Re: Tram Shortage; Was: Batman Ave. Trams Finished

[David McLoughlin <davemcl@REMOVEiprolink.co.nz>]

John Engleman wrote:
> 
> Let's see now,  David Langley writes that there is a severe tram
> shortage existing in Melbourne, saying that, "They are very short of
> cars during the peaks".   The new #70 line will need at least 4 or 5
> more cars on its' new, longer route. And any service improvements on any
> line (OK, so that only is wishful thinking) will only make the shortage
> more severe.    But  there are a good number of stored Ws at Glen
> Huntley, even more of them stupidly packed away at Preston Workshops,
> and many dozens more (including some Z1s & Z2s) packed away at Newport.

The 470 trams or whatever the exact number is which Kennett decreed the
system needed is obviously too few to maintain scheduled services as
well as provide for maintenance, breakdowns and so on. Patronage is
higher now by 20 million a year than in say, 1991 (after the big strike)
or 1980 (when it started to rise again after decades of falling), yet
there are at least 200 fewer available trams than there were then.

Sure the articulated trams replaced standard trams three-to-two but that
does not account for the tightness of the schedules. There are more tram
lines now than in 1980 -- the Port Melbourne and St Kilda "light rails"
didn't exist then, nor the Bundoora or Airport West extensions, the
extra extension of the 75 or the City Circle.

Now Mont Albert is being extended to Box Hill, and the Docklands
extension is also under way. 

It is good to see a better and more intensive use of such expensive
vehicles, but Kennett has gone too far. There should have been an order
of 100 new low-floor artics in the early 1990s to carry on from 2132 in
1995.

The 90 new trams it is claimed will be ordered and in service starting
in 2002 should be used to augment the fleet, not to retire Z1 cars
immediately, especially as many Z1s have been given major overhauls they
should have got a decade ago and thus are fit for at least another
decade in service.

Maybe the new private owners will do a better job than the politicians.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand