Box Hill FSS Locals (Was Re: Late running trains go Express (Hillside))

["Michael Walker" <walker@hotkey.net.au>]

>Between Hawthorn and FSS, we were overtaken by the same "local"
>all-stops train SEVERAL times!  (BTW, the "local" was less than about
>33% full - confirming my suspicion that there are too many all-stops
>services between Box Hill & Richmond, while most express services are
>usually over-crowded).


Perhaps it might be because there are not enough? After all, the expresses
run every 3-5 minutes, the locals run about every 15 minutes. If you catch a
train between Ringwood and Box Hill, you wait 5 minutes maximum for a train.
If you catch it between Box Hill and Burnley, you could be waiting up to 15.
Which service do you think people will use? As an infrequent user of East
Camberwell station, I can assure you I think more trains would be better and
I can assure you that the trains stopping between Box Hill and East
Camberwell do much better than 33% full - I usually stand in the doorway
because most of the seats are taken. And often I have to squeeze past other
passengers to get off at East Camberwell after they get on at Surrey Hills
and Mont Albert and to a lesser extent Chatham and Canterbury.