of having one group (say the Burnley ones) running 
clockwise 
through the loop is sensible, that way, you can always "get there from 
here".

So how about:
* Loop runs same direction all day
* remembering some trains run direct to flinders st, most of these would run 
through to the other side of town
* CHL and CFD groups run anticlockwise, western and BLY groups run clockwise

If we had our way the trains would be much more frequent all through the day 
and so a change wouldnt be That Big A Deal. Thats the trade off - 
consistency 
and simplicity versus minimising transfers.

>But then you have the problem of workers and students being delayed either
>on their way to or from work at Flinders St - I agree with the
>bi-direction concept, where you will have no wait time between arrival and
>departure if you board/alight at underground stations (assuming you go in
>in the morning and out in the afternoon!).

Only if you actually stop trains for longer than 1 - 2 minutes at Flinders. 
Recovery time should be at the end of the line, not at Flinders.

>The only problem with it is at changeover time (12.45-1) where you could
>be waiting quite a while for your train in an underground station -
>however you actually get to your destination station at the same time even
>though the interval between the last clockwise train and the first
>anti-clockwise of the day (or vice versa) is longer in the underground
>station...I just find the waiting annoying because I am impatient.

The whole changing direciton at midday thing is (AFAIK) unique worldwide, 
and 
its just a totally unnecessary opportunity for chaos.

>It's evidently not a waste - it was commisioned for exactly the reasons I
>have outlined and since it was axed (Jeffed) it has left an annoying gap
>in services.  As for the Doncaster line - how about we'll cross that
>bridge when we come to it..and I don't know about any extra Epping/Eltham
>services either.

Need em.

>If you have to get a tram you have to add considerable time to your
>journey...it's really better to try and let people stay on the same mode
>to get to their destination if at all possible (and preferably train).

In a dispersed city its not possible to link all origins with all 
destinations. Transfers are the price we pay for allowing people to access a 
range of destinations at a range of times. It needs to be made easier to 
transfer, mainly through high frequencies.

>Yeah, a lot of people would get confused if you had some  Sandy trains
>going via loop on weekdays and others not...but they get confused now
>anyway...and i think it's better to increase functionality..

Well, if we had our way, there would be too many trains to fit them all 
through the loop and the service pattern would be consistent pretty much 7 
days a week (with extra peak hour trains as crowding dictates).

Since a proportion of trains need to go direct to FSS (the system was 
designed 
that way, and there are a proportion of people like Michael who would prefer 
not to have to go through the loop), its better to be consistent about which 
ones.

Vaughan Williams
Secretary
Public Transport Users Association
247 Flinders Lane
Melbourne 3000
http://www.ptua.org.au