Sydney versus Melbourne - Who really has the better transport?

Just over a year ago I compared Australia's big capitals to see who had the worst transport. It was long and I forgive anyone who didn't reach its end. Let's simplify it a bit. After all for us here in Melbourne there's just one other Australian city that we need compare ourselves with. 

Today's question therefore is who has the better public transport - Sydney or Melbourne? 

I'll break it down into 8 points, equally weighted. Whoever gets the most out of 8 wins. 

1. Metropolitan rail network

Both cities have large electrified rail networks. Sydney has a full-on Metro operating on one line while we're still building ours for the central bit of a rerouted Dandenong - Sunbury railway. Sydney's rail network has vastly more suburban connection points while Melbourne's is strictly radial. And Sydney's maximum waits at most stations (15 min) are half or better ours (30-40 min) day and night. We can boast multimode Night Network while Sydneysiders just have buses (albeit on more nights of the week). Still, especially given Melbourne's reluctance to boost frequencies, the answer is pretty indisputable and no correspondence will be entered into. 

Winner: Sydney

2. Regional rail network

Country people say that NSW stands for Newcastle - Sydney - Wollongong and that's a fair summation of regional rail in NSW. Sure country trains go to a couple of other places (including Canberra) but they're infrequent. In contrast Melbourne has substantial service on five V/Line corridors (Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Seymour, Traralgon) with more trips added on lines like Warrnambool. And our fares will be super cheap from March 31 (though good luck getting a seat at busy times). 

Winner: Melbourne

3. Tram network

Sydney has lately rediscovered something that we've known all along. But their tram network is still a fraction of our size. Despite Melbourne trams being the nation's slowest, its lines often finishing short of stations and network expansion being off the agenda, there's really no contest here. 

Winner: Melbourne

4. Bus network 

Buses in Sydney do a lot of what trams do in Melbourne. But even in areas beyond where the trams went Sydney buses are often better. Western Sydney has T-ways that have no real equivalents in Melbourne. Melbourne's made a few attempts to fix its buses but only haltingly in some areas. Hence 2/3 of its network is substantially unchanged from 20 or 30 years ago, the public image of buses is poorer in Melbourne than other capitals and its 2021 bus plan appears both vague and unfunded. 

Winner: Sydney

5. General network service levels 

I mentioned Night Network before, which is a feather in Melbourne's cap. There have also been significant regional rail frequency upgrades, especially weekdays off-peaks. But when Sydney wants to boost service they measure it in thousands of trips per week as opposed to our few hundred. Hence the gaps between Sydney and Melbourne has widened since about 2017 in the former's favour. These increases have been applied to metropolitan rail, metropolitan bus and regional city buses. Melbourne had a strong bus service uplift program between 2006 and 2010 and boosted train frequencies a few years after that but has mostly stagnated since despite higher population growth than Sydney.  

Winner: Sydney 

6. Fares 

Sydney has a tradition of modal-based fares and little stomach to properly integrate them. Melbourne integrated fares across modes from the 1980s, enabling free transfers between bus and train, for example. Due to political pressure our fare system is too flat with some short trips expensive and long trips too cheap (outrageously so after the government's V/Line fare cut comes in). Hence fare equity isn't so good for Melbourne but at least it is integrated between modes (Early Bird train travel excepted). 

Winner: Melbourne

7. Ticketing 

We have myki, Sydney has Opal. Our myki is good for trains but trams and (since COVID) buses have had no means for casual riders to purchase or top up a ticket. Hence Melburnians without topped up mykis are either brazen fare evaders, guilty riders or honest people shunning PT over ticketing doubts. In contrast people can use their credit cards as tickets in Sydney which helps a lot failing cash or at least better top-up options.  

Winner: Sydney


8. Leadership, policy, planning and direction

Transport ministers here have done good things. Our infrastructure program, in particular, has been extraordinary, notably our level crossing removals. The previous Coalition government presided over some significant bus reform and 10 minute off-peak rail frequency improvements (albeit concentrated in their then south and east winnable seats).  But Sydney has done more when we look at purely public transport projects, including new Metros, major train frequency upgrades, new tram lines and dramatically reformed buses. Sydney's new interchanges are better designed and they've achieved a vastly better balance of service and infrastructure investment compared to us.   

Winner: Sydney 

Summing up

Sydney 5 points to Melbourne's 3. As much as I hate to say it, the winner is Sydney. That's confirmed when you look at modal share and recent patronage growth statistics. And it's progressed hugely in the last 10-15 years with substantial improvements to train frequency, cleanliness and ticketing compared to my visit in 2009.   

Still, Melbourne has a lot of scope to cost-effectively narrow the gap, especially with regards to train frequencies and bus reform. 

Disagree? Leave your thoughts in the comments below!