The picture below shows departures from Flinders Street Station this morning Sunday just after 9am.
What’s special about this is the 40 minute waits that passengers hate are finally gone.
They had been introduced in 1978 when Melbourne’s population was about half its current level, public transport patronage was falling, and Victorian Railways were desperately looking for savings. They cut then 30 minute frequencies to 40.
It’s meant there was a fundamental flaw in Melbourne’s suburban Metro train system. The reason urban rail systems work all over the world is that they make it convenient to get around big cities. From early in the morning to late at night, there’s a train to take you where you want to go.
Long waits break that contract.
In 1994 the PTUA began its “Seven day service for a seven day city” campaign. From 1996 the cuts began to be reversed.
It’s been a slow process, and until now, many lines still ran every 40 minutes in the mornings.
Over decades, I think this has done huge damage to the usability and reputation of the rail network. For more than two generations, everyone has known that you can’t depend on Melbourne’s trains to be there when you want them.
I can’t tell you how many conversations over the years I’ve had with people who are put off using the service because of low frequencies.
In some cases, they believed the 40 minute frequencies were still an issue, even on lines that had been upgraded. Long term reputational damage.
When you have to plan and consider carefully how to make your trip to avoid long waits, it actively drives people to get cars and get on the roads.
So, after PTUA (and others) stepped up their calls for fixes, it’s great that the politicians listened, and have provided funding to fix those remaining 40 minute waits, and upgrade them to 20 minutes.
It’s now really important that authorities promote the improvements, so that the generations of Melburnians who are wary of using the trains because of those 40 minute waits know that they’re now gone.
Other improvements such as Tap And Go and cheap fares also help, but nothing helps more than knowing the wait times are getting shorter.
These upgrades (and those announced but not arriving until next year) are not the end of the story. Many stations still have 30 minute waits at times, and 20 is no longer adequate for the backbone of the public transport network in a city of 5 million people. (Not to mention issues with service frequency on V/Line trains and coaches, trams, and especially buses).
But it’s a step forward, it’s a win, and it’s great to see it.
Join the PTUA to help with the next steps!
Notes:
- A small number of stations at the semi-rural end of the Hurstbridge line still have 40 minute waits due to single track beyond Eltham.
- So too do some suburban V/Line stations, particularly on weekends
- And no I haven’t forgotten the Stony Point line
- Update: As per the comments, there are issues around 8am on weekends with outbound services, as Night Network transitions to daytime operations, especially on Sunday morning. This includes the Frankston line, Sandringham, and stations beyond Dandenong.
- Does this mean not all of the 1978 cuts were fixed? No – because back then there were no services at all before about 8:30am on Sunday!
8 replies on “The end of Metro’s 40 min waits”
Great article as always Daniel.
Diamond Creek has a comparable population to many suburbs 23km from the city (around 13,000). It is not semi rural. The single track sections allow 20 min frequency in the peak. $500m was invested in the 2 recent duplications (including from Diamond Creek to Wattle Glen). It is now the only contiguous suburb with 40 min frequency off peak and 60 mins after 8pm every day.
When I was doing an analysis of staff commuting ( Dunedin, new Zealand) the biggest reason people werent taking the bus was the infrequency of service. Those that did take the bus would be forced to leave work early, or wait around for the next bus, as they were at least half an hour apart even at peak (if they turned up at all)
When I visited a friend in South Korea, and asked what time we had to leave for the next train, they shrugged and basically said that one would be there. There really is something to be said for reliable, frequent services.
It absolutely is why I don’t think of taking PT, even though I have a bus within a short walk and a train just a bit further out, that the bus stops at. I just don’t trust that should I be delayed by even a few minutes, I will get to where I need to be, within 15 minutes of when I intend to be.
Maybe these frequency changes will help alleviate my worry
There is also a short window of 40 minute frequencies outbound on the Sandringham line on Sunday mornings after Night Network finishes, from around 6am-8am. (Inbound jumps straight to 20 minutes)
The night network being in effect until quite late on Sunday morning still means there are some big gaps – although not as egregious as the 40-minute frequency that persisted until fairly late in the morning.
For example, trains from Mernda arrive at Flinders St at 6:46, then 7:56am on Sunday. That’s a 70 minute gap. It is early in the morning, but I don’t see why Sundays still need to have especially bad timetables.
It’s not much a thing in Sydney for example, where Saturday and Sunday mornings are quite similar on the train network.
It is definitely an improvement but slow progress. I think it will improve the perception of the network a bit, but there are still quite a few things like poor evening frequencies on the train network (and 30 min trams on weekend mornings and quite early in the evening!).
Cam – another issue is that the hour gap is even later in the down direction. Eg to about 9am when measured at Frankston. Even if they don’t want to do 20 min frequencies, early Sunday mornings should have 1 or 2 extras in each direction so there’s at least 2 trains per hour from a 6am arrival in the CBD and 7am arrival at the suburban terminus. Plus these trains should run Good Friday and Christmas, ie they’re regular not Night Network services. The odd thing is that there is already one of these trains on the Frankston line running (7:39am from FSS) but it’s non-PSR so can’t be relied on.
Cam’s point is especially relevant for regional travellers. The scarcity of Metro arrivals in the city between 7am and 8am on Sunday morning continues to be a huge issue for those needing to connect with long distance V/Line services.
Most of the major long distance corridors have a departure from Southern Cross during this time window, for instance, the 7:07am train to Albury, the 7:15am coach to Adelaide, and the 7:40am train to Bairnsdale with several onward coach connections.
What’s worse, even when Night Train services are available, they don’t stop at Southern Cross!
Technically but flinders Street to Newport is only part of the werribee line. Still have to wait out further
@Andrew, thanks for that. To expand, Diamond Creek isn’t semi-rural, but the train line beyond Eltham is, which may limit the catchment and patronage somewhat.
It used to be that Hurstbridge got a ~20 minute service in peak by not running the counter-peak service, but recent upgrades have overcome this, so they could do better off-peak as well.
@H, that matches other research! Is your analysis online anywhere?
@Alan (and others) – it’s amazing to think that prior to Night Network, some Metro trains actually arrived too late to catch the first regional departures at Southern Cross.
Night Network only being hourly, and running this service until around 8am is a long way from ideal.
@Tim, city to Newport gets the best service, but all stations on the line get at least a 20 minute service all day until midnight. There are no 30 or 40 minute waits anymore anywhere on the Werribee line.