Category: Campaigns

Myki has improved a lot since last year, but there are still issues being reported with faulty cards, slow response times, Authorised Officers’ scanner battery life, and readers not working. There is speculation that the government will (grudgingly, perhaps) keep it, but if that’s the case, they’re going to have to get it working reliably.…

Melbourne’s getting busier at night, but most evening trams haven’t increased in frequency for decades. It’s now commonplace to wait 20-30 minutes and have to stand on a packed tram — while dozens of spares sit in depots. This picture shows route 19 at 9:30 at night. Despite regular crowding, budget papers released yesterday show…

Late trains lead to overcrowding, missed connections, and of course a longer than necessary trip. A single train delayed can directly affect a thousand people in peak hour, and often causes knock-on delays that affect thousands more. There are many causes, including poor maintenance leading to track, signal and train faults, and single-track bottlenecks. This…

More than six months after the introduction of four Smartbus routes running along Lonsdale Street to the Doncaster area, the automated signs to show departure signs along Lonsdale Street and Hoddle Street still don’t work. Help our campaign for better public transport. Join the PTUA now. We rely entirely on member funding and enthusiastic volunteers…

As Melbourne gets busier, overcrowding is increasingly occurring at non-peak times. This train to Pakenham was leaving Flinders Street on a recent Sunday afternoon. It wasn’t full of football fans or racegoers, but people heading home from visiting the CBD. Why should people wait 20-40 minutes for a train, then have to stand for long…

For all the fuss about fighting fare evasion, some major stations regularly have their gates left open and unattended, allowing those without tickets to travel unchecked. This photo was taken two days before the current fare blitz began. The only way to permanently cut fare evasion is by putting more staff on the system so…

It’s not just trains that get packed. This is tram route 8 in the evening peak. Increasing numbers of tram services are suffering from overcrowding, with many cases of passengers being left behind, unable to board. While the former government finally got around to ordering 50 new trams, the first of these won’t arrive until…

Weekday peak-hour at South Yarra station. Queues of people heading in and out have to wait to get through just a handful of fare gates. Despite strong patronage growth in the last ten years, nothing has been done to expand the entrance, in fact a bypass gate takes the space that could be used by…

Welcome to our new daily series of pictures. Each day we’ll be aiming to highlight problems from around the public transport network. It’s been like this for decades: Every day, Monash Uni students endure long queues and packed buses between Huntingdale Station and Clayton campus. The solution in the short term is more buses, and…