Single line track sections can be a barrier to running regular, frequent and reliable train services. It's great that these are gradually being removed. None more so than the Dandenong - Cranbourne section which would have risked the reliability of Metro Tunnel and (later) airport services if it had not been duplicated.
The completion of this work has led to a new timetable starting February 13. This mainly benefits stations between Dandenong and Cranbourne though there are also gains for stations between Westall and Pakenham as well. Also Malvern, which will see more trains stopping. The latter though is at the cost of trip speed for V/Line's Gippsland trains whose timetables are made a minute longer. PTV's item on this is here.
Marketing talked about '10 minute trains to Cranbourne'. This is a welcome acknowledgement that frequency is important and is worth selling. Too rare when much local transport discourse and funding is about infrastructure and not service.
Let's look at the claims in more detail. First of all the frequency improvements are during the peaks. Cranbourne's basic frequency remains at 20 min off-peak and 30 minutes on weekend evenings.
I counted the number of trains leaving Cranbourne between 6am to 9am on weekdays. It rises from 13 to 16. OK, this is two trains short of a 10 minute average (18 trains in 3 hours) but you could argue that peak demand is nearer to ocurring in a 2 hour period in the morning and not 3 hours.
What about the 'peak of peak' and how consistent is the service? It's particularly telling that the premier's release talks about an average 10 minute frequency. The actual timetable is very lumpy with shorter and longer gaps, including during the 'peak of the peak'. As an example there is a 15 minute gap between 7:23 and 7:38 am at Cranbourne.
While an improvement, this is no 'throw away the timetable' reform. Regardless of average frequency this timetable does not deliver a true turn-up-and-go 10 minute peak service for Cranbourne. The latter needs to be based on maximum waits rather than average frequencies. It is hoped that a future rescheduling will smooth these peak timetable irregularities and address other needs such as 20 minute maximum waits all week including evenings and Sunday mornings (like the Frankston line has).
What should however improve is reliability. Stations on single track sections are prone to having their trains delayed or terminated early. For instance trains scheduled to go to Cranbourne might finish at Dandenong, requiring passengers to alight and catch the next through train. Duplication should lessen these occurrences and pave the way for the locally hoped for extension to Clyde.
Interestingly there has been no mention of bus recoordinations at Cranbourne which could have been desirable to get the most from the new timetable.
Rosebud bus revamp
We got the 788 service upgrade late last year. This was welcome. It gave a large area its first 'minimum standards' bus route (previously services ran only every 70 - 80 minutes on weekends). But there's large areas not near the 788 that had only rudimentary and often confusing services (if they had any at all).
Much of the area is in the politically marginal seat of Nepean (unexpectedly won by Labor's Chris Brayne in 2018). The Mornington Peninsula Shire has been advocating for better buses. More on that here. They can claim significant success in both the abovementioned Route 788 upgrade and the following network reforms starting in under a month. The upgrades were funded in the 2020 state budget. Few details were released then but I thought about some alternative network concepts for the area.
PTV's website describes the changes in two website news items. The first describes changes to the 781 and 887. The second introduces the new Rosebud FlexiRide with associated changes to the 787 and the deletion of the 886.
Each item is presented as stand-alone with no cross-references or links between them even though they serve similar and overlapping areas. Neither does the item about Rosebud FlexiRide link to the general FlexiRide page (despite it having Rosebud added). A reference from both pages to the recently upgraded 788 would also have been desirable in case people missed it and to mention potential connectivity with the new FlexiRide and revised 787 (the current version of which did have scheduled connectivity with 788 trips).
PTV's disconnected 'silo-style' presentation format confirms that the Department of Transport lacks internal ability to see and present the network as a whole, to the detriment of explaining and selling reforms to it. We have also seen similar disconnects in planning, where the DoT specified different public holiday arrangements for Melton's FlexiRide than which apply for regular buses in the area.
Getting back to the Mornington Peninsula, next month's changes are as follows:
* Route 781 is extended to Dromana to provide new coverage in Mt Martha (though the current PTV website map shows some long gaps between stops). Frequency remains hourly with service until about 10pm. This is a major improvement as it brings coverage to a notoriously unserved area. Another benefit is improved connectivity at the southern end to remove backtracking for Mt Martha - Rosebud trips.
* Route 887 rerouted to become the peninsula's promised express bus. It runs from Frankston to Boneo Rd (Rosebud) with expressing between Frankston and Dromana. service to Boneo Rd. Every 60 minutes weekdays, every 120 minutes weekends. Daytime only service on weekends.
Provided the bus times suit the 887 shortens travel between Rosebud and Frankston by about 15-20 minutes compared to the 788. As an example, a 10:20am Route 887 trip from Rosebud Plaza gets to Frankston at 11:08am (ie 48 minutes). In contrast the 788 offers departures from Rosebud Plaza at 10:04 and 10:31 am. These arrive at Frankston at 11:09 and 11:39 respectively (ie 65 or 68 minutes). If you get to the Rosebud Plaza stop at 10am you are probably still better off getting the first bus that comes (the 788) despite being slower since it will arrive just 1 minute later than the express 887. This example illustrates the power of frequency and its equal (if not greater) importance as express running in reducing end-to-end travel times.
It is likely that those in the Rosebud area wishing to go to Frankston will aim to catch the 887 there for its faster run time. For their trip home, assuming the departure time is less fixed, they are more likely to get the first bus out of Frankston. That is unless they arrive at Frankston interchange at about 10 past the hour and there is a 887 a few minutes after the 788 (which there normally is on weekdays).
* The very complex Route 787 will be shortened and simplified with its eastern portion cut out. The new route will run from Rosebud to Sorrento only. Its timetable will be made more regular with a 60 minute frequency on weekdays, a 120 minute frequency on Saturdays and no Sunday service. Operating hours unfortunately remain disappointing with the last weekday trip leaving Rosebud at 2:55pm (3:52pm Saturdays).
It is as if they're trying to schedule it to use two buses / two drivers on an 8 hour shift (weekdays) and one bus/one driver on Saturday. In combination with the 50 - 55 minute run time this may be operationally efficient but the short span doesn't make the service as useful as it could be. And it marks a return to parsimonious 1990s style planning with no minimum service standards regarding span and frequency.
* A new Rosebud FlexiRide to replace the indirect eastern part of 787 and all of the short Route 886 to Rosebud TAFE. Coverage in the currently unserved Martha Cove area will also be provided. This is described as a 12 month trial. Unlike the 887 (which had some Saturday trips) the new FlexiRide is weekday only. Thus the revised network cuts Saturday service in some areas. The 3:45pm finish is also a joke (woe betide the passenger who needs to leave Rosebud TAFE after that time). These short operating hours gives Rosebud the least useful FlexiRide out of all so far rolled out (eg Rowville, Lilydale, Melton).
Most areas that get bus network revamps have operating days and hours improved to something closer to 'minimum standards' - that is 7 day service at least hourly until 9pm. Endeavour Hills' new network is a recent (imperfect) example where Sunday service was improved from every 2 hours and operating hours lengthened.
Rosebud has little such luck. Embarrassingly early times for Rosebud's last bus on routes like 787 and the new FlexiRide will remain in force. Instead what spare resources there were went onto the upgraded and rerouted express 887 which offers faster travel but basically no new coverage. An express type bus has merit given the lack of rail and the slow travel speeds on the 788. However 887's still low frequency means that there will be many times when the 788 will remain the faster option. Whether the 887 should have been upgraded while other areas remain starved with short-hours local routes finishing at 3 or 4 pm is a fair question to ask (alternative southern peninsula network that would combine 787/788/887 into two routes (787/788, each hourly) is Option 2 here).
See https://twitter.com/MelbOnTransit/status/1484346453212688386 for a Twitter thread on the above changes.
Conclusion
Overall both the Cranbourne train timetable and Rosebud bus network changes are an improvement.
However both have significant loose ends that need to be addressed in a future timetable revision.
Cranbourne's looks more like a tweak than a comprehensive timetable overhaul that should be providing something nearer to a consistent 10 minute maximum wait peak frequency (noting that there will be scheduling constraints eg other trains like Gippsland V/Line that need paths).
The Mornington Peninsula's biggest disappointment is its poor operating hours, particularly on Routes 787 and the Rosebud FlexiRide. Having both finish at 3 or 4pm, regardless of how poor existing services were, is a major let-down that will hobble patronage on otherwise beneficial network upgrades. 7 day service should also be the rule rather than the exception.
It is puzzling why, despite some positive upgrades such as the 781 and 887, the Mornington Peninsula remains with such a parsimonious third-rate service given the relative cheapness of operating span extensions that would work the existing bus fleet harder (and create more driver jobs).
1 comment:
Like I said in a reply to your tweet last week, for what I imagine is smell of an oily rag upgrades it could be worse. Overall it is good to see the 787 get some attention and whilst an upgraded hourly frequency on weekdays and an increase in services on Saturday helps, it could've been improved further (albeit this would require additional funding no doubt).
Ideally I think the 787 should run to a flat 60 minute frequency on weekdays and a 2 hourly frequency on weekends and public holidays including Sunday (with a service span from 6am to 7pm).
The 786 which wasn't touched in this upgrade needs attention as well. It's biggest problem is it suffers from a week eastern terminus in St Andrews Beach (though it's not as if a stronger terminus exists). It also suffers from an uneven frequency and bizarrely a bunch of local St Andrews Beach services which serve about 4 stops and finish a block east of where it started. I can't imagine anyone is using these local services.
Given the low population it serves, I think a way to reform the route would be the spread out the services so that they provide at least a morning, mid morning, afternoon and evening return trip. A basic Sunday service should also be looked at (3 return trips spread throughout the day).
I remember reading the Bus review for the area that was completed in around 2009, this suggested a route going down Canterbury Jetty Road and Tasman drive. Having spent a bit of time in that area it may be worthwhile to look at a route.
My idea would be for a route to run down Dundas Street then turn into Browns Road (which then becomes Tasman Drive and Canterbury Jetty Road). This could then follow the 787 alignment to terminate at Blairgowrie (with the 787 realigned to run entirely down Melbourne Road). It could run hourly on weekdays and every 2 hours on weekends (with a service span matching the 787).
This part of Rye does have quite a large possible catchment as holiday houses progressively become permanent residences.
Of course all of this would be subject to additional funding etc.
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