Re: Horrible Hillside (Melbourne, Vic.)

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

>Even under the old PTC regime, it was apparently assumed that nobody
actually
>transferred from trains to trams or buses.  Everything was still operated
as
>if there was still a separate Railways Department for the trains and a
>Tramways Board for the trams and never the twain shall meet.  Even today,
>any Dept of Infrastructure bureaucrat will tell you that transferring is
>such a horrible experience to contemplate that no-one does it.  You do not
>exist: go away!


Whilst it is preferable not to transfer if possible (adds unnecessary time
to the journey, inconvenience of waiting in the elements between vehicles),
there are many times it is unavoidable. The office workers of St Kilda Road
and South Melbourne are an obvious one, outer and middle suburban bus
services are another. In the mid-80s under the Labour government, there was
a trend towards publishing connecting train services in bus timetables and
claiming them as guaranteed connections. In many cases, this was merely
puttign the train times in timetables and making no effort to provide a
truly co-ordinated service. To use an example, I used to step off the 7.02pm
arrival at Greensborough to catch the 7.05pm Apollo Parkways bus which
allegedly connected to the previous 6.41pm arrival. There was no effort to
have it connect to the later train, even though most people could have
walked from the station to the bus in the 3 minutes. Indeed, even though it
wasn't a guaranteed connection, the bus often waited until 7.10pm for the
train anyway (565 is a very loose timetable, to give an indication, some
relief drivers have run it quite easily to a 20 minute frequency until it
was pointed out that whilst a more frequent bus service is appreciated, it
is better if it ran to the proper timetable).

As for the DOI's stance, I think it is typical of people who have their own
car parking spaces and don't use the services they are responsible for. Very
Yes Prime Minsterish! Reminds me of the integrated transport policy episode,
funny but sadly accurate!

>Now of course the Kennett Government has split everything up again -
>presumably so trains and trams can openly compete for passengers once more.


Of course, if I lived in Carnegie, I would spend an hour commuting to the
city too by tram instead of 20 minutes by train...
I once saw a graph which showed times by tram and train for quite a few
points in the system where the trams and trains compete. Given the tram
times were always higher (I think maybe one exception out of at least 12-15)
and mostly double the equivalent train journey, I think I would say that
trams and trains cater to different markets and are better off co-operating
instead of competing. I think the Bayside-Hillside combined ticket along
with their brochure of special offers at Melbourne Central (received in the
letterbox Sunday) are a sign of things to come.

As a matter of side interest, for those in the thread about not validating,
the brochure on the off peak tickets specifically says not to validate them!
Maybe you people should travel off peak.

>Never mind the 70s; we're still stuck in the 50s.  Why else do trams still
>revert to 20-minute frequencies on Friday evenings?


Some of us weren't around then! I must admit after I posted the above, the
services are actually worse than the 70s, I have a 1974 Hurstbridge / Epping
line train timetable which shows half hourly services to Eltham and Epping
with a Hurstbridge train connecting to every second Eltham service.

In fairness there is a better frequency on Friday nights on the 19 and 86,
two trams which pass near or along significant shopping strips (Sydney Road
and Smith Street).

I would argue a case for better Friday night bus services, there are some
but not very serious ones compared to the early 80s.

>This is where genuine public transport 'reform' has to start.  Poor
off-peak
>services and unreliable trains are bad enough, but the real scandal is the
>abysmal bus services people in the suburbs must put up with.  Like weekday
>services that stop at 4:30pm so the operator doesn't have to pay overtime
to
>the drivers.
>
Or the following:
624 - the Saturday service is so poor it might as well not exist.
565 - used to have a Saturday afternoon service. Why isn't the 562 bus
diverted to run through Apollo Parkways on a Saturday afternoon to provide
such a service. It would add about 5 minutes to the trip, especially if it
turned right at Civic Drive and Plenty River Drive but service a large
housing estate.
560 - For what is a long trunk route once earmarked as a Metbus route before
MetPlan fell in a heap, there is no Sunday service, the Saturday service is
best described as ordinary, the holiday service over January reverts to 45
minute frequencies even during the peak hour, the timings reflect
pre-Northern Ring Road days when the traffic was heavy: now there is hardly
any traffic along it's route yet it still has the old timing and
correspondingly the drivers have to drive ridiculously slowly to maintain
the timetable. In addition this bus route is so obviously an opportunity to
link the northern suburbs to the airport and generate significant traffic
yet it still stops at Broadmeadows.
285 - Whilst I support most of what National Bus has done, this route is one
of the poorest ones they run. Hourly during the middle of the day despite
the fact it goes past a lot of houses in the suburbs (Doncaster Balwyn,
Canterbury, East Camberwell), has been extended to Shoppingtown (from
Camberwell shopping centre to Doncaster Shoppingtown), is run by buses with
a good sized luggage area to put your shopping and despite the fact it goes
past several schools (yes they are meant to be in school during the day but
they often aren't, and VCE students are often allowed out). Whilst on one
hand they have tried to attract customers by extending the bus to the
shopping centre 5 minutes away from the North Balwyn housing estate, they
have provided such poor frequencies and hours of operation that nobody would
bother.
767 - the only bus which goes right past Deakin Burwood (a university
campus) from Box Hill station but just misses the trains by a few minutes
and only runs every half hour and goes via a long circuitous route to get
there before continuing on to Chadstone and Southland.

And so on, but at the risk of raising the ire of those who will tell me to
go to aus.drool_over_buses I shan't. I think that in order to encourage use
of the railways, good feeder buses are needed and one area Hillbilly and
Gayside would do well in is to encourage use of local bus services. After
all, once people are in their car, they will not be terribly likely to drive
to their local railway station to catch the train, especially off peak. Last
example is a woman I worked with who lived in Aspendale and worked with me
in South Melbourne. Despite the fact she hated the traffic, she refused to
catch the train despite the fact it would take the same amount of time or
slightly less. Why? The bus connections in her area were a pain (I got the
timetable for the 708 for her when her car was being repaired, Quinces who
ran the service at the time were very helpful and faxed it to us very
quickly. The 708 had a stop right outside her house!) and she felt unsure of
changing modes in the city. Like many people, catching the train was a
novelty she did to impress the kids, it wasn't a serious choice of
transport.

There is a long way to go. Sydney is even worse.