TT #177: World class or world worst? Comparing Melbourne's evening train frequencies

Night Network, introduced in 2016, is the most recent major service initiative on Melbourne's trains. While most large cities have long used buses to run a skeleton after midnight network, Melbourne was one of the first to operate 24/7 weekend service on all its three modes of transport, including all  electrified rail lines. We were shortly followed by London which introduced overnight service on some Tube lines. Further improvements came in 2021 with 24/7 weekend service on regular bus routes replacing less known special routes in many areas. 

7pm to midnight service

Of much lower profile is the rail service that runs before Night Network starts - say 7 pm to midnight. These trips run 7 days per week and carry many times more passengers than Night Network does (or will). Many Night Network users, including workers as much as revellers, would be riding trains at these times to reach their destination before returning on a Night Network service. 

7pm to midnight transport services are also important for the night-time economy and various sporting, cultural and entertainment events. These vary in scale from major events like the Australian Open to a couple's night at the theatre. Without effective public transport operating at these times the CBD becomes strictly a daytime employment and business precinct with few lingering later than the pm 'rush hour'. 

Comparison with other cities

Melburnians see themselves as cosmopolitan and well-travelled. Most have at least visited and often lived in major cities either interstate or overseas. It's not surprising then that we like to compare ourselves and our cities with others. Not least our civic leaders, who quickly take credit if we top liveability rankings against other major cities. In years where the results are not as hoped we can at least go back to comparing ourselves with Sydney.  

In this spirit let's do this for our evening metropolitan train services. Is our mid-evening service as pacesetting as our Night Network? Or is it more that of a mid-tier city, like a Brisbane, Perth or Manchester?     

To find out I compared train timetables across the world. I chose well-known cities with which we might compare ourselves. To fit it on a simple graph I looked at service frequency around 10pm Saturday. That graph is below, with taller lines representing more trains per hour than shorter lines.  Not all cities run all lines the same frequency but what's shown is representative.    

The answer could hardly be clearer. Melbourne has about the longest waits for evening trains of any similar developed world city. Our typical 30 minute interval between evening (Metro) trains is double Sydney's 15 minutes and triple the 10 minute waits of London, Chicago and Stockholm. 

Canadian cities like Toronto and Vancouver have smaller (and more metro-style) networks but beat us even more soundly on frequency. Even much smaller Calgary runs a 16 minute evening service on its CTrain. Yet you'd be hard pressed to find cities more similar to one another on opposite sides of the world as those in Canada and those in Australia. 

V/Line rates even lower, despite stations like Ardeer and Deer Park almost qualifying as middle suburbs which would have a Metro service if in the east. 

History of evening train service levels & Sydney comparison 

Melbourne has approximately doubled in population since the 1970s. We were also a different society then with much more rigid working and shopping hours. Everyone aspired to be home in time for the 6 or 6:30pm TV news. 

Have its evening train frequencies kept up? At least on Saturday evenings the answer is no. Indeed they've gone backwards. Prior to the 1978 timetable cuts (whose hand continues to govern how long Melburnians wait for trains nearly 50 years later) typical Saturday evening train frequencies in built up areas was 20 minutes. The 1978 cuts reduced evening service to every 30 minutes at which it has remained ever since on most established area lines. Weeknights are slightly better but 30 minute service remains most common (2019 comparison here).  

The Melbourne/Sydney disparity became a gulf when Sydney added 1500 more weekly trips in its revamped 2017 timetable . It got even wider after its frequent Metro opened in 2019. The 2017 timetable boosted many evening services from every 30 to every 15 min while the Metro enjoys a 10 minute evening service. Consequently it is now fair to say that Sydney enjoys about double Melbourne's off-peak frequency, especially at night and Sunday morning.  

The widening gap is because in the last 5 or 10 years Sydney added both infrastructure and service  to its railway while Melbourne has been serious about infrastructure only. A sign that this might be starting to become more balanced occurred in 2021 when Werribee, Williamstown and Frankston received evening upgrades to every 20 minutes. This is high by our standards but low service by almost everyone else's standard (including Sydney). 2022 was basically a lost year for off-peak train timetable boosts and we don't yet know if 2023 will bring better news.   

The high costs of skimping on service

For all the electrification extensions, new trains and level crossing removals successive state governments can claim as achievements, one thing has remained pretty constant. On Saturday (and other) nights all but a few trains remain locked away in stabling despite proven demand for travel and long queues for taxis.

Meanwhile our system remains staffed with signallers, customer service staff and PSOs whose numbers are largely independent of whether we see one train per hour (Night Network), two trains per hour (typical evening service) or a frequent service as we (mostly) enjoy in the peaks but not, unlike more advanced cities, at other times on most lines. 

The combination of long operating hours (especially since Night Network started) and mostly low frequency has meant that our rail assets are underused, patronage is less than what it should be and operating costs are spread over fewer passengers. 

Railways that have been better at maintaining their patronage since the pandemic have been more broadly useful services rather than narrow commuter operations. To change our system into the former requires a funding and operating culture of 'all day frequent service'. 

'Getting to Twenty' A cheap partial fix

I discuss the most cost-effective moves towards better evening service here. The take-home message is how few extra trains need to be added to the weekly timetable to make an impact. Even a 1% uplift would be worthwhile with really significant gains possible with 3% more trips. 

For example boosting service from every 30 to every 20 minutes requires just two extra return trips per two hour period per line. This has a small marginal cost compared to many other things we have been willing to fund, including Night Network itself, but would likely induce similar if not more usage. 

20 minute maximum waits are still only Atlanta or Los Angeles standards but would at least harmonise with trams and narrow the gap with Sydney. But they could be a prelude to widespread 10 minute all-week service until midnight.

Ultimately this should be almost network-wide. A good start would be 18 hour/7 day 10 minute trains to busier line termini like Dandenong, Watergardens, Ringwood, Craigieburn, Werribee and Mernda.  Then you'd do Greensborough, Frankston, Wyndham Vale, Sandringham, Glen Waverley,  Melton and Upfield to basically complete the job. Then, and only then, would we have a genuinely world-class network.  

See other Timetable Tuesday items here