Starting on May 8.
Major changes for Werribee, Altona, Williamstown, Frankston, Alamein, Glen Waverley and Blackburn trains, with more running direct to Flinders Street and a consistent off-peak cross-city loop between Frankston, Flinders St, Southern Cross and Werribee/Williamtown.
Altona and Williamstown shuttles swapped on weekdays.
Overhauled peak period timetables, with more services on many lines (making use of the new trains).
Off-peak frequency changes: Werribee down from 2 x 20 min to 1 x 20 min, but Newport up to 1 x 10 min.
Major weekday evening service frequency upgrades for Werribee, Altona, Williamstown, Pakenham and Cranbourne trains (30 to 20 minutes).
More at Metro Trains and Herald Sun
1 comment:
Hopefully there's been some sensibility around the new timetables.
For instance, at the moment, the first inbound Ringwood* (*Bel/Lil) service precedes the first Glen Waverley service by a couple of minutes. Under the current timetable, this would means the Ringwood service would travel by the Loop, while the GW would run direct. This would leave GW passengers desiring a Loop service waiting for 15-20 mins for the next Ringwood Loop service (for cross-platform transfer) or having to change platforms and still waiting for a bit (first service arrives around 5.30am to Richmond- not a lot of traffic then!).
Reversing the line order such that the GW arrives a minute ahead of the Ringwood would mean the GW passengers can get a Loop service, while the Ringwood passengers do miss out on a direct FSS service (although they can also interchange) but will get there in the end via the Loop. This contrasts to the GW passengers that don't get to see the Loop stations at all, without a wait that might be as long as their journey up to that point.
I'm sure there's similar considerations on other lines affected by the changes. Or will trains run via the Loop offpeak where capacity exists? Sounds like not, for consistency.
Will such timing and interchange considerations be made in the new timetable? Place your bets....
I just hope in all of this the interchange aspect is made as painless as possible. Richmond and North Melbourne have had substantial improvements in passenger info lately, but SXS and FSS lag in this area. Where Loop interchange may become more prominent, these stations too need to have clear information about which train going in which Loop direction is next available, not just which line they're actually traveling to eventually.
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