Making a complex network simple has been a stated aim for public transport bodies in Melbourne for decades.
That has two strands; (a) planning services to be inherently simple (eg higher frequencies, direct routes, consistent operations and fewer unique stopping patterns on buses and trains) and (b) providing good passenger information, whether for regular travel or when something changes. The latter has become particularly important; there would seldom be a day where there is not several major planned disruptions due to major construction works.
Almost every organisational restructure has given better information, simpler travel, or becoming a 'one stop shop' as a reason or aim. Below is a sample of three in the last twenty years.
That has two strands; (a) planning services to be inherently simple (eg higher frequencies, direct routes, consistent operations and fewer unique stopping patterns on buses and trains) and (b) providing good passenger information, whether for regular travel or when something changes. The latter has become particularly important; there would seldom be a day where there is not several major planned disruptions due to major construction works.
Almost every organisational restructure has given better information, simpler travel, or becoming a 'one stop shop' as a reason or aim. Below is a sample of three in the last twenty years.
Information about service changes appears in various places including signs, announcements and online, including the PTV website. I'll just discuss that website today (ie not the PTV app, operator websites like Metro Trains or Yarra Trams, or project sites like Big Build).
Types of service changes
Service changes can be planned or unplanned, brief, extended or permanent. Examples of different types are below:
The type and duration of the change often affects where you can find out about it online. That's important because information can be in multiple places. There isn't always hyperlinking or even simple cross-references between them. Also the effort taken to explain changes can vary; for example one item may have a map to help explain while another, even if it affects or benefits more people, might not.
Where on the PTV website?
I found information about service changes on the following parts of the PTV website:
Home > Footer > About PTV > Improvements and projects
Intended to be about 'current projects and permanent service changes across the network'. There are sections by mode (Trains, Trams, Buses and coaches) and stations. When you click on each you get the changes in reverse chronological order. Hyperlinks take you to the specific item. Generally (but not always) updated each Friday this is the section you need to learn about a new bus route or updated timetable.
Just because there isn't an item in (for example) the bus section doesn't mean there's not a change to your service. As an example an item advising of train timetable changes (in this case December 1 for the Geelong and other lines) also has bus timetable changes listed. You would not know about this if you just looked at the bus section - there is not even a brief item linking to the main story in the train section. And there can be cases where permanent changes such as stop deletions are treated as a temporary disruption (discussed later).
2. News and events page
Just because there isn't an item in (for example) the bus section doesn't mean there's not a change to your service. As an example an item advising of train timetable changes (in this case December 1 for the Geelong and other lines) also has bus timetable changes listed. You would not know about this if you just looked at the bus section - there is not even a brief item linking to the main story in the train section. And there can be cases where permanent changes such as stop deletions are treated as a temporary disruption (discussed later).
2. News and events page
Home > More > News and Events > News
Not immediately obvious, you need to click 'MORE' (if accessing it from a PC) to find this page. This is split between News and Events, with the News page the one you see first. PTV hardly uses the News section with just five items published in the whole of 2024. The Media Release section is even sparser with just a single item from 2023. Possibly due to the trend for government media activity to be done at the ministerial or even premier level rather than the department.
This leaves Events as the most used section. Here you will find details of public transport arrangements for sporting games and festivities. At the time of writing those most prominent are the New Years celebrations and the Australian Open.
This information is useful for those attending these events. However regular train, tram, bus users not attending also need to know because there may be altered routes or timetables. So even if you're not going to them it's worth checking the Events page. This reflects a tendency for information to favour certain CBD-area major events rather than the myriad of other reasons people travel (including personal business and smaller or more dispersed events).
Events like the Boxing Day Sales (in which buses especially are under pressure due to their limited weekend timetables and lack of priority) get more mention in some years than others. For instance PTV took more effort for Christmas/New Year shopping in 2023-24 than the same occasion in 2024-25.
3. Maps
Home > More > Maps
These maps (especially the metropolitan area local maps) are handy to understand bus network changes. There may be a lag (ranging from short to a couple of weeks) between when service commences and when the new maps appear.
PTV doesn't have a reliable process for deleting old maps from their server. So if you Google search a local area map you may find links to both the current and the immediately past map, with the latter sometimes being the first search result.
PTV greatly underuse this asset. Eg they go to all the trouble of making these maps but almost only puts them online and rarely at other places they would be useful, eg train stations and bus interchanges. Asset underutilisation is a recurring theme of how public transport is run in Victoria with low off-peak frequencies on key routes (especially weekends) being only the most important example.
PTV greatly underuse this asset. Eg they go to all the trouble of making these maps but almost only puts them online and rarely at other places they would be useful, eg train stations and bus interchanges. Asset underutilisation is a recurring theme of how public transport is run in Victoria with low off-peak frequencies on key routes (especially weekends) being only the most important example.
Home > More > Metro Tunnel will open in 2025
Again under More. No service information right now but keep an eye on this later this year in case there is service change advice nearer the opening date.
5. Disruptions information (general)
Home >
This is a general page for all modes. Go to Disruptions (across top on desktop computer) and select the first drop-down. You then choose time range and then mode (eg Train, Tram, Bus, V/Line).
You need to do more if you're interested in bus disruptions. After selecting bus you can either select route (a huge drop-down with metropolitan and regional routes, some not numbered) or Current and upcoming Travel Alerts. Selecting by route only gives you one route at a time. Whereas the latter lets you view all the travel alerts in summary form. In some cases you can click on these for a dedicated page with more information.
The information here is a dog's breakfast. Some items are very short-term, for example a bus missing stops due to an accident. This material, which was probably entered in haste, may have spelling errors. It may be undated. And, since we know PTV doesn't have good processes for removing out of date material it is likely still not current.
There is arguably a difference between a disruption and a permanent change. However some permanent changes are on the disruption page (discussed here) rather than the permanent service change page covered before. That can mean passengers miss things they need to see.
In between are temporary bus stop closures. Ideally these would have start and finish dates, which is the case for most. Some closures can be up to 4 years, which stretches the definition of 'temporary'. But there are cases of bus stops that were closed over two years ago 'until further notice' like for Route 842. Without a date specifying when all these were reviewed it is hard to have confidence that the information presented is current or correct.
This is a general page for all modes. Go to Disruptions (across top on desktop computer) and select the first drop-down. You then choose time range and then mode (eg Train, Tram, Bus, V/Line).
You need to do more if you're interested in bus disruptions. After selecting bus you can either select route (a huge drop-down with metropolitan and regional routes, some not numbered) or Current and upcoming Travel Alerts. Selecting by route only gives you one route at a time. Whereas the latter lets you view all the travel alerts in summary form. In some cases you can click on these for a dedicated page with more information.
The information here is a dog's breakfast. Some items are very short-term, for example a bus missing stops due to an accident. This material, which was probably entered in haste, may have spelling errors. It may be undated. And, since we know PTV doesn't have good processes for removing out of date material it is likely still not current.
There is arguably a difference between a disruption and a permanent change. However some permanent changes are on the disruption page (discussed here) rather than the permanent service change page covered before. That can mean passengers miss things they need to see.
In between are temporary bus stop closures. Ideally these would have start and finish dates, which is the case for most. Some closures can be up to 4 years, which stretches the definition of 'temporary'. But there are cases of bus stops that were closed over two years ago 'until further notice' like for Route 842. Without a date specifying when all these were reviewed it is hard to have confidence that the information presented is current or correct.
Below is what you get if you look at current train disruptions via the general tab. A pop up window comes up. It's too small to see but there's a 'read more' hyperlink that goes to a page with more detail.
In the case of this example (Frankston line) the result is this page, which was last updated on 17 December, 2024. That's a significant time lag for a fast-moving project. In this case there are references to 'late 2024' or 'Spring 2024' when we are now into summer and 2025 so there is no assurance that it is still current. As well people are referred to a Frankston line specific link https://ptv.vic.gov.au/frankstondisruptions which was previously in the Disruptions menu but is now dead.
6. Disruptions information (line specific)
Home >
Lines on which there are major planned disruptions due to works get their own drop-down entry in the Disruptions menu. As mentioned just above the Frankston line used to have a link but this has been deleted. However at the time of writing there are still entries for Mernda/Hurstbridge, Sunbury, Werribee and Gippsland. All except Werribee have a handy calendar that advises what date buses are replacing trains.
7. Disruptions (alert email)
Home > Disruptions
Lines on which there are major planned disruptions due to works get their own drop-down entry in the Disruptions menu. As mentioned just above the Frankston line used to have a link but this has been deleted. However at the time of writing there are still entries for Mernda/Hurstbridge, Sunbury, Werribee and Gippsland. All except Werribee have a handy calendar that advises what date buses are replacing trains.
7. Disruptions (alert email)
Home > Disruptions
This is a weekly email you can get to advise of forthcoming disruptions. Due to it being weekly it is only suitable for planned disruptions. It is quite rail centric; you can select specific train and tram lines for alerts but for buses it's a simple all or nothing choice.
Home > Disruptions > Major works this summer
This is the final item in the Disruptions drop-down menu. It covers Big Build-related disruptions to rail and roads. Links provide December-February summaries for metropolitan trains, regional trains and roads (via the Transport Victoria website). However bus passengers, being second class, don't get their own page, despite disruptions likely occurring. These disruptions are often foreshadowed by a media release on the premier's website and some media coverage.
9. Start and end dates when searching
Not a link to a specific part of the website but if you search (say) a bus route number and there's a change coming then you may get two listings - the current and the future. This only works if there is a change to a route path (which can be very minor) - not if it's just a timetable change.
Timetable changes can be found by checking date ranges in the timetables (the pdfs is easiest). Searching can sometimes be a minor problem; PTV's search function isn't very good and you sometimes need to expand the list to get what you were looking for (even if there's only one item with exactly what you searched for).
When you get to the route you want it's easiest to check the pdfs for date ranges. The example below is Route 506 in Brunswick.
As well as being Melbourne's busiest bus route without Sunday service, the 506 is one of the few that retains a reduced timetable over summer. This is not always advised by PTV or the advice might be incorrect. In this case, due to a smaller bus operator being taken over by a large bus operator the arrangements changed with an effective service increase (ie a shortening of the period the summer timetable applied) that PTV didn't necessarily know about.
10. Written route information
This is pretty obscure. So much so that PTV doesn't always remember to update it if something changes. If looking up a bus timetable select (i) Line Information, the little circle (i) icon and then the Route Description. In Route 285's case the timetable from 12 January 2025 has it departing Doncaster Park & Ride even though the service change advice here says that the bus will depart from temporary stops about 250 metres away from it. Inconsistencies like these may mislead not only passengers directly but indirectly if this is the data that the PTV call centre relies on to help callers.
11. The PTV journey planner
The results of that are another form of public transport information. Its accuracy depends on the extent to which other information is correct and current.
The results of that are another form of public transport information. Its accuracy depends on the extent to which other information is correct and current.
Conclusion
As can be seen, service information is scattered over various parts of the PTV website. Not all of it is where you'd expect it to be. And there is a risk that some is out of date, inconsistent or even wrong.
Getting this right will be one of the major jobs for incoming DTP Secretary Jeroen Weimar when he takes over in just over two weeks.
Getting this right will be one of the major jobs for incoming DTP Secretary Jeroen Weimar when he takes over in just over two weeks.
2 comments:
It's a classic dog's breakfast. It is fairly clear the PTV website has never had general public testing. The word disruption to the public means something temporary, a broken down tram, a signal fault, a disruptive passenger, not planned works. Separate from those are service changes, which can include planned works and service alterations for special events.
As difficult as it is to get from the middle of St Kilda Road, Melbourne to South Melbourne shopping areas by tram, it can be a nightmare with the weekly Sunday service changes. There is never specific instructions about what the number 1 tram will do, use Kingsway/William Street or stay on its normal route. I was at the corner of Sturt Street and Kingsway with the app showing a 1 towards South Melbourne due in one minute. I should have been able to see it coming, but I couldn't. It suddenly clicked that it would come along KIngsway. Only because the driver missed the traffic light because he had to get out to change the points, I did catch the tram. But what about my return journey whereby I wanted to visit Officeworks in Kingsway? There isn't a stop on western side of KIngsway, so the tram would turn into Kingsway, with the stop at York Street mysteriously closed, so I would have to travel to City Road, catch a 58 or diverted tram back to Sturt Street, then walk to Officeworks. But the stop at Sturt Street is also mysteriously closed, even though I caught the 1 earlier there by just getting on. Right, I have to go on to Wells Street and use a back laneway to get to Officeworks. All my mental work was for no reason. The number 1 sailed straight across Kingsway as normal. None of this information was conveyed by the PTV app, Yarra Trams website or Tram Tracker.
Not only that, but PTV often suggests changing from bus to train at a bus stop OTHER than the stop at the station where you intend to catch the train. It's absolutely hopeless in many respects.
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