TT #147: Holiday timetables without tears - some learnings from this summer

A shortish item today due to much material and previous discussion in this Twitter thread.  

Despite changed routines making it critical, PTV has long had difficulties with presenting accurate online timetable information at this time of year. This is despite the events that make it difficult, like Christmas and holidays, being unmovables that can be planned for well in advance. While issues arise every summer, its performance seems particularly poor this time. 

Current and recurring issues include:  

1. Timetable arrangements for buses (especially) in Melbourne can be complex for no good reason except for how things were done in the past and lack of recent reform to complete simplification (that started in earnest in 2006).

2. The Department of Transport can neither understand, manage, nor communicate its complex services. 

3. PTV information channels such as its website, journey planner and app are often incomplete, inaccurate and untrustworthy with poor internal processes to ensure the quality of underlying data. This is exacerbated by the abovementioned complexity of service eg timetable variations. 

4. DoT seems oblivious of the cost to it of managing complex services despite a. reputational risks caused by its deficiencies being on public show, b. the loss of passenger goodwill and patronage and c. the relatively low cost of fixing some of the worst complexities (probably in the hundreds of thousands to low millions per year across the entire network). 

See The Public Holiday Gamble on Melbourne buses and Hot waits - summer timetable cuts for more detail. Since those were written there have been some improvements. Which is good as it makes finishing the job cheaper. Victoria's Bus Plan rightly identifies complexity as a barrier to use but lacks an action plan to fix the worst and cheapest of it soon. 

So with this in mind here is the top five simplifications that should be done to prevent a repeat of this summer's problems the next time around: 

1. Rowville bus routes 681 and 682 are Melbourne's only 7-day routes that don't run public holidays. They should, like every other 7 day route. Especially given that the other main bus in the area, the FlexiRide, is weekday only so also doesn't run public holidays. Having consistency would greatly simplify PTV communications efforts since they won't need to resort to weasel phrases like 'some bus routes will be altered or will not run' which doesn't mean anything except to spread distrust. 

2. Scrap reduced summer bus timetables on Routes 503, 506 and (if it's still effective) 733. 503 and 506 are run by a tiny family bus operator whose manual spreadsheet timetables work for them. However they have resulted in PTV publishing a stand-alone pdf whose data does not flow into their online timetables or journey planner, thus confusing and misleading passengers. Given all are significant cross suburban routes it would be easiest just to fund the extra few drivers for a few weeks to deliver a full timetable all year. Yes, we're probably talking mere tens of thousands per route per year here - a pittance in the whole scheme of things. 

3. Operate Melton's new FlexiRide with Saturday hours on most public holidays. Another tiny cost involving just one extra hour service per public holiday. It would address a specification drafting error where those who wrote it were unaware of normal Melbourne bus service practices (ie a Saturday timetable on most public holidays). This was corrected in the subsequent Tarneit FlexiRide but Melton's needs to be brought into line for consistency and ease of communication across the network. 

4. Sort out the Deakin University mess where there are two Box Hill shuttles (201 and 768) operating to different semester patterns. Merging routes would be an economical fix that would make travel so much simpler. More detail here. 

5. Upgrade the twenty-odd 6-day bus routes that still run on Saturdays but not public holidays to also run then. This is the biggest change with the biggest benefit. Without it some areas are left without buses for 4 days straight (Dec 25, 26, 27, 28) then again three days straight (Jan 1, 2, 3) as all as public holidays or Sundays. This list, which appears here, includes popular routes like 506, 536, 559 and 612. Others have significant unique coverage or connections eg 414, 526, 538, 548 and FlexiRides around Lilydale/Croydon. This is the dearest of the five steps but it's still relatively cheap since we're only talking about a few days of the year on (mostly) short and infrequent routes. 

Communication becomes clearer when consistency of service means that there's no longer exceptions to trip people up. And there is a high chance of accuracy without those involved having to hold an equivalent of a PhD in timetable history to spot the numerous exceptions that currently exist. Currently it's the opposite with it being a miracle if mistakes don't happen. Safe / robust systems should be planned around the fallibility of humans with the same applying for data systems.   

Would the above fix everything that's complex about our buses? Not by a long shot. For instance some Saturday timetables still have oddities like noon finishes that belong to another age. This would also apply on public holidays if those timetables were to run then. Then there's the complex routes and frequencies that don't harmonise with trains or are either too high or low for a route's role. 

However addressing the above five, along with internal checking before people go on holidays, could ensure a less fraught period for Melbourne bus passengers in 2022/2023. Now that will be something good to look forward to! 

Index to Timetable Tuesday items here