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Author: PTUA

  • Melbourne’s Sunday trains arrive late – timetable needs shake-up

    The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has found in a comparison study that — measured by first train time — Melbourne has some of the worst Sunday morning train services in Australia. “Our trains start too late, and are too infrequent on Sundays”, said PTUA President Daniel Bowen. The PTUA compared train timetables from across…

    Melbourne’s Sunday trains arrive late – timetable needs shake-up

  • PT Problem of the Day: #MetroTrains Coolaroo station missing from online maps

    We’ve highlighted before that despite opening in mid-2010, Coolaroo station has been missing from maps at Southern Cross Station and elsewhere. It might be a lot of work to update maps right across the network, but the same is not true online. Yet 16 months after Coolaroo station opened, it is still missing from the…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Poor information during disruptions

    There were widespread disruptions to CBD trams last Friday due to police clashes with Occupy Melbourne protestors. Trams in Swanston Street didn’t run for several hours, but for much of the time there were no indications of the blockage on the “realtime” information screens provided at stops. While some passengers at nearby stops could (provided…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Adverts get in the way at Southern Cross Station

    Most people are accepting of advertising on and around public transport, as long as the advertising is unobtrusive, and in the hope that the revenue goes into funding better services. Unfortunately this advertising at Southern Cross Station is far from unobtrusive. Instead, it obscures wayfinding signage designed to help people find the entrance to their…

  • Legislation for public transport authority introduced

    From the September PTUA Newsletter Legislation establishing the Public Transport Development Authority was introduced to State Parliament on 14 September, and is expected to be debated this week. On this vitally important policy initiative the government is proceeding broadly in the right direction. The structure and powers of the PTDA in this legislation largely mirror…

  • PT Problem of the Day: #MetroTrains priority seats that are hard to shift

    It must be some kind of cruel joke that the priority seats (that is, those designated to be prioritised for passengers with special needs, such as the elderly and those with mobility issues) are so difficult to use on Siemens trains. It is common to see even able-bodied passengers struggle to pull them down into…

  • Tram passengers fenced-in

    Boroondara is fencing in tram passengers, delaying trams and resulting in greater road congestion according to the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA). Pedestrian fencing exists at a number of tram stops in the City of Boroondara, including the intersection of Glenferrie and Riversdale roads, Hawthorn and is making it difficult for passengers to board and…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Green buttons that don’t work

    At many stations the only real-time information provided is the green button. Often this doesn’t work, repeatedly returning only an engaged signal, as if Metro has forgotten to pay its phone bill. Passengers would benefit enormously if these buttons worked, or if more stations were upgraded with visual displays or screens, and — dare we…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Fancy new Smartbus display positioned too far from stop, and obscured by other signs

    Finally, almost a year after Smartbus routes started serving Lonsdale Street, the automated departure displays have started being switched-on at outbound CBD stops. This is good news, but it’s exposed other problems with the displays: this one for example, at the busy stop between Queen and Elizabeth Streets. The sign is too far from the…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Coolaroo missing from MetroTrains maps

    Turns out it’s not just the privately-run Southern Cross Station where they’re lax about updating the railway network maps. This map at Flagstaff station, run by Metro, also fails to include Coolaroo, which has now been open for over a year. It should be between Broadmeadows and Roxburgh Park. (To their credit, Southern Cross Station…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Poor station exit design and #Myki reader placement

    As the rail network gets busier, it’s important that stations be designed to assist the efficient flow of people. The current design of some railway station exits, and the placement of Myki readers simply doesn’t make sense. 1. Armadale station — this reader is well out of the way, a long distance from where passengers…

  • PT Problem of the Day: Nightrider misses out on stop-specific timetables

    One genuinely worthwhile upgrade in recent years has been the Metlink provision of stop-specific timetables at every train, tram and bus stop across Melbourne. But Nightrider stops missed out. Instead, stops display times from the start of the route, and ask you to “use the route map to calculate approximate time” — as if timetables…