That wasn't the case in 1982. Back then Perth had just two operating diesel passenger rail lines that missed its two main postwar growth corridors not to mention a lot of infill. And in the early 1990s Perth had just one bus route more frequent than every 20 minutes off-peak, and even that was just weekdays.
Despite having some of the nation's highest incomes and car ownership rates, Perth has showed that a city can build surprisingly good public transport that outperforms much better endowed Brisbane and even aspects of Melbourne's network.
Here's a recent RM Transit video on Perth's rail network.
Peter Newman on the background to Perth's rail revival.
While Perth is most known for its freeway trains, these couldn't get the usage they did without space-effective ways of getting to the station. With widely spaced freeway median stations distant from most homes that meant a strong feeder bus network. Buses are also important for many cross-suburban trips.
The early 1990s suburban bus network in Perth was only slightly better than Melbourne's after its Cain/Kirner cuts. Many routes were indirect, ran at irregular frequencies and ended at dead end termini. The slightest variation had their own route number. A different network often operated on weekends. There was however more after 7pm service and an occasional Sunday service (typically 4 to 8 trips per day) on many routes.
The Joondalup line gave the first nudge to bus reform with freeway express buses configured to form train feeders. That was followed by network reform in other areas arising from the 'System 21' plan for premium direct bus routes operating frequently over long hours. There was also a Circle Route to overcome the network's main problem - that is you could take public transport to and from the CBD but not across suburbs. Since then there have been many more cross-suburban routes added, some at 15 minute frequencies, especially since the opening of the Mandurah line. Local routes have also been boosted with frequencies harmonised with trains and some higher frequencies, including on weekends.
See this thread for key milestones in Perth's network development: https://twitter.com/MelbOnTransit/status/1520504671487807488
A recent case study on how Perth does bus reform is here. This is particularly applicable to Melbourne with its revived interest in this.
Perth's transit network is a long way from perfect. Due to poor land use relative to transport many trips are still bus - train - bus and uncompetitive with driving. However in planning and running a transport network they give us much we can learn from. If what they do works there even better results should be possible in a city with a more transit friendly urban form - such as Melbourne.
Index to other Useful Network items here
1 comment:
1. Perth does the little things well, such using the station precinct for advertising bus route maps and bus signage.
2. It has efficient use of manpower, with few station staff and no conductors. On the older lines it runs 2-car trains every 15 minutes whereas Melbourne runs 6-car trains every 20-40 minutes on most lines.
3. It has achieved incredible value for its capital expenditure. For example, the Mandurah Line of 70 km was built for about $300m in 2007 (stations and trains not included). This is because land was allocated in the freeway median, so construction required very few bridges. Its current new line to the Airport is also much better value than in Melbourne. For $1.8 billion it is getting 25 km of new double track that is mostly underground.
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