TT 231: The secret Sunday train PTV doesn't advertise

 

As noted here, the much-promoted "Big Switch" February 1 Metro train timetables were a huge boost for the Sunbury line, some handy uplifts for Cranbourne and Pakenham but pretty small affairs elsewhere.

This is because bigger initiatives are planned for later, with the minister describing the February 1 changes as only the beginning. These will include off-peak improvements for Sandringham, Craigieburn and Upfield and peak improvements for Werribee, 

However February 1 did treat the Frankston line to an extra outbound Sunday morning trip, departing Flinders Street at 7:39am and arriving Frankston at 8:43am. 

Its timing couldn't have been better so kudos to the Master Timetable schedulers. It perfectly plugs a 60 minute gap in the previous timetable that existed until the 9:12am arrival at Frankston. 

And whether by luck or design it cuts connection waits for the Mornington Peninsula's most important bus routes (including some first trips for the day) by 30 minutes. Without this train people travelling from the city direction would be unable to efficiently arrive at most Peninsula destinations much before late morning. 

Despite its network benefits this extra service has flown under the radar. Even though it's a perfect example of how adding a few services per week at important times (for tiny cost) can transform passenger experiences and the network's usefulness.  

The trip's low profile is not just due to the usual DTP/TV/PTV prosaic communication style and lack of marketing flair. Weakness in data management is also a factor. That's because the trip can be missing from what should be trusted resources like the PTV app, Transport Victoria website and Metro online timetables. Without departure time posters at stations (which were removed and not replaced for February 1) people might see the hour gap between trains and avoid travel or drive instead.

Without information one could call the 7:39am Sunday trip from Flinders Street to Frankston a 'secret' train, known only to a lucky few who either saw it or were browsing certain sources that showed it. 

Enjoy this video of my experiences planning and making a trip involving it last Sunday. 

Watch and subscribe to Melbourne on Transit YouTube here

Note: There are other trains that run but are not in the public timetable. These 'non-PSR' trains are normally on weekdays. They can be cancelled without penalty. But this service is too useful for network connectivity to be considered a non-PSR. 

UPDATE: A commenter on the above video says that the train mentioned is also not listed in the printed timetable. The plot thickens! 

See other Timetable Tuesday items here

UN 234: Climate Action Merri-bek's transport ideas for Fawkner

Fawkner is geometrically a terrible suburb to plan public and active transport for.

Fawkner can claim two stations on the Upfield line. But this skirts the suburb's western edge, is severed from most homes by busy Sydney Rd and lacks a station at the suburb's nearest large shopping centre at Campbellfield. When the timetable is running perfectly peak trains run every 16 minutes. However reliability is fragile as even small delays can result in trains starting or terminating at Batman due to the single track section north of Gowrie (as happened this morning, in fact).

Fawkner is the sort of suburb that could see housing density intensification and gentrification. Both could mean more CBD workers who are more likely to commute by public transport. Gentrification also brings social capital which is associated with higher engagement in the political process, residents demanding more, seats becoming less taken for granted and eventually winning funding for upgraded services including better transport.   

Fawkner is somewhat of an island. Cemeteries limit road access to the west while Merri Creek blocks it to the east. This makes any east-west travel from most parts of Fawkner an ordeal. Which is is exacerbated by Reservoir's bus network being an unreformed mess with complex routes like the 553 and dead end routes like 558. And to the west the 536 has a weak terminus at Gowrie Station rather than extending into or nearer Fawkner, even if just to Campbellfield Plaza. North-south travel is via the busy and walking-hostile Sydney Rd or the unreliable Upfield line. 

Fawkner's existing bus network includes the hourly weekday-only 531 down Sydney Rd from Coburg North to Upfield (both weak termini) and the snaky 530 from Coburg to Campbellfield (both strong termini but very indirect). 

Given these limitations what should be done about improving transport to and within Fawkner? 

I could say more on this but today I won't. 

Instead I'll invite you to read these priorities for better active and public transport for Fawkner prepared by Climate Action Merri-bek.  

Note: We have since seen the state budget which included upgrades for bus services including higher weekend frequency for the 561 mentioned above. This will have large direct benefits for a broad strip across the north including Reservoir, Coburg and Pascoe Vale. 

See other Useful Network items

TT 230: Maximum waits for Australian trams compared

Yesterday Daniel Bowen cited statistics that showed that Australia's busiest tram lines were no longer in Melbourne. Indeed three of the top four top performers were new systems in Sydney and the Gold Coast. See Daniel's item for some possible reasons for this. 

