UN 187: Doing it with frequency - Melbourne's path to world-class transport

Melbourne's got a great public transport infrastructure legacy. Unlike most US cities it kept substantial metropolitan and regional rail systems. And unlike most other western cities it kept a large, substantially intact, tram network. These factors give us a big advantage over other cities that need to make do with buses and/or rebuild their rail and tram systems (at great expense). 

With easy day trips possible to destinations like Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Traralgon and even Warrnambool, our regional trains compare well with those elsewhere, with substantial investments in both infrastructure and service in the last two decades. 

However the same balance hasn't occurred in Melbourne, with substantial infrastructure builds but declining service per capita on our busiest modes. The comparison with Sydney (which has boosted service) has been particularly stark with waits for their trains half ours at key times people travel. Even US cities with poor reputations for transit orientedness run more frequent trains than we do at night. 

Maybe its massive transit infrastructure inheritance made Melbourne complacent; less endowed cities like Auckland and Perth had to be smarter at working what they have harder. Brisbane, in contrast, provides a data point in the other direction, demonstrating how to run an extensive and expensive network that benefits fewer people than it should. 

With better 'bones' than most other cities, Melbourne's public transport needs just one main thing for it to really shine. Yet, it is far less spoken about than specific high profile projects like Airport Rail and the Suburban Rail Loop.    

Thus it was great to see an article this week in Australasian Bus and Coach discussing the potential for increased frequency to turn its service from underwhelming to world class. The item covered themes familiar to most readers here but which may be new to others. 

It draws on the paper Increasing Melbourne's Service Frequency: The cost-effective path to world-class public transport by the Victorian Transport Action Group (which I had a hand in writing). 

VTAG's paper notes that many timetables, especially for buses, reflect historical patterns such as old shop trading hours. More recently, reports from Melbourne CBD indicate increased evening activity. However metropolitan train timetables have been basically static, with many lines dropping back to half-hourly service after about 7 or 8 pm. And despite sometimes carrying standing loads, our main bus routes are often less frequent than trains or trams, especially on weekends. 

Within modes there is sometimes a mismatch between usage (or usage potential) and service levels provided. Thus sparsely populated Yarrambat gets a SmartBus every 15 minutes, while dense Highpoint, Tarneit and Brunswick have none. Sparsely populated Research, with its two buses per hour (even on Sundays), wins the bus lottery while residential Dandenong North and Campbellfield do not with most routes not even operating 7 days despite their higher social needs.   

The state government is aware of this with prominent mention in 2021's Victoria's Bus Plan. On Tuesday I demonstrated similar for rail, with high patronage but safe seated areas in Melbourne's north and west having double the waits for trains outside peak periods compared to well served lines like Frankston. Some welcome service reform has happened but the will and capacity to implement appears limited, even relative to smaller cities such as Perth. 

Fixing a multi-decade backlog takes time, not least with sourcing recurrent funding, driver recruitment and then driver training. This is why VTAG recommends a staged process starting with popular routes that can be boosted by working the existing fleet harder. That has the effect of benefiting the most people soonest and lessening the risk of services being added but just carrying 'fresh air'. 

Increasing Melbourne's service frequency suggests some priorities areas for all week bus frequency improvements. These include: Point Cook-Werribee-Tarneit, Springvale-Dandenong, Footscray-Sunshine and around Craigieburn. Most bus routes in these typically diverse areas have high boardings per hour productivity despite often dropping to every 40 minutes midday and weekends (as common in Wyndham) and/or not running 7 days (as common in Greater Dandenong). 

All week frequency is also essential given increased travel on weekends, much of which includes people getting to jobs. Priorities for better frequencies are especially high around major shopping centres like Highpoint, Northland, Box Hill and Chadstone. Some recent progress has been made but potential still exists for our key routes (including busier portions of our orbital SmartBuses) to continue their 15 minute weekday frequencies on weekends rather than drop to every 30 or even 40 minutes as now. This would provide a much more legible and saleable network that can be depended on every day.

Starting by shortening the longest waits is particularly cost-effective as not very many extra service kilometres need adding to cut maximum waits, especially for trains. As an example going from 40 minutes to 30 minute frequencies requires just one extra return trip per two hours improved. When the 40 minute service is only at a few times (eg Sunday mornings) then the number of extra weekly trips needed to cut maximum waits is very small indeed. 

Evening boosts from 30 to 20 minutes are also economical, in this case involving one extra return trip per hour of improved frequency. Boosts would lessen or eliminate Melbourne's severe evening service 'cliff' where service collapses to minimal (for trains) or nothing (for many buses) in the 7-9pm range. By running its trains every 15 minutes or better until midnight, boosting tram services and having generally more frequent service on its main bus routes, Sydney has surged ahead of us here. A worthwhile start can be made with 1 to 3% extra trains scheduled per week, as explained here and here, with a sustained program providing further gains.  

Just like with anything the better you make something the more people will use it. Including well-targeted frequency upgrades on public transport. That has benefits including addressing cost of living (public transport is cheaper than driving but a reasonably convenient service needs to exist), widening housing choices (as more homes are near the frequent network), easing traffic congestion (by providing driving alternatives) and maximising returns from the government's investments in infrastructure including level crossing removals and rebuilt stations.   

Another theme is promotion and information. As it stands passengers have little information about buses at train stations. Bus to bus interchanges often require walking around a large interchange to find the one you need with signage at only one or two points. There is also scope for more network maps on the network. Also those that are produced, such as the somewhat hard to find local area maps on the PTV website, insufficiently differentiate between frequent (and thus useful) and part-time routes. 

That's a quick summary of the Victorian Transport Action Group's Increasing Melbourne's Service Frequency paper. I've only scratched the surface so I suggest reading it here (pdf 38 pages). You can also follow the Victorian Transport Action Group on Facebook here. 

See more Building Melbourne's Useful Network items here