Re: Call for extended train service

["Peter Parker" <parkerp@alphalink.com.au>]

Les Chandra <les_chandra@asparagus.hotmail.com> wrote in message
3ababb1f@news.iprimus.com.au">news:3ababb1f@news.iprimus.com.au...

> For a brilliant example see http://www.westcoastexpress.com/

To quote from Mees (p129):

'Vancouver offers a good illustration of the different capapbilities of
regular and commuter transit.
The 28km Skytrain is an excellent example of regular transit: services are
provided every five minutes or
more frequently until 1am every day of the year.  Every service stops at
each of the 20 stations along the line.
The 65 km West Coast Express commuter rail line opened in 1995. Five
services are provided each weekday
morning to downtown Vancouver, five more in the opposite direction each
evening.  There are no off-peak,
evening, weekend or public holiday services, and 93% of passengers travel to
the downtown terminal station.'
'Skytrain carried 42 million passengers in 1996-7, compared with West Coast
Express's 1.4 million. Each
West Coast Express seat is filled twice on a typical weekday; each Skytrain
seat more than 20 times.'

Looking at the website quoted above, mention is made of a daily ridership of
7600 a day - sounds impressive,
but quite small when expressed in terms of proportion of total trips made.

So when it comes to both meeting public transport needs throughout the day
and efficient use of assets, infrequent commuter rail-type operations are
highly ineffective compared to conventional urban rail systems that operate
throughout the day and meet a wide range of travel needs, and not just CBD
workers who work during the week
between tightly defined hours, which is the case with commuter rail.