Melbourne evening train service levels - the last 36 years

Another look at Melbourne suburban train frequencies - this time for weekday evenings around 9:30pm.

Most notable are that the service cuts of the late 1970s (from 20 to 30 minutes) have started to be reversed on some lines in the last year or two. There have also been frequency improvements on outer or minor lines such as Altona, Alamein, Cranbourne and Pakenham.

What does this presentation tell us? Firstly frequency does eventually respond to patronage growth, although you need passenger numbers to double first. There is also a lag time to allow for driver training, new trains, scheduling, political commitment etc. In the meantime, and not captured here, capacity has been added by operating six car rather than three car trains to the existing timetable to relieve crowding. Both Connex and Metro added capacity and 3-car trains are much less often seen nowdays.

Will I produce presentations for weekends? Probably not since changes have been less frequent and are better described in writing.

Saturdays have seen the least change, with 20 minutes remaining as a daytime network standard for all but outer areas. The main loss compared to 1975 is the reduced Saturday evening frequency (30 to 20 minutes). The main gains compared to 1975 is that there is service over a more extensive electrified network and there are later Saturday evening trains.

Sundays are quite different, thanks to large service increases in 1999. 1975's 40 minute Sunday frequency has now been banished to Sunday mornings (some lines), Sunday evenings (some lines) and some outer areas. Elsewhere Sunday frequency has doubled to 20 minutes, making it the same as Saturday.

Melbourne interpeak train service levels - the last 36 years

A graphical or aural representation of what is traditionally written can sometimes be the quickest way to present data or offer fresh insights, such as with aural timetables.

Here's another example, this time for trends in weekday interpeak train frequency on the Melbourne electrified rail network. The thicker the line the more frequent the service. Frequencies are approximate, especially where several lines cross and I've erred on a thinner rather than a thicker line to reflect likely maximum waiting times. You can stop the video at any time. When in pause mode slide the bar to more closely compare timetable changes.

As you watch you'll see electrification extensions in outer suburbs (Werribee, Cranbourne, Sydenham and Craigieburn) and the addition of the City Loop. The Port Melbourne and St Kilda lines vanish when these are replaced with trams. Frequency upgrades to Epping, the Caulfield group, Frankston, Newport and (for a while) Werribee are also shown. The joining of Frankston and Werribee or Williamstown trains starts off as a thin line that thickens as frequency increases.

The dates are effective dates on the printed timetables surveyed. There are some gaps as not all timetables were available for this exercise. However off-peak services are generally fairly slow in changing so few if any amendments would be missed.

The people above the dates indicate patronage - one per 50 million annual passengers. Noticeable is the fall after 1975 (actual patronage bottomed out at less than 100 million in about 1980) and the slow subsequent growth. The 2000s surge is particularly clear.

The slides were made in Powerpoint and are much clearer than you see here. However Windows Movie Maker requires other formats and much clarity was lost in the conversion.

Credits: Craig Halsall for some of the timetables & free-loops.com (hard techno) for the sounds.

Transport safety videos over the years

A selection of sometimes hard-hitting, sometimes entertaining clips with a serious message.

2010

2009

2000s?

1992

1984

1970

1948

Behind the clocks: Sights and sounds of Flinders Street Station

Thousands pass through Flinders Street Station each day. However most try to spend as little time there as possible. And hurried daily users have little reason to go beyond the platforms they need.

Flinders Street Station turned 100 this year. Its condition has also been raised as an election issue, with the Liberal opposition promising a design competition to redevelop the station.

It's worth taking a leisurely wander to appreciate this grand old building. Walkers are exhorted to keep right - indicating that pedestrian congestion was high. 'Do not spit' tiles are testament to the early 20th century hygiene movement and influenza plagues. And carved signs indicate a single-function permanence absent from newer buildings.

Sounds are equally important. Water run-off, the varying character of manual announcements and the horns of trains indicate movement or intended movement. The steps of commuters provide a dull, uneven beat to buskers, whose notes bounce off hard subway walls.

See and hear all this and more in the video below.

Some high quality historical pictures of Flinders Street Station appear at Melbourne Curious.

The June 2010 Caulfield group train timetable - service trends

One significance of the latest train timetables is that it is the first to have commenced after the arrival of new trains. This has allowed additional peak services to be scheduled, in this case largely on the Caulfield group.

To assess the significance of this change as against others I went through my old timetables and counted the number of trains that passed Caulfield in the morning and afternoon peak periods. Suburban trains that arrived at Flinders Street between 7:00 and 8:59am or departed between 4:00 and 6:59pm were counted. The results are below:

Timetable date: No trains (am) / No trains (pm)

20 Jan 1975 (VR): 42 / 47

15 Apr 1985 (Met): 31 / 39

29 Aug 1988 (Met): 35 / 43

21 Oct 1991 (Met): 34 / 42

6 Dec 1998 (Bayside): 28 / 38

19 Nov 2000 (Bayside): 29 / 40

27 Jan 2002 (M>Train): 30 / 40

Oct 2004 (Connex): 30 / 40

15 Oct 2006 (Connex): 32 / 42

30 Sep 2007 (Connex): 33 / 43

27 Apr 2008 (Connex): 34 / 45

Nov 2008 (Connex): 35 / 46

20 Jul 2009 (Connex): 37 / 46

June 2010 (Metro) : 42 / 55

There will have been other timetables not featured above. A weakness of this simple count method is that it neglects cases where services have been extended from middle-suburban locations such as Mordialloc and Oakleigh to outer suburban termini such as Frankston and Cranbourne. So although train throughput may have fallen, service kilometres may have held up due to average longer runs.

However some broad trends are discernible, such as the following:

* A decline in peak service around 1980 (this was the point that train patronage reached historic lows), a partial recovery later that decade until another drop in the early 1990s.

* The 2000s saw a weak recovery, adding a train or so per year, though it wasn't until 2008 that train numbers had been restored to 1988 levels.

* 1975 peak service levels were only met or exceeded in the June 2010 timetable. Off-peak service levels were boosted in the 1990s, followed by Sunday service a few years later. At most stations evening services remain less today than in 1975 (every 30 instead of 20 minutes) due to service cuts in 1978.

* The effect of new infrastructure such as the third track to Moorabbin. The timetable released just after that (1988) included extensive express running that was pruned in subsequent timetables until being increased again in 2010.

* The growth of outer areas on the Dandenong line such as Pakenham and Cranbourne. Until this latest timetable this meant that nearly all timetable additions on the Caulfield group went to those areas rather than Frankston.

Comparison with patronage

How do the trends in service level compare with patronage? Patronage underwent a long decline from the late 1940s to 1980, with the drop in the 1970s the steepest (reaching a trough of 93 million trips). This fall partially reversed in the 1980s, with strong rises for several years. However the state's recession, high cancellations (due to industrial disputation) and service cuts in the early 1990s caused the decline to resume.

Later passenger numbers levelled off and started to grow slightly. For example, Department of Transport evidence provided to the Legislative Council Select Committee on Train Services indicate little patronage growth between 2000 and 2004. At best passenger numbers rose in line with population, making no progress towards achieving either the franchise contracts ambitious patronage targets or the modal share aim of the Melbourne 2030 plan.

Comparing this account of patronage with train numbers up to this time indicate a correlation - higher service levels were associated with higher patronage and lower service levels were associated with lower patronage.

2004 marked a turning point where patronage diverged from service level offered. Overcrowding increased as more passengers started riding substantially the same number of trains. At the time the government was grappling with new train contracts after the walkout of National Express. New trains arrived but these merely replaced the scrapped Hitachis rather than expand the fleet. National Express suspended driver training, causing cancellations to rise due to driver shortages. And when Connex took over the whole system their priority was to reintegrate the system by, for example, training drivers who had only been taught 'their' half.

By 2009 annual patronage had exceeded 200 million - more than double that of 1980 and about 50% up on just five years before. Extra trains were slotted in here and there, but with passenger growth exceeding service growth, overcrowding and delays intensified.

Public transport as a political issue rose in profile and the government ordered more trains. This order was later increased. The new trains started arriving this year.

The June 2010 timetable was the first to take advantage of these extra trains. This allowed a peak service increase unseen for many years. Meanwhile patronage is still growing but slower than the steep rises of the 2000s. Hence we are in a period where peak service is growing faster than patronage, marking a catch-up on the 2004 - 2009 period when patronage rose faster.

New June 2010 Metro timetable starts today with 211 new weekly services & Coolaroo Station opens

Today was significant for Melbourne's rail network for two reasons.

New Coolaroo Station

The first was the opening of Coolaroo Station, the first new station since Roxburgh Park in 2007. Coolaroo serves three established residential areas; the 1950s housing commission suburb of Dallas to the south-east, the 1970-80s suburb of Coolaroo to the east and the 1980-90s suburb of Meadow Heights to the west.

View Large Map

Possibly due to a long-mooted rail electrification extension (opened in 2007), the station's construction is not the railway's first involvement in providing transport to the area. Victorian Railways scheduled a bus that continued where the train left off at Broadmeadows. As shown in this 1975 timetable (VR WTT), Route 903 provided a daytime feeder service between Broadmeadows and Coolaroo. Consistent with retail hours at the time, the bus ran 5 1/2 days per week.

Like the other Victorian Railways bus routes (901, 902) the service was either abandoned or renumbered and incorporated into (typically longer) conventional suburban bus routes.

New suburban timetables

The other major change today was the start of new suburban timetables. The real test will be tomorrow which will see additional services and revised stopping patterns, most notably on the busy Caulfield group. 211 new weekly services will be added to the timetable. 

In summary the changes are:

* Craigieburn line: More peak services to start and finish at Craigieburn (instead of Broadmeadows). Trains stopping at the new Coolaroo station.

* Hurstbridge line: Additional weekday evening services. Trains to Eltham will operate approximately every 20 minutes until after 9pm. This is the second line to have received enhanced early evening services; Ringwood was first a year or so back.

* Cranbourne and Pakenham lines: Simplification of peak stopping patterns and additional peak services. Off-peak weekday services change to operate express between Malvern and South Yarra, swapping with Frankston trains, which will serve these stations.

* Frankston line: Simplification of peak stopping patterns and additional peak services. Express trains to operate direct to/from Flinders Street. The increased use of direct running is a continuation of a trend started with the Werribee line, which had both peak and some off-peak services removed from the City Loop (introduced simultaneously with a doubling of off-peak weekday service frequencies). Off-peak trains will stop all stations, swapping with Cranbourne/Pakenham on weekdays and doubling weekend service frequency to stations between Malvern and South Yarra to ten minutes. Also added are some extra counter-peak train services.

A campaign of direct mail, newspaper advertisements, notices at stations, brochures, website advice and staff handing out timetables has been run to promote the changes, particularly on the Caulfield group where the changes are greatest. Because the changes represent a simplification of stopping patterns, it was possible to depict them in a simple graphical form.

As with all changes, there will be winners and losers, particularly on the Frankston line due to the loop changes. Most stations will receive the same or more services, but some will receive fewer - a price of consistency. Users of Frankston express trains who use Flinders Street will have a much quicker ride, while users of Loop stations will use their one-train ride if they want to get an express. Instead they will need to transfer at Flinders Street (recommended in the morning) or Richmond (evening).

Especially in the afternoon, it will be interesting to see the proportion of passengers for stations beyond Cheltenham (where the express service would normally be chosen) who opt for a slower stopping all stations train to avoid a transfer. If this occurs, stopping trains may well be fuller than would be expected from station usage statistics between Highett and the city, and express trains a little less full.

The choice that passengers prefer is likely to depend on boarding location. While passengers at Southern Cross can board trains that go to Flinders Street and transfer to an express service from there, passengers at Flagstaff, Melbourne Central and Parliament do not have this choice. Instead they will need to choose between boarding a stopping all stations service (which may have spare seats at Southern Cross and possibly Flagstaff, but not Melbourne Central or Parliament) and staying on to their destination, or board any train on Platform 2 and changing to an express at Richmond or Caulfield.

Several themes, some continued from the previous timetable changes are discernible from this latest timetable change. These include:

* Recognition that the City Loop (at least with current signalling) cannot handle all peak services that need to run. Hence extra services (made possible by the purchase of additional trains) have been made to run direct. In the short term this might reduce legibility (as all trains no longer run via the loop), but this can be restored by ensuring that after a transition period (such as we may now be experiencing) all trains from certain lines run direct, not just half of them.

