Category: PT Problem of the Day

Fortunately it doesn’t seem to have happened this week, but flooding in subways and other parts of railway stations has become a regular occurrence. Ormond, Blackburn and Surrey Hills are often unusable during heavy rain due to the poor drainage in their subways, forcing trains to bypass them. They and other stations are obviously in…

This is Lonsdale Street. Bus lanes bring undoubted benefits, allowing buses to overtake stopped traffic. But policing them seems to be rare, and it’s not uncommon to see a bus carrying dozens of people held up by a car with one. It may be as simple as a motorist stopping a few centimetres too far…

The Siemens trains have had problems since their introduction in 2003. Speed limits have now been applied at numerous locations on the lines where they run, so they have to crawl into stations with a level crossing on the far side. This has led to punctuality problems on the lines where they run. This week’s…

Despite upgrades to long (bendy) buses and a service every ten minutes at most times of day, Skybus still gets overcrowded. Some services have large numbers of passengers having to stand as the bus speeds along the freeway from the airport to the CBD. At times, buses have to leave passengers behind to catch the…

It’s hard enough navigating public transport without throwing in mystery route numbers. There are dozens of them on the tram network — not on maps, not in the timetables. Many of these “ghost” tram routes run from the City into the suburbs, generally to tram depots. They could save you a long wait, but because…

It’s been a problem for decades: where trains cross trams, both suffer delays. The trams frequently have to wait for trains to cross, and the trains have to slow down to around 15 km/h — even when they’re running “express” through the adjacent station. This is a problem at four crossings: Glenhuntly (pictured), Kooyong, Gardiner…

When is a Smartbus not a Smartbus? When it’s the 703. While the other Smartbus routes offer reasonable good (though not perfect) services, the 703 is called a Smartbus, but doesn’t meet the Government’s own standard for Smartbus services. It doesn’t run until midnight; its 15-minute services finish around 6pm, not 9pm (making it far…

This is tram 16 to St Kilda, late on a Saturday morning. Just like in the evenings, some tram routes get packed at weekends, leaving passengers forced to stand for long distances while scores of trams sit unused in depots. While tram 3a has been diverted via St Kilda Beach on weekends, it’s either not…

There’s a lot of talk about simplifying train timetables; making them easier to understand and more reliable to run. It makes sense, to cut delays, make better use of track capacity, and make navigating the rail system easier. But the reality is somewhat different. This is a page showing the new timetable (starting this Monday)…

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…