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Category: Melbourne and suburbs

  • Roads Minister keeps passengers stuck in traffic

    The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) today expressed frustration with Roads Minister Tim Pallas’ failure to speed up road-based public transport, especially buses, due to lack of action on priority measures. “Roads Minister Tim Pallas needs to stop dragging his feet and start listening to the community, transport experts and his own advisors who all…

  • ‘Dead Time’ tolls trams

    Traffic lights “designed to make trams slow”, study finds Melbourne’s trams are spending up to a third of their travel time needlessly stationary, at a cost of millions of dollars a year, according to research to be presented at a major transport conference today. “We call it ‘dead time’,” said Tony Morton, who carried out…

  • New timetables welcomed — Now more trains needed

    The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has welcomed the announcement of extra train services onto Melbourne’s overcrowded rail network, but warned that this should only be the first step to addressing the problems plaguing the system. “Premier Brumby knows he has to work to solve our transport crisis, and this is a good first step”,…

  • Some ’50s service would fix the trains

    As the annual patronage on Melbourne’s trains climbs through 180 million, it may only be a year or two before we reach the record of 201 million set in 1951. And yet our Government seems to be approaching this milestone not so much with delight as with fear and trepidation (The Age, 7/9). How can…

  • Too much empty track

    WITH membership reading like a who’s who of Australia’s toll road financing and construction industry, the Transport and Tourism Forum’s focus on trying to build our way out of congestion is unsurprising (“Brumby hits the road on crisis”, August 17). Vague references to “key infrastructure projects, such as the proposed east-west tunnel” is code for…

  • We want the bus

    The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) and Templestowe Road Reference Panel have joined forces to demand a much-needed, new bus service along Templestowe Road linking Heidelberg Station with The Pines. This important Manningham arterial road, the ‘missing link’ in Manningham’s transport network, is one of the few without an adequate public transport service and links…

  • Compensation for train users

    Regular public transport users are reminded that compensation is available for monthly and longer ticketholders due to poor reliability on metropolitan and regional rail services recently. Connex for May and June — Click here or get a form from a staffed station V/Line for April, May and June on most short and long distance services…

  • East-West public meeting, Tuesday 3rd of July

    Royal Park meeting The Royal Park Protection Group are hosting a public meeting next Tuesday on this issue, highlighting the impact on Royal Park should an East-West freeway link be built. There will be discussion on the issues, a short film “Royal Park – Past and Present”, and a display of photographer David Tatnall’s photos…

  • Report vindicates public transport campaign

    The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has called on the Government to present a new vision for Melbourne’s public transport network amid an independent report citing concern over urban sustainability.

  • Melbourne’s transport fares the highest – study

    A study of public transport fares around Australia has shown that for most trips, Melbourne’s fares are the highest of any of Australia’s mainland capital cities. The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) surveyed fares in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra, and compared them with the fares to come into effect in Melbourne in June.…

  • Federal budget bypasses sustainable transport

    Public transport advocates have criticised the Federal Budget for again failing to fund sustainable transport initiatives. Victoria’s Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) said the Federal Government continued to ignore the problem, against the advice of such bodies as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), whose report last week on mitigating climate change highlighted the…

  • Commuters welcome extra trains, but more needed

    The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has welcomed the government’s commitment to expand the train fleet, to help deal with unprecedented crowding on suburban rail services, but noted more needed to be done across the public transport network.