* More consistent stopping patterns and increased frequencies on each one. This is making the network more legible and reducing distortions in patronage caused by people aiming to catch particular trains due to their super-express stopping pattern (for example). An example of an improvement on the Frankston line is that until this latest timetable the last two pm express trains were 30 minutes apart.

* Spreading the peak. On the Frankston line this timetable introduces additional early morning 'early bird' services. On the Hurstbridge line this timetable introduces additional evening services. Nevertheless this remains a critical area on the Caulfield group; for example unlike the Burnley group, where peak frequencies and express trains continue for around 3 hours in the morning and evening, the Frankston line's peak service span remains about one third this in both the morning and evening.

* Removing 'holes' in timetables. It was not long ago that services from Frankston dropped to a 30 minute frequency shortly after 6pm on weekdays. Ex-city morning counter-peak services were sometimes less frequent than off-peak services. A previous timetable change introduced additional services that filled some of these gaps. This latest timetable continues this work, with early evenings from Frankston gaining additional services.

* The importance of frequency. This and simpler stopping patterns is supported by the current train operator. We have already seen more frequent off-peak services introduced by the previous operator on the Werribee line, along with evening improvements on the Ringwood, Pakenham and Cranbourne lines. Today's timetable changes stopping patterns to provide a ten minute weekend service to all stations between South Yarra and Caulfield. In addition there are frequency improvements at some other times, as discussed above.

The pace of train timetable change has quickened in the past couple of years, after years of relative stagnation. This is appropriate since timetables are key to a service's usefulness to passengers. They also play a large part in the efficient utilisation of track capacity and the service's reliability. Change driven by how to most efficiently serve booming patronage, allows a constructive reappraisal of our use of infrastructure (including the City Loop) for maximum capacity, reliability and legibility. Although reliability is currently below standard on parts of the network (most notably the Caulfield and Northern group), it is the increasing discussion about how the network is planned and run that I think offers cause for optimism in the future.

This is Phase 1 of the 2010 timetable change. It concentrates on Pakenham, Cranbourne and Frankston. Phase 2 of the 2010 timetable change (later in the year) will concentrate on Werribee, Sydenham and Craigieburn. 

Archived Metro Trains Website item on these changes: https://web.archive.org/web/20100727160606/http://junetimetable.metrotrains.com.au/

Miscellany from the web

Several items spotted on the web lately are too good to pass up.

National Library of Australia archive of Australian newspapers allows you to read articles from a selection of Australian newspapers between 1803 and 1954. Even better is that it has a search engine that you can refine by cities. User 'travla' has been posting a sample of articles on the various transport forums, but searching yourself on the NLA site will reveal many others. A goldmine!

Passionate Parisian bus drivers have got together to produce a website all about their Route 38 bus, which can trace its history all the way back to 1632. Available in both French and English, you've find it fascinating, even if you've never visited France.

Some cities, such as Perth, have allowed Google use their transit schedules. Clicking on bus stop locations gives you the times of the next two services from each route departing from that stop. I'm not sure how it copes with service updates and disruptions, but again it's interesting to have a play.

A new use for an old building?

Exactly one year ago I attended the auction of the old Melbourne Tramways and Omnibus Company (MTOC) building at 673 Bourke Street, these days apparently known as Donkey Wheel House. It was passed in but sold soon afterwards.

Unlike the long-derelict Savoy across a narrow laneway, things are on the move at the MTOC. The Wine Society moved out maybe 6 months ago. A student art project inviting the passer-by to contemplate vacancy briefly appeared a month or two back. And there's now a notice advising that modifications to this heritage bulding are proposed for its new use.

I frequent this area and have contemplated how it was early to mid last century. While the state was governed from the east end of town, and the city run from Swanston Street, it was the west end that contained the state's weightiest transport.

Melbourne's noisy, industrial and fast-moving western end started its rise in the late 19th century as railways and radio replaced shipping and semaphore flags (which required water and height respectively, hence the use of Flagstaff Hill for signalling).

At the time between horse coaches and mass car and air travel those from the country and interstate came by train, disembarking at Southern Cross Station. Victorian Railways and the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works also called Spencer Street their home for at least some of their offices.

Mail also came via train and was then conveyed via tunnel to the Royal Mail Exchange just across Spencer Street. Inwards and outwards parcel facilities were provided at opposite ends of the station.

Information being the most perishable of commodities, it was not suprising that The Age was located nearby at 250 Spencer Street. But if something was too urgent for the press then a short sprint up Lonsdale Street would have you at Broadcast House, home of ABC radio stations 3AR and 3LO.

The area contains its fair share of derelict and underused buildings and retains a shabby down-at-heel apperance. Air travel and the decline of rail freight reduced its previous advantages. The tramways, ABC and mail sorting moved away. Away from the CBD's view, Docklands sprung up behind the station and the City Circle tram for tourists was removed from Spencer Street.

However we have also seen a new station at Southern Cross and booming patronage, especially for upgraded regional rail services. Southern Cross is also the hub for the successful SkyBus from the airport. Apartments and discount shopping outlets (of ordinary construction) indicate private investment in the area.

No one knows what will happen to No 673, but this will be one building to be followed with interest given its transport heritage.

More history and pictures of the building and the general area.

What's in a route name? (Part 1)

People use several ways to describe a bus or tram route. Descriptions can relate to an area served, destination suburb, major road or significant trip generator. Route numbers, though used in major cities, tend not to be displayed for regional coach or country town services.

Governments may wish to give special names to new services, for instance 'Knox Transit Link' or 'Manningham Mover'. Colloquially, certain routes might be known by the colour of the bus (eg 'the brown bus') or the name of the operator. Then there were some that had a 'nameless name', such as Route 787, which was formerly known as 'The Bus'.

The history of route descriptions is intertwined with changes within the bus industry and suburban expansion. Recent developments such as Metlink, unified signage and timetables, website timetables, and real-time information delivered by mobile phone promise further changes. These will be discussed in the next few paragraphs.

The pioneers of the bus industry in the first few decades of the twentieth century were often small owner-operators running a few short routes each. Suburbanisation in between the tram lines, the spread of the internal combustion engine and a large number of households without their own cars would have all contributed to growth. Fare revenue covered costs without government subsidy, although legislation was introduced in the 1930s to prevent bus operators from competing with government tramways.

The early 1970s saw a reorganisation of bus route numbers and government subsidies after declining patronage made their operation unprofitable. The 1980s brought fare integration and, later, some standardisation of passenger information. Routes were often amalgamated and/or extended into new areas, so became less 'local'. After a period of service cuts and fragmentation in the 1990s information integration returned in the 2000s through Metlink's website, journey planner and printed timetables. Connectivity and timetable integration with other services varies but improvements are promised after the current local area bus reviews.

The structure of the bus industry has changed radically in the last 40 years. State funding did not come without strings. The modern bus operator has had to become more professional with extra tasks including the need to account to government for subsidy, uphold modern maintenance and workplace standards, provide 'service change' information to Metlink, administer Metcard ticketing, and participate in bus service reviews. Just ahead is the spread of real-time information and Myki smartcard ticketing. Larger operators are steadily buying out the smaller operators with at least three takeovers so far this year. Route 509 along Hope Street, Brunswick remains today's only fragment of a previous era of shorter routes and 'one-man' operators.

While buses are still mostly for local trips (rather than CBD or corridor travel, as is the case with train and tram) their localism has diminished. This can be partially attributed to the operator and route amalgamations mentioned previously and 'super-routes' like 903. Better publicity of services (chiefly through the online journey planner), longer service spans (hence more drivers), a more transient population and (in some companies) the larger number of routes that a driver may be rostered on, further reduces the chance of drivers knowing their passengers (limited service routes like 606 may be exceptions).

The above trends have changed the way that routes ought to be described as the potential user base is more widely spread than in previous times. The 'Hope Street Bus' may be pefectly understood by Brunswick locals, but doesn't cut it in a metropolitan area with about 10 other Hope Streets. There are many K-mart stores, but the big ones known by locals are in Campbellfield and East Burwood. Conversely there are many 'Sydney Roads', but most would know that there's only one really big one with trams every few minutes. Is Tram Route 19 best described as to 'Coburg North' or via 'Sydney Road' or both? Similarly Tram Route 78 serves Chapel St, but has a destination of Prahran, which is its main service area, though it actually terminates near enough to either Balaclava or St Kilda East.

Route destination and via information needs to convey meaning for both locals and visitors. If well-used they can be a succinct way of providing service information. They enable passengers to form a sensible 'mental map' of the network and can highlight cases where frequent service is provided by identifying the common sections of routes or 'route families'.

Even route numbers can convey similar information if wisely chosen. The division of the frequent route 600 into the related (but slightly different) routes 600, 922, 923 was probably a mistake overall, although it did extend Sunday service to some areas. If it was done at all the allocation of 601 and 602 instead would have assisted legibility. It is worth mentioning that choosing 922 was not without merit since it replaced the former 822 in the area. However this short-term gain reduced long-term legibility so it was a poor choice in hindsight. Similarly the related 802, 804 and 862 would be more legible if 862 was renumbered 803 (803 was briefly a trial night/weekend service but could safely be reused now).

The aim of this part has been to illustrate the various ways that bus and tram services have been described. Attention has also been paid to some of the changes that have reduced localism. Reduced localism requires that services need to be made legible for a wider passenger base. Route descriptions are a key aid to this, with further details to be provided in Part 2.

The rediscovery of frequency

Varied improvements have ocurred to the suburban train network in the last eight years or so. Off the top of my head we have seen:

* Electrications to Sydenham and Craigieburn
* New trains
* Rebuilt Southern Cross and North Melbourne stations
* Frequent rebrandings but the restoration of stablility with Metlink signage
* Some grade seperations and duplication of track at Clifton Hill
* More premium stations and the introduction of host stations staffed during the morning peak
* More use of six-car train sets during off-peak periods
* SMS and website alerts for cancelled trains
* Fare reforms including abolition of Zone 3, more flexible 10x2 hour tickets and cheap weekend tickets
* Later finishing on Friday and Saturday
* Industrial peace; apart from a period about 4-6 months ago, service disruptions are now invariably due to other reasons

All have been worthwhile. There is however one matter that's been off the agenda; that of an improved basic service frequency. More peak trains run now compared to 2001, and these have been needed due to crowding. However you'd have to go back almost 10 years (when patronage was just over half of today's) to find a case where basic off-peak frequencies increased on any line.

That occasion was in July 1999 when after 10am Sunday train and tram daytime frequencies were increased to match Saturday's. Instead of people having to wait 30 or 40 minutes for a train the improved timetable cut this to 20 minutes. The following year M>Train boosted Sunday evening service on its half of the network from 40 to 30 minutes, again simlar to the Saturday times.

From then metropolitan train frequency improvements fell out of fashion and none ocurred for eight years. Instead policy emphasis shifted to regional rail (the main benefit of which ended up being improved frequency), the new Southern Cross Station, refranchising and a replacement for the Metcard ticketing system.

Desirable though these projects were, they did not greatly benefit the lot of the average metropolitan passenger who rode a system groaning from planned, ocurring but unbudgeted for patronage increases. This and some high-profile service disruptions revived interest in infrastructure, maintenance, scheduling and service levels. Frequency's central role in the usefulness and attractiveness of the train network is also being rediscovered.

The first advance was in the November 9, 2008 train timetables where three lines got basic frequency upgrades. Evening trains beyond Dandenong to Pakenham and Cranbourne were boosted from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes. Now only semi-rural Hurstbridge has the 60 minute frequency on Monday to Saturday evenings. The next lowest train frequency is 40 minutes, in force on about half the network on Sunday mornings and evenings, and effective most times beyond Eltham. The other change was between the City and Ringwood, where the weekday train frequency were improved to 15 minutes until 10pm.

The next general service improvement, planned to start on July 20, 2009 was announced yesterday. The most important is a weekday frequency improvement for the Werribee line. Interpeak service levels will increase from three trains per hour to six trains per hour, making it the most frequently running suburban line. Every second train will use the express tracks via Paisley and run direct to and from Flinders Street.

With a relatively low population along the line and the lack of any mid-line trip generators, the Werribee line has lower interpeak patronage potential compared to busier lines like Sydenham, Craigieburn, Belgrave/Lilydale and Pakenham/Cranbourne. The first two get have only a 20 minute off-peak weekday frequency. Increasing these to 10 or 15 minutes would have been welcomed and may have won greater use than boosting Werribee.

Nevertheless improving Werribee's service still has large benefits, even though for the time being their weekday passengers will get a baffling mix of direct and loop running. Also there are at least three reasons why it's a good idea. The first is Werribee's population growth, which should guarantee higher than average patronage increase. The second is that the additional services cut journey times to the city as they run express (not via Altona) and operate direct to Flinders Street. 39 minutes travel time to the city is faster than that enjoyed by any other suburb 30 kilometres from the CBD. Third, and most exciting, is the future prospect of the Werribee service being through-routed to another line, eg Frankston. A 10 minute through service on such a combined line could give us a useful metro-style Footscray - Caulfield link years before the proposed tunnel is built. It should also relieve pressure on the City Loop and aid east-west suburban travel.

Another sign of the importance of frequency has come from the operator itself. In today's Age Connex advocates trains every 10 minutes during working hours to provide a 'turn up and go' service. This is unlikely to happen without government support. But it's surely a good sign that the operator knows frequency's importance and will get the opportunity to test it in less than two months' time.

The bad old days of timetables

Sometimes one comes across a gem too good to ignore on the one of the transport discussion boards. This one from 'scottydl' is on collecting Melbourne bus timetables 30 years ago.

With many small bus operators, no multi-operator Met Shop and, sometimes, no timetables in print, getting a set of timetables was not easy in 1979. That unobtainability was just part of the fun for enthusiasts but, along with other factors, would have exacerbated the patronage decline across all modes at the time.

While bus drivers and railway stations vary in whether they carry timetables, their availability won't be as high as it could be. However reading the 1979 account shows vividly that the 'good old days' often weren't and since then paper timetable availabilty has improved greatly.

Then there's internet timetables, which of course didn't exist in 1979. These started becoming available in the last years of The Met (circa 1997). Except for the government-sponsored NightRider (which has always had more government oversight than regular bus routes), timetables were initially hosted on operator websites only. This caused variations between formats and even availability. The last Melbourne bus timetable to go online was the Hope Street bus (Route 509) in 2003 when Metlink started hosting the timetables themselves.

How to wreck a bus route: How 624 and 627 happened

Bus routes 624 and 627, operating in Melbourne's south-east, encapsulate the strengths and weaknesses of Melbourne's bus network. Their strengths include coverage of residential streets, service to railway stations and links to shopping centres. Weaknesses include confusing routes, inconsistent deviations, duplication with other services and limited days and operating hours (mostly 627 but also a portion of 624).

Apart from school children and seniors patronage on both routes is low. Peak services can be quiet despite opportunities presented by high rail patronage, limited parking and significant housing away from a railway station. The routes themselves are now incomprehensible, with successive changes (expedient at the time) making them worse. In this post I will describe what happened and the prospects that exist for improvement.

Brief Description

624 and 627 fall within the cities of Monash, Stonnington, Glen Eira and Boroondara and are part of their local bus service reviews. The notes below, written over the current Metlink maps, identify areas for improvement and were part of a submission to the current bus reviews.

The above notes speak for themselves and need no elaboration. Rather the purpose of this post is to document how the above routes got so twisted and illegible.

Having no timetables from this era, I'll use the route descriptions and maps in old Melway directories. Melway started inclucing bus routes from circa 1980 and has included them in most editions since (1987 and 1990 are the exceptions).

The evolution of Route 624

At one time what is now 624 operated close to what it should be, ie as seperate and fairly direct local routes with one or at most two clear purposes.

In 1982 coverage was provided via three distinct routes, as follows:

622: Holmesglen - Oakleigh - Chadstone (like part of current 624 but with Chadstone appended to Oakleigh end, not Holmesglen end)
625: Chadstone - Dandenong Rd - Neerim Rd - Caulfield - Kew East (Carnegie portion of 624)
620: Chadstone - Dandenong Rd - Caulfield - Burke Rd - Gardiner - Carnegie - McKinnon (part of current 627 and Darling Rd section of 624)

622 was a three-quarter circle so might not appeal to the purist. Nevertheless it has trip generators at each end, provided needed local coverage and was unlikely to confuse anyone.

625 was an L-shaped route. There was some duplication with 623 (addressed in 2007 when 624 moved to Neerim Rd) but it's fairly direct with two clear purposes.

620 was perhaps the least legible of the three as it appears to form a large loop around Caulfield and Malvern East. It serves areas near Carnegie twice, was an indirect way to McKinnon from Chadstone and had no Brighton east connection. However it gave some direct links not available now and allowed 627 to operate as a legible route from Elsternwick to Chadstone via Ormond and Oakleigh. Evidence of Route 620 remains at an untouched stop flag near Arawatta Street, Carnegie.

1984's Melway saw some changes to routes, possibly as part of the recent local area bus review. Not all were good.

620 got deleted. This ended the fast Chadstone - Princes Hwy - Caulfield service (restored by Route 900 in 2006) and removed buses from parts of Malvern Rd, Burke Rd and Gardiner Station.

To partially compensate 622 was extended from Chadstone to Caulfield via Darling Rd via the current Monday to Friday 624 route. So it is from 1983 that 622 started its westward expansion and took on an additional role besides being the local route for the postwar housing commission part of Chadstone. Also noteworthy is that Carnegie briefly had a Holmesglen TAFE campus from the mid 1980s and the extended 622 would have provided a direct route to the main campus at Chadstone.

From here there is a gap in my information as bus routes weren't in the 1987 and 1990 Melway directories. However by the 1991/2 edition the 622 had been extended to terminate at Chadstone Shopping Centre instead of Holmesglen. This made this section of the 622 like today's 624. This change improved links to Chadstone Shopping Centre but reduced route legibility and increased duplication.

Further bad news appeared in the 1993 edition. Route 622 and 625 were abolished, combined and renumbered 624. This amalgamated route starts at Chadstone Shopping Centre, does a big loop via Holmesglen and Oakleigh, returning to Chadstone Shopping Centre. From Chadstone the route ran along Dandenong Road towards Caulfield.

It got interesting when the bus reached the Koornang Rd/Darling Rd intersection on Dandenong Road. This is because the bus could either turn south via Carnegie (Neerim Rd - or footnote C) or turn north via Malvern East (Darling Rd - or footnote D). Again while this provides both parts of the route a direct service to East Kew, it comes at the cost of legibility and the ability to schedule bus/train connections.

624 continues to run today. Its most recent improvements included extended hours and days of operation and a rerouting via Poath Road. Both of these are positive steps and reduce duplication. However further changes are needed to reverse the damage described and restore legibility.

The evolution of Route 627

Being run by the same operator and covering common areas, 627 has a shared history with 624, with sections sometimes swapped between the two routes (or their predecessors).

The Elsternwick - Ormond - Oakleigh - Chadstone portion of Route 627 is much the same today as the entire Route 627 in 1982. It is about as direct as local streets allow and provides local east-west coverage of areas between stations.

The Brighton East - McKinnon - Carnegie - Chadstone portion of the 627 is quite different and has had several changes. In 1982 the area was covered by a seperate route - the 620 to Chadstone as described above. Because it went via Darling Road, Malvern Road, Gardiner Station and Caulfield Station it gave a Caulfield and Glen Waverley line connection (not now available) but at the cost of a slower trip to Chadstone.

620 formed a loop around Caulfield so wasn't the most legible of routes. However at least it did not fold back on itself like the current 627. Also it started at McKinnon, so there was no added complexity created by the East Brighton extension (which runs more frequently on Saturdays than weekdays).

Unlike the 624, where ten years of change steadily made the route less legible, the damage was swift. The entire Route 620 was abolished circa 1983. To compensate, Route 627 (from Elsternwick) was extended from Chadstone to Carnegie, Koornang Rd, Tucker Rd and McKinnon Rd as per the current 627. Whatever the merits of deleting the Gardiner portion of the 620, the retention of this route number for the Chadstone - McKinnon portion would have prevented 627 from being nominated as Melbourne's most confusing bus route. Also noteworthy is that the extension to Thomas St, East Brighton appears in the 1984 Melway route description but not the map.

None of the subsequent changes were as major. However the 1991/92 Melway labels the entire McKinnon section of 627 as '627ext'. Also added is a portion of the old 620 along Darling Rd, with a '627ext' terminus in Dene Ave/Hedgeley Ave, Malvern East. This proved short-lived and had disappeared in the 1993 edition.

Why the changes happened

Some of the changes chronicled may have come about due to bus service reviews. Others may have happened as a response to reduced funding while seeking to retain coverage. Combining routes may save a bus or two but reduce the ability to schedule bus-train connections, and as has been seen above, legibility. However they may benefit those for whom through trips removed the need to transfer. Creating a new route number and/or amalgamating services may also be a way to make service cuts more palatable as it might be possible to cite gains as well as losses from the change.

The 1980s service reviews occurred around the time of the bus contracts dispute so relationships with the operators could best be described as acrimonious. Service improvements were followed by major reductions shortly afterwards. Other key events around that time included the failure of the new scratch ticketing system and industrial disputes culminating in the tram blockade. Improved buses would have been the last thing on the government's mind, particuarly given busines failures, mounting state debt and the 1990 recession, which particuarly hurt Victoria. Hence the 1988 Met Plan (and associated service improvements) was effectively still-born, though parts got implemented later.

The future

The two strongest influences of bus services in the foreseeable future are (i) the current bus service reviews and (ii) the government budgetary situation due to the current economic recession.

The big effect of recession is that lower economic activity reduces tax revenue (income tax, company tax, stamp duty, payroll tax etc) and hence the ability for governments to balance budgets.

Typically government spending is moderated or curtailed from the middle to just after a recession to balance the books (eg Hayden's 1975 Federal Budget, Fraser's 'Razor Gang', Hawke's 'Expenditure Review Committee', Costello's 1997 Federal Budget, various state government cuts in the early 1990s).

This time state governments have been more sensible and not involved themselves in failed business enterprises. Instead the borrowing and spending has largely come from Canberra, which has spent big on 'stimulus packages' to support consumer demand. In both cases a government debt will be incurred, though we're fortunate that it started from a low point (unlike other countries).

While paying transport operators to run more services is as good a stimulus as anything else and new rail infrastructure benefits the longer term, this is not what was done. Instead the national priorities appear to be on individual taxpayers, pensioners, home builders and sellers (through the homebuyers grant), and most recently, fibre optic internet. Locally we have seen a major transport plan announced with significant rail and road projects promised. All this means that unless priorities are shifted money for better buses may be tighter than envisaged when the bus reviews started or the orbital routes were planned.

Optimising services levels and efficiency is more important now than ever. The highest possible service frequency over the biggest direct route network is needed for patronage while minimal route overlapping is needed for efficiency.

Conclusion

Successive route changes have greatly reduced service legibility in the two routes profiled. New routes may be established (eg 900) without the need for or alignment of nearby existing routes being reconsidered. This creates opportunities for network simplification that did not previously exist.

A more legible but more efficient network involving revamped routes 624 and 627 might include:

* 624 to be split into two local routes with optimised train connections: 622 Chadstone - Holmesglen - Power Rd - Oakleigh, and 624 Caulfield - East Kew
* The middle portion of 624 between Chadstone and Caulfield to be deleted (replacement services provided by existing 900, rerouted 623 with Burke Rd presenting the main difficulty)
* 623 from Chadstone to be rerouted to run via Poath Rd and Neerim Rd (to replace deleted 624 and remove duplication with 900).
* 627 to be split into two route numbers at Chadstone (one numbered 626 and one 627)

Happy New Year!

Best wishes for 2009 to all readers and contributors.

Public transport was never far from the news with three major themes dominating the headlines in 2008. Major themes for the year were trains, ticketing and transport plans.

A patronage boom tested the limits of a fragile train system with longer trains and revised timetables providing some relief in 2008. Other ideas to 'ease the crush' included free 'early bird' travel, a short-lived bicycle ban and plans to remove seats from carriages to increase standing room.

Ticketing items mainly dealt with the myki smartcard system, which first saw public use in Geelong. Marketing to promote 'bulk purchase' and 'weekend saver' travel continued, while more people got free Sunday travel through the broadened 'Sunday Pass'. Restrictions for seniors and periodical ticket holders were proposed but withdrawn before the effectivness date. Hence, unlike 2008's taxi driver protest, we were spared the sight of topless seniors in the streets.

Discussion about transport planning was largely in the context of Sir Rod Eddington's East-West Needs Assessment, which recommended road and rail tunnels linking east and west. The peak capacity of the rail network was a major point of contention with operators, academics, activists and gunzels debating the extent to which existing infrastructure can reliably accommodate the pathways needed for extra services. The Government responded with the Victorian Transport Plan. This multi-billion dollar long-term plan took up many Eddington recommendations but the major projects will require federal government funding.

To the above 'big three' should be added several topics of local or regional importance during 2008. In the inner suburbs rising traffic is reducing the efficiency and deliverable frequency of tram services year by year. Extended 'Clearways' have sought to provide relief, but not without opposition from local traders.

Further out, buses were the focus, with one major new SmartBus route introduced, continued 'minimum standards' upgrades to local routes and a boosted NightRider network with a doubled service frequency. Local bus service reviews continued with their consultations, meetings and submissions. The earlier reviews had their reports published and some of their less radical recommendations implemented during 2008. December 25, 2008 was the first Christmas ever where the number of local bus routes running exceded 150; a far cry from (maybe) 20 or 30 a few years ago.

Outside Melbourne regional buses received attention with revised timetables in some major centres. Less populous regions also got new or augmented community-style buses run by a local operator under DoT's 'Transport Connections' Program. These generally run a few times a week but provide access to the nearest major centre for country residents.

What's in line for 2009? (Advertisement)

With a three-car consist comprising one 'M' unit and two 'T' units, this flexible all-terrain vehicle is the future for passenger transport in 2009. Styled like the latest European trains it has straight polished metal sides. It also featurs round portholes to convey a luxury liner-style travel experience. Hence it should satisfy those who ask for cross-bay commuter ferries.

Just photographed at a secret depot in Western Victoria, an earlier model featured in a recent Connex advertisement. Enhancements now include fast army-style rear-door loading and quality-assured braking (see rego plate). No sticky overheads are required as the unit is self-powered. Also available in 3'6", 4'8 1/2" & 5'3" flanged wheel models, this vehicle is a must for the quality government or private operator.

I'll refrain from making any serious predictions for public transport in 2009 as it's much easier to be wrong than right. Besides there's no money in it in the slim chance the forecasts prove true. But if you wish to have a go at guessing what the year will bring, feel free to leave them in the comments below.

Meeting Our Transport Challenges: How's it travelling?

Perhaps the most tangible part of the Victorian Government's 2006 'Meeting Our Transport Challenges' plan is a program of service improvements to metropolitan bus routes.

To set the context to this, it should be recalled that despite extended trading and working hours, the average Melbourne bus ran every 40 minutes before going to bed at 7pm. Almost nothing ran on Sundays, meaning that if you lived away from trains and trams public transport simply did not exist for most hours of the week. At that time Melbourne's buses were easily the nation's worst; even smaller cities like Adelaide, Perth and Canberra ran more Sunday and evening services than we did.

MOTC changed this by introducing minimum standards to bring at least an hourly service to most areas until 9pm, seven days a week. Public holiday schedules on the upgraded routes were also standardised, improving usability and legibility.

While there were smaller earlier upgrades, the real gains under the MOTC policy started in late 2006. These ocurred over several phases, with Phase Three having just finished. Hence it's now a good time to look at the bus services available today and compare them with how things were three years ago.

The most striking difference has been the doubling of the number of routes with Sunday service. Almost as significant is the number of routes that run until at least 9pm. The greatest change is undocumented here but would be those services that (i) run at 8pm on a Sunday or (ii) run on Good Friday and Christmas Day. In both cases the increase in the number of routes with service would be five to ten times. The least change has been in after 9pm service; since these are outside MOTC standards the only significant increases have come through the introduction of two SmartBus routes (900 & 901).

Here are some raw figures. They should be considered approximate only, and in any case are not always fair; percentages are depressed by peak-only services and some very similar routes (eg 600/922/923) should probably be counted as one.

Number of bus routes by operating days/hours - November 2008

Routes that run Mon-Fri only and cease before 7pm weekdays: 22
Routes that run Mon-Fri only and cease before 9pm weekdays: 10
Routes that run Mon-Fri only but cease after 9pm weekdays: 1

Routes that run Mon-Sat only and cease before 7pm weekdays: 46
Routes that run Mon-Sat only and cease before 9pm weekdays: 35

Routes that run Mon-Sun but cease before 7pm weekdays: 20
Routes that run Mon-Sun but cease before 9pm weekdays: 17
Routes that run Mon-Sun and cease at 9pm (MOTC STANDARD): 120
Routes that run Mon-Sun and run after 9pm (ABOVE MOTC): 16

Peak period only routes: 16
Limited service and special routes: 5
Sunday only routes: 1

Detailed figures for 2006 are contained in a previous post here.

Doing the Bus Stop: how the class of '92 learned bus safety

Almost every child gets lessons in road safety at some point in their schooling. Students may learn through police visits, on-road demonstrations or educational videos.

One of the latter was recently bought in a Hobart junk shop for very little. Called 'Doing the Bus Stop', this 1992 VHS video features 'Hail the Bus Driver' set to catchy rap lyrics popular at the time.

It's cheesy, it's dated and some in it will groan when viewed now ('were we really like that?!'). However as well as the laughs it's got a serious side and is well-worth reviving on today's media. Total play time is about 15 minutes, with each part around three minutes.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6 (ending and credits)

(Apologies for the poor video reproduction - images photographed direct from TV screen with digital camera)

Note: Video (C) Vicroads 1992. Reproduced with permission.

Historical remnants or confusing clutter?

Looking up old articles in the State Library isn't the only way to find transport history in our fair city. If you're in the CBD, at least, it may be at a station or street corner near you. Old signs and maps can contain a wealth of information that enchant enthusiasts and bamboozle tourists.

Flinders Street Station, Degraves Street subway.

Flinders Street Station, Degraves Street Subway. The metropolitan transport map dates from the early 1990s and reveals a period in The Met's last few years when comprehensive passenger information was more commonly provided on the network.

