Re: [Mel] St Kilda Rd [was mel loop operation

[David McLoughlin <davemcl*PISSOFFSPAMMERS*@iprolink.co.nzzzzz>]

Vaughan Williams wrote:
 
> David McLoughlin wrote:
 
> >It's interesting to see that it has been St Kilda Rd which has developed
> >the way Latrobe Street was meant to -- huge numbers of people catch the
> >train to Flinders Street, then take the trams down St Kilda Road to all
> >the employment-generating developments there: Melbourne's prime example
> >of a reverse commute  (ie where there is a large peak hour public
> >transport flow out of the CBD in the morning peak and into the CBD in
> >the evening peak).
 
> Indeed. Probably encouraged by the very frequent tram service down there.

Swanston Street/St Kilda Rd has one of the most frequent street
transport services in the world.

On this one trunk route it's up there with say the Second Avenue bus
route in NYC which is every 2 minutes and which has similar passenger
volumes (and which is also in dire need of having a subway line along
the route which has been started and stopped on and off for 30 years and
seems to be on again -- but there is no need for an underground down St
Kilda Rd because unlike 2nd Ave the roadway is very wide and made for
trams to show their speedy best.


I should have added that the St Kilda Rd reverse-commute is also aided
by the availability of time-based multi-mode tickets (ie 2-hour,
24-hour, weekly etc tickets valid for trains, trams and buses).

When I was a kid in Melbourne, you had to buy separate tickets for each
ride and on each mode, which discouraged transfers between
vehicles/routes/modes/.

Much better now, but I am not encouraged by the renewed fragmentation of
Melbourne's transport since Jeff Kennett, nor by the Onelink ticket
machine debacle which seems to be leading to a return to individual
tickets for trips with different operators.  I do hope the multi-mode
time-based system remains, it is one of the best in the world.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand