Today is the one day of the year where the Night Network timetable veil reliably comes off so you can see how late Sunday trains used to start in Melbourne.
Late starts were one of the two factors that made Melbourne's Sunday morning trains the worst of any large city rail network in Australia. The other was frequency, with our up to 40 minute gaps lagging the 15 to 30 minutes found elsewhere.
This 2011 PTUA investigation compared first time arrivals across Australian capitals. Our starts were then the latest of all capitals but Adelaide. With first arrivals around 8am on Sunday you then couldn't use trains to go to early Sunday morning events in the city. Sydney, in contrast had trains running from about 5am every day of the year. PTUA revisited this in 2014 to find that we had slipped behind Adelaide.
Night Network's 97.4% fix
Unless you're in V/Line territory you can now get an early train on a Sunday. The big change came in 2016 when hourly Night Network trains were added to the timetable to provide a continuous service from first service Friday to last service Sunday. It followed a smaller initiative in 2007 where 'late night' services were added to train (and tram) timetables to extend Friday and Saturday finishes by about an hour to 1 to 1:30am the following day.
The general rule was that public holiday services would operate to either a Saturday or Sunday timetable, depending on the holiday. The two 'holiest' days (Good Friday and Christmas Day) would have a Sunday timetable while the other public holidays would have a Saturday timetable.
But not quite - the late night services added in 2007 and the Night Network services added in 2016 would not operate. Unless the public holiday was on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday in which case Night Network would operate. You could say that whereas regular timetables were dependent on public holidays, Night Network ones ignored public holidays, ie were public holiday agnostic.
Adding a further complication to service messaging (that PTV isn't great at in the best of times), these arrangements work in two ways - both for and against the passenger.
If a a public holiday like Christmas Day fell on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday there would be some Night Network service. On the Friday it is evening, on the Saturday both morning and evening and on the Sunday morning only. Just like a normal weekend.
This 2011 PTUA investigation compared first time arrivals across Australian capitals. Our starts were then the latest of all capitals but Adelaide. With first arrivals around 8am on Sunday you then couldn't use trains to go to early Sunday morning events in the city. Sydney, in contrast had trains running from about 5am every day of the year. PTUA revisited this in 2014 to find that we had slipped behind Adelaide.
Night Network's 97.4% fix
Unless you're in V/Line territory you can now get an early train on a Sunday. The big change came in 2016 when hourly Night Network trains were added to the timetable to provide a continuous service from first service Friday to last service Sunday. It followed a smaller initiative in 2007 where 'late night' services were added to train (and tram) timetables to extend Friday and Saturday finishes by about an hour to 1 to 1:30am the following day.
The general rule was that public holiday services would operate to either a Saturday or Sunday timetable, depending on the holiday. The two 'holiest' days (Good Friday and Christmas Day) would have a Sunday timetable while the other public holidays would have a Saturday timetable.
But not quite - the late night services added in 2007 and the Night Network services added in 2016 would not operate. Unless the public holiday was on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday in which case Night Network would operate. You could say that whereas regular timetables were dependent on public holidays, Night Network ones ignored public holidays, ie were public holiday agnostic.
Adding a further complication to service messaging (that PTV isn't great at in the best of times), these arrangements work in two ways - both for and against the passenger.
If a a public holiday like Christmas Day fell on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday there would be some Night Network service. On the Friday it is evening, on the Saturday both morning and evening and on the Sunday morning only. Just like a normal weekend.
The Christmas Day base timetable would be always be Sunday. That is one with late morning starts and a low morning frequency. But if it falls on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday then it would have Night Network trips added. These would be late evening only, both early morning and late evening or early morning only respectively, depending on day.
That's more service than you bargained for. I'm not sure how many people use Night Network on Christmas morning or Christmas night but it is sometimes there if you want it.
The Sunday timetable operates on 54 days of the year. 52 days for normal Sundays and the remaining 2 days for Good Friday and Christmas Day. Night Network fixed the late Sunday start problem on an average of 52.3 of them. The unresolved issues apply for Good Friday morning every year and 5 out of 7 Christmas Day mornings.
Night Network could have resolved this cheaply for the affected 1.7 days per year by adding two to three hours span to the base Sunday timetable but chose not to do so as it was out of scope. So it didn't.
This means that if you want to catch an early morning train on Good Friday you won't be able to. Especially if you are going outbound, with first arrivals as late as 9:37am.
Despite their reputation for operating hours shorter than trains, you will sometimes not even be able to make first bus, which will usually have a departure around 8 or 9am (earlier if it's a SmartBus).
First Good Friday morning arrivals City / terminus
Listed here by line, working clockwise from Werribee.
Werribee: first arrival FSS 8:14am/first arrival Werribee 8:36am
Williamstown: First arrival FSS 8:34am/first arrival Williamstown 8:15am
Sunbury: first arrival FSS 7:45am/first arrival Sunbury 9:10am
Craigieburn: first arrival FSS 8:20am/first arrival Craigieburn 8:39am
Upfield: first arrival FSS 7:55am/first arrival Upfield 8:27am
Mernda: first arrival FSS 7:56am/first arrival Mernda 8:50am
Hurstbridge: first arrival FSS 7:46am/first arrival Hurstbridge 9:17am
Lilydale: first arrival FSS 7:57am/first arrival Lilydale 8:44am
Belgrave: first arrival FSS 7:57am/first arrival Belgrave 8:02am
Alamein: first arrival FSS 7:57am/first arrival Alamein 7:49am
Glen Waverley: first arrival FSS 8:04am/first arrival Glen Waverley 8:44am
East Pakenham: first arrival FSS 7:55am/first arrival East Pakenham 9:37am
Cranbourne: first arrival FSS 7:55am/first arrival Cranbourne 9:22am (earlier arrivals ex Dng only)
Frankston: first arrival FSS 8:04am/first arrival Frankston 9:24am
Stony Point: first arrival Frankston 8:55am/first departure Frankston 7:27am
Sandringham: first arrival FSS 8:07am/first arrival Sandringham 8:47am
As noted before a consequence of this is that certain connections possible on a normal Sunday (which has longer operating hours thanks to Night Network) cannot be made on Good Friday.
This is most notable in the Frankston area given the first train's arrival at 9:24am. Because this is scheduled more than 2 hours later than it should be the first Stony Point train (7:27am) has no connecting train from the city. Neither do all Frankston's longest and most important bus routes, all of which depart Frankston well before the first train (eg 788 6:31am, 781 8:05am, 791 8:45am, 887 8:50am & 782 9:09am). These late train starts make arrivals at Mornington Peninsula locations hard if not impossible much before 11am. This is a potential issue for family gatherings on Good Friday and on most Christmas Days.
Other lines with particularly late first train arrivals include Williamstown and Craigieburn (late city arrival on the inbound) and, on the outbound, Hurstbridge, East Pakenham and Cranbourne (all well after 9am).
The fix to this would be simple for negligible cost. That is to transfer the first two or three hours worth of trains from the Night Network to the Sunday timetable for the 1.7 days of the year this does not currently apply. That way the Sunday timetable even without Night Network service would have adequate span to maintain all its connections.
Other modes
That's more service than you bargained for. I'm not sure how many people use Night Network on Christmas morning or Christmas night but it is sometimes there if you want it.
The Sunday timetable operates on 54 days of the year. 52 days for normal Sundays and the remaining 2 days for Good Friday and Christmas Day. Night Network fixed the late Sunday start problem on an average of 52.3 of them. The unresolved issues apply for Good Friday morning every year and 5 out of 7 Christmas Day mornings.
Night Network could have resolved this cheaply for the affected 1.7 days per year by adding two to three hours span to the base Sunday timetable but chose not to do so as it was out of scope. So it didn't.
This means that if you want to catch an early morning train on Good Friday you won't be able to. Especially if you are going outbound, with first arrivals as late as 9:37am.
Despite their reputation for operating hours shorter than trains, you will sometimes not even be able to make first bus, which will usually have a departure around 8 or 9am (earlier if it's a SmartBus).
First Good Friday morning arrivals City / terminus
Listed here by line, working clockwise from Werribee.
Werribee: first arrival FSS 8:14am/first arrival Werribee 8:36am
Williamstown: First arrival FSS 8:34am/first arrival Williamstown 8:15am
Sunbury: first arrival FSS 7:45am/first arrival Sunbury 9:10am
Craigieburn: first arrival FSS 8:20am/first arrival Craigieburn 8:39am
Upfield: first arrival FSS 7:55am/first arrival Upfield 8:27am
Mernda: first arrival FSS 7:56am/first arrival Mernda 8:50am
Hurstbridge: first arrival FSS 7:46am/first arrival Hurstbridge 9:17am
Lilydale: first arrival FSS 7:57am/first arrival Lilydale 8:44am
Belgrave: first arrival FSS 7:57am/first arrival Belgrave 8:02am
Alamein: first arrival FSS 7:57am/first arrival Alamein 7:49am
Glen Waverley: first arrival FSS 8:04am/first arrival Glen Waverley 8:44am
East Pakenham: first arrival FSS 7:55am/first arrival East Pakenham 9:37am
Cranbourne: first arrival FSS 7:55am/first arrival Cranbourne 9:22am (earlier arrivals ex Dng only)
Frankston: first arrival FSS 8:04am/first arrival Frankston 9:24am
Stony Point: first arrival Frankston 8:55am/first departure Frankston 7:27am
Sandringham: first arrival FSS 8:07am/first arrival Sandringham 8:47am
As noted before a consequence of this is that certain connections possible on a normal Sunday (which has longer operating hours thanks to Night Network) cannot be made on Good Friday.
This is most notable in the Frankston area given the first train's arrival at 9:24am. Because this is scheduled more than 2 hours later than it should be the first Stony Point train (7:27am) has no connecting train from the city. Neither do all Frankston's longest and most important bus routes, all of which depart Frankston well before the first train (eg 788 6:31am, 781 8:05am, 791 8:45am, 887 8:50am & 782 9:09am). These late train starts make arrivals at Mornington Peninsula locations hard if not impossible much before 11am. This is a potential issue for family gatherings on Good Friday and on most Christmas Days.
Other lines with particularly late first train arrivals include Williamstown and Craigieburn (late city arrival on the inbound) and, on the outbound, Hurstbridge, East Pakenham and Cranbourne (all well after 9am).
The fix to this would be simple for negligible cost. That is to transfer the first two or three hours worth of trains from the Night Network to the Sunday timetable for the 1.7 days of the year this does not currently apply. That way the Sunday timetable even without Night Network service would have adequate span to maintain all its connections.
Other modes
Late Good Friday starts are most conspicuous on the Metro network but they apply on other modes too.
Here's the official word from PTV regarding Good Friday arrangements. It has a lot of 'weasel words'. These paper over the complexity of the network or could just be laziness in not listing exceptions (especially for buses). There is a high reliance on asking people to check website timetables or use the journey planner but these risk having errors if people check them too many days in advance.
Here's the official word from PTV regarding Good Friday arrangements. It has a lot of 'weasel words'. These paper over the complexity of the network or could just be laziness in not listing exceptions (especially for buses). There is a high reliance on asking people to check website timetables or use the journey planner but these risk having errors if people check them too many days in advance.
Let's quickly run through most remaining modes.
Regional trains (ie V/Line) don't have Night Network services meaning they start late every Sunday and thus also Good Friday. This is something that the otherwise (very good) upgraded Geelong timetable did not resolve when it started last December.
Buses are a mess. Some run and some don't. And it's mostly (but not always) a case of if it runs Sundays it runs Good Friday. Each public holiday PTV seems to present a slightly different 'word salad' to try to cover all bases without being wrong or saying very much. This is their offering today: Most metropolitan bus services will run to a Sunday timetable, but some services may be altered or will not run. Some bus routes do not run on public holidays, including Good Friday. Please check your route before travelling. PTV's textual contortions wouldn't be necessary if public holiday arrangements for buses were simpler. But they're not. So if you want the full story you need to read the essay-length Public Holidays on Melbourne’s Buses from BCSV.
Trams are another example where PTV tries to be artful in words but hope no one reads too closely. They may be technically correct by they risk underselling the service. PTV says that trams will operate to a Sunday frequency, with Night Network running as normal. A casual reader might think that it's OK to look at the Sunday timetable. But that's not so if you're travelling in the mornings because there is a pattern of starting trams earlier on public holidays (including Good Friday) than on a Sunday.
To take a random tram example, Route 59's first Good Friday tram arrives at Airport West terminus at 5:16am. The first full length tram arrives there at 6:23am, having departed Flinders Street Station at 5:42am. In contrast the Sunday timetable has those times at 6:43, 8:18 and 7:36am respectively, ie up to almost 2 hours later. In the more dominant direction towards Flinders St, the first arrival of a full length service is 6:02am on Good Friday versus 7:31am on a regular Sunday.
Given the Good Friday start is significantly earlier than a normal Sunday timetable PTV should have mentioned this for trams. Although again the core issue is the complexity of weekend and holiday timetables across the network. Whereas Metro Trains have early starts on all Sunday mornings (thanks to Night Network) but a late start Good Friday, the situation for most trams is the reverse (late start most Sundays, early start on Good Friday).
History of progress
In 1999 the Kennett government simplified 10am - 7pm train and tram timetables such that Sundays matched Saturday times. Basically a big Sunday service uplift. A few years later National Express did the same for Sunday evening trains (then every 40 minutes) followed by Connex for its half. Twenty years on that job was left unfinished in that before 10am Sunday timetables are dogged with late starts and long waits compared to Saturday timetables.
Night Network made early Sunday morning travel possible but did not simplify things for public holidays. Arguably it made it more complicated because of it opting to attach a sometimes operating new timetable to the Sunday timetable rather than just upgrade the Sunday timetable by starting it earlier.
Buses got big 7 day uplifts and standardisation starting in 2006. Most routes were done but, nearly 20 years later, enough complexities remain to make buses chancy - both for those charged with communicating their timetables and those who ride them.
Trams have good start times on public holidays but start too late and are too infrequent on regular Sunday mornings. This reflects unfinished business from the 1999 upgrades.
Next steps
The biggest step forward to simplify services would be to have as close as possible to a common weekend timetable between 5am and midnight across all modes. For Metropolitan train that just means fixing Sunday morning frequency and (on 1.7 public holidays per year) span also. A later step could be to harmonise weekend with weekday off-peak frequencies so these are similar across the week. Thus there would be fewer distinctions on public holidays (except maybe the very quiet ones).
If you did choose to adjust timetables on quiet public holidays like Good Friday and Christmas Day you might have lower frequencies but maintain a good span including early starts. As a potentially zero cost 'devils advocate' example, reducing frequency on a line like Frankston from every 10 to every 20 minutes on these two holidays would probably save enough service kilometres to start every Metro line about 2 hours earlier. Arguably this is another complication but likely an overall greater good so that (more like Sydney) the whole Metro rail network enjoys a good span 365 days of the year.
Timetable reform along these lines is a major part of making public transport simpler to use all week, thus maximising the returns on the state's significant investments in infrastructure. Some things can be done by redistributing service kilometres as with the example above but ultimately new service kilometres is required to reverse per-capita declines on most metropolitan modes.
Night Network made early Sunday morning travel possible but did not simplify things for public holidays. Arguably it made it more complicated because of it opting to attach a sometimes operating new timetable to the Sunday timetable rather than just upgrade the Sunday timetable by starting it earlier.
Buses got big 7 day uplifts and standardisation starting in 2006. Most routes were done but, nearly 20 years later, enough complexities remain to make buses chancy - both for those charged with communicating their timetables and those who ride them.
Trams have good start times on public holidays but start too late and are too infrequent on regular Sunday mornings. This reflects unfinished business from the 1999 upgrades.
Next steps
The biggest step forward to simplify services would be to have as close as possible to a common weekend timetable between 5am and midnight across all modes. For Metropolitan train that just means fixing Sunday morning frequency and (on 1.7 public holidays per year) span also. A later step could be to harmonise weekend with weekday off-peak frequencies so these are similar across the week. Thus there would be fewer distinctions on public holidays (except maybe the very quiet ones).
If you did choose to adjust timetables on quiet public holidays like Good Friday and Christmas Day you might have lower frequencies but maintain a good span including early starts. As a potentially zero cost 'devils advocate' example, reducing frequency on a line like Frankston from every 10 to every 20 minutes on these two holidays would probably save enough service kilometres to start every Metro line about 2 hours earlier. Arguably this is another complication but likely an overall greater good so that (more like Sydney) the whole Metro rail network enjoys a good span 365 days of the year.
Timetable reform along these lines is a major part of making public transport simpler to use all week, thus maximising the returns on the state's significant investments in infrastructure. Some things can be done by redistributing service kilometres as with the example above but ultimately new service kilometres is required to reverse per-capita declines on most metropolitan modes.
It is curious that trams start much earlier on Easter Sunday than they do on a normal Sunday. Last trams are the same. I can't find out why and I can't even guess.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, it is most likely due to a Saturday timetable being used on the trams.
ReplyDeleteOk, thanks. I'll look further. It is not the full Saturday timetable though, as it ends as a usual Sunday service.
DeleteA problem with these late starts, on many lines, the first suburban trains arrive after the first V/Line services depart. Anyone wanting the 7.49am Bairnsdale (which only has two services on a Sunday). finds themselves out of luck if the night network is not running. The same is true of other infrequent long haul V/Line services.
ReplyDelete