Benefits of frequent all week service

The ideal for any major public transport line is that you should be able to turn up at any reasonable time (that I will define as 6am to midnight 7 days) and expect a service to arrive within a short time without checking a timetable. The February 2026 timetable introduced this concept for the central section of the Metro Tunnel between Dandenong and West Footscray. The 22 stations in this section enjoy a timetabled maximum wait of 10 minutes or less for 130 hours of the week. 

This 'always there' frequent service encourages a completely different attitude towards public transport by transforming the user experience. This includes including it being useful for trips more diverse than the weekday peak period city commute (which has long been declining as a proportion of all trips). 

On a broader level a frequent network can shape investment and personal decisions like where people choose to live and how many cars households own (which further grows patronage). Much more than in cities like Perth, Melbourne has a significant inner suburban demographic that would be favourably disposed to not driving if public transport was reasonably frequent over wide hours. For such a group maximum waits (even at 11pm) are likely to have an out-sized influence on their decisions. And maximum waits are relatively cheap to reduce, especially if they need only a few hours extra per week of one or two extra trips per hour to cut. 

Everyone will have different views as to what comprises 'turn up and go'. Factors like the length of the trip, if a connection to another route is involved, willingness to walk and the availability of alternatives are all important. But, with one big city exception, there is, based on what currently operates, general agreement on what the maximum wait should be for light rail routes in Australian cities. 

Do you know what it is?

To help I've reproduced the tram route patronage graph with maximum waits annotated.

The above excludes suburban rail and BRT systems. But if you counted them you would find that most Sydney lines have 15 minute maximum waits from first to last. As do the inner sections of three rail corridors in Perth and Brisbane's BUZ bus corridors. 

Melbourne stands out as the exception in all this. Its midday tram frequencies are comparable to the other lines. But after dark and (especially) on Sundays they collapse to 30 minutes, even on its busiest tram lines. Whereas, just like is done for their trains, Sydney has a maximum wait of half that or 15 minutes. The same is true for the Gold Coast and Canberra.

While I've marked Newcastle harshly (as their 30 minute gaps are at the extremities of the day) if anything I've been generous to Melbourne because many of their trams start after 6am on Sundays, particularly in the outbound direction (although six routes run 24 hours under Night Network). Also Melbourne has more lines than other cities with a more frequent service available on some inner area overlaps. 

Reasons for Melbourne's long maximum waits

Sundays are one key reason for Melbourne's longer maximum waits than other cities. Take those away and maximum waits drop to 20 minutes (the standard service for most routes on Monday to Saturday evenings). That's Adelaide type maximum waits. 

The 30 minute Sunday morning gaps reflect a history of opposition to Sunday service by the Protestant-dominated Tramways in the first third of last century. In the face of public pressure and a leadership change limited Sunday morning service based on 30 minute headways commenced in 1936 as a six month trial. Those same 30 minute headways have stuck for 90 years on most routes. 

Sunday evenings, that other important time where most Melbourne trams run only every 30 minutes, have a different history. The churches were much more concerned about preserving the Sunday morning Sabbath than Sunday evenings. Sunday evening trams in Melbourne used to run as frequently as Sydney's, Gold Coast's and Canberra's do now but unreversed 1950s and 1960s service cuts ended that.

Melbourne's timetables have remained time capsules for decades due to historically low political interest in upgrading service levels for many years. Especially the type of service levels that could have been upgraded within existing infrastructure and fleet constraints. 

Recent action to cut maximum waits

There have been no significant tram service cuts for a long time. There have even been some minor frequency improvements (most notably Friday and Saturday nights) on some routes. But these have not been enough to reverse the long-term (and continuing) per capita reduction in tram service levels.

The trend for Metro rail services has been more encouraging. For the first time in a while we're seeing concerted action to cut maximum waits to 20 minutes. This includes a start made to cut 30 and 40 minute maximum waits to 20 minutes for Pakenham, Cranbourne and Sunbury in the February 2026 Metro Tunnel timetable.

This will be followed by the implementation of similar for Craigieburn and Upfield (funded in the 2025 state budget). And then the 2026 budgeted upgrades including weekends on the Clifton Hill group and weeknights for the Burnley group. 

By 2027 Melbourne's despised 40 minute gaps should be eliminated on all but the outer Hurstbridge line on the Metro network and weekends on the Melton line for V/Line. The main outstanding matters then become 30 minute maximum waits for the Clifton Hill group on weeknights, the Burnley group on weekend evenings and Sunday mornings and Belgrave / Lilydale for midday weekdays. 

Trams and major bus routes could do with the same too! 

See other Timetable Tuesday items here