A quick one, something I edited out of the recent post about the Melton line hybrid (bi-mode) train proposal: peak capacity on RRL. Currently the Ballarat and Geelong lines merge just west of Deer Park, where they run to Sunshine, joined there by trains from Bendigo (though these don’t actually stop at Sunshine station). From ... [More]
Shorter trains, but more of them
The Monthly Average Patronage By Day Type And Mode data was updated to include up to June 2024, and I thought I’d look at how V/Line is doing, given the fare cap introduced on 31st March 2023. Here’s the chart, with weekends highlighted, as I’ll talk about them a bit more below. The overall pattern ... [More]
Sorry, it’s quiet on the blog due to being so busy. I’ve got a bunch of half-written drafts, but will try and finish some of them soon. Another x01 shuttle service has joined the fold. So far we have: Bus routes 701 (Bentleigh to Oakleigh) and 901 (Frankston to Airport) aren’t shuttles. There is currently ... [More]
V/Line coach stops and dead running in the middle of nowhere
A big V/Line fare cut is coming up next week, and it may see a rapid surge in passengers. Labor promised the change during the 2022 election, and it starts on 31st of March. The cap will be: This is slightly different from metropolitan Myki fares in that it’s a daily cap, not a $4.60 ... [More]
Is V/Line ready for the promised fare cut expected in March?
This plan got splashed onto the Age front page on Friday: Tunnel link mulled for Geelong fast trains Of course if you were paying very, very careful attention, this wasn’t a complete surprise. The eventual shift of Geelong trains back to Newport and the Metro 2 tunnel was included in a document leaked in 2018, ... [More]
If you follow me on Twitter, you may have already seen this. A man rushed past on the stairs at Southern Cross. He ran down and around the corner, then doubled-back to the V/Line fare gates. My guess is he’d come from the Metro platforms. Here’s a short video of what happened next. (It’s only ... [More]
State government annual reports season ended up hitting late this year due to the election. It’s usually in September, but this year everything got tabled in Parliament late on Wednesday. I usually like to browse through the V/Line and PTV reports for interesting factoids… Here are some things I noticed during a quick skim. V/Line ... [More]
I can’t remember who asked the question, but it was a good one: Which has more trains? The Upfield line or the Geelong line? They’re quite different rail lines. The Upfield line serves Melbourne’s northern suburbs, and runs via the City Loop. It runs electric Metro services through 16 stations (plus 3 City Loop stations). ... [More]
If you’re confused about tram and train compensation thresholds, you’re not the only one. PTV announced earlier this month that: PTV CEO Jeroen Weimar said both Metro and Yarra Trams narrowly missed their new targets for punctuality in February, but met their targets for reliability. PTV’s web site has figures for February 2018 that clearly ... [More]
New public transport timetables kick in on August 27th. Last week (or maybe it was the week before), PTV released details, including full timetables for the routes affected: Metro: More trains at peak times V/Line: More choice with more services Altona Loop users rejoice! (A bit) There will be no more Altona Loop shuttles. Weekday ... [More]
On Tuesday I headed out to the new Caroline Springs station for a look around. It opened at the end of January. I caught the 17:59 train from Southern Cross. It was heading to Bacchus Marsh, and it was full — at least by V/Line’s standards, which means every seat was taken — reflected in ... [More]
I’m working on some more substantive posts, but meanwhile, here we go again: a random claim that the trains used to be faster than today. “In 1955 it took under one hour to travel by train to Spencer St station (Southern Cross). In 2017 it takes 70 minutes. Hmmm. Something is wrong with this picture.” ... [More]
I finally took a ride on the Regional Rail Link last night. In summary: Trains from the city to Geelong depart regularly, but from numerous platforms — when I was there in peak, it was 5A, then 7A, 15A, 1, 3A… and when I’d been there at lunchtime, 2B had also been in the mix. ... [More]