For most of the last 15 years the maps have been in full view and only recently have posters been placed over them.

Elizabeth Street near Flinders Street. Though hard to read in the photo the signs provide information on routine tram services (some numbers have now changed) and show services.

Spencer Street Station subway entrance. This lonely sign to a disused subway entrance indicate two of the many brandnames used by Melbourne trains in the early 2000s. Today's rush hour passengers queueing up to cross Spencer Street must lament the loss of this useful albeit dingy way out.

Melbourne CBD station network map. Three right out of five ain't bad!

Bus stop near Arawatta St, Carnegie. Possibly the only trace of a route that ended 24 years ago.

Know of any more? Add them in the comments below.

Transport snippets from the past

Highlights from a stack of newspaper clippings given to me:

Unknown 13 August 1981: State Government decides to cancel off-peak train service to Altona. Service will be restricted to five trains in the morning and afternoon peaks. Government had previously announced the line would be scapped after the Lonie Report recommended its closure.

Unknown 15 August 1981: Advertisement from VicRail advising of reduced St Kilda and Port Melbourne train services from Sunday August 23. A 25 minute headway will operate with no service after 7:30pm or on Sundays. 100 people protest against the cuts at Middle Park Station.

Unknown 19 August 1981: Some peak hour rail services cut due to a shortage of guards.

Unknown 11 February 1981: State Cabinet approves 6 month trials of two new cross-town bus services. These include Nunawading - Glen Waverley - Springvale - Edithvale (current route 888) and Glen Waverley - Vermont - Ringwood (current route 742). Previously six bus changes were required to travel along Springvale Road. The 888 timetable includes service from 7am to 7pm weekdays and 7am to 7am Saturdays with a 30 minute frequency.

Unknown 13 November 1981: Transport Regulation Board advertises for operators to run Healesville - Lilydale, Stony Point - Frankston and Mornington - Frankston bus services (which replace closed VicRail services).

Unknown 8 April 1981: Article reports on patronage success of 888 and 742 cross-town bus routes.

Geelong Advertiser 17 March 1983: Reports on the success of the recently-formed Geelong Transit System. The key components included:

- A 60 cent flat 2-hour free-transfer fare
- Restoration of service frequency to 1968 levels (off-peak increased from 40 to 30 minutes)
- A CBD interchange (formed by giving up parking spaces in Moorabool St) with passenger information centre
- Through routing via the CBD
- Uniform livery, stops, passenger information and marketing

Ministry of Transport officials were sent from Melbourne to assist passengers and hand out timetables. Patronage was up 6% in the first month.

Unknown 1984: GTS patronage up 30% in past year. Reports on the success of the GTS model (which was a trial) and its proposed extension to Bendigo and Warrnambool.

Unknown 10 December 1984: Full-page newspaper advertisement promoting Bendigo Bus. 'Go Bus' features include a 60 cent flat free-transfer fare, improved services, new livery and better information.

Unknown 24 February 1987: Minister Tom Roper announces new services for over 100 000 outer suburban dwellers. Areas to gain service include Mitcham, Dandenong, Ringwood North, Cranbourne, South Morang, Mill Park, Craigieburn, Sunbury and Melton. Public housing estates in Craigieburn, Coolaroo, Gladstone Park and Westmeadows will also receive service.

Unknown 12 May 1987: Government press releases advising of bus service upgrades throughout Melbourne suburbs. These included a reallocation of services towards outer suburbs and new early evening services (mostly between 6:30 and 8pm).

Unknown 20 May 1987: Bus service review study and residents survey recommends improved routes, less duplication and extended service to new trip generators in the southern suburbs. Announced changes include improvements between Brighton, Bentleigh and Monash Uni, early evening services for train commuters and weekend services.

Unknown 4 December 1987: Government announces $9.5m bus expansion program. Includes (i) Additional weekend bus services from 5 December on 85 routes. Finishing time for major shopping centre services extended from 1pm to 5pm Saturdays to coincide with extended trading. (ii) Routes 693 and 732 extended to 11pm on Friday and Saturday nights for 6 month trial period. (iii) Six month trial of Sunday services proposed to start February 1988.

Unknown 3 March 1988: Supreme court setback for Minister Kennan's restructuring of the private bus industry ('The Waverley Transit' case where the government awarded a contract for a Box Hill route to Quinces).

Unknown 10 March 1988: In a large advertisement, MTA (The Met) calls for tenders for Melbourne private bus routes. Claims retendering will free money for service improvements.

Unknown 17 April 1988: Campaign sheet from Bus Proprieters' Association attacking the MTA bus tendering plans, claiming it is nationalisation by stealth (the Met bus routes were exempt from tendering).

Truck & Bus Transportation September 1988: Article from Kevin Norris giving the Bus Proprieters' Association discussing the Waverley Transit cour case and government plans to tender private bus routes.

Unknown 29 September 1988: Full-page advertisement from the Bus Proprieters' Association further attacking the MTA tendering plans.

Herald 15 December 1988: Full-page article describing the Waverley Transit/Driver case.

Sunday Age 20 December 1989: Plans for 15% cuts to Melbourne bus services across 100 routes, to come into effect in February 1990. Proposals for the abolition of 30 routes and the downgrading of 130 others, with no services after 7pm, after 1pm Saturdays or on Sundays. Some operators would have their main routes scrapped. Removed services include the Gardenvale - City bus route (605), Sunday coverage of Mornington, and a 60% reduction on the Moonee Ponds - Alphington route (508).

Ringwood Post 19 September 1990: Front-page article on 'The Bus Crisis'. Invicta and Ventura cancel services after 7pm weeknights and on Saturday afternoons after PTC payments were reduced. However Quinces services would remain unchanged.

National Bus Company brochure c1995: Introduces new NBC services after takeover from the Met. Promotes its more frequent mini-bus services that go off the main roads to serve residential streets. Aims to double off-peak service frequencies and promotes the company's own section fares.

Anniversary missed

July 4, 2006 marked the seventh anniversary of large Sunday service increases across Melbourne's train and tram networks. The boost removed the need for passengers to meticulously plan their trips and slashed waiting times across the network.

Though timetable and service improvements such as this are often overshadowed by other things their importance cannot be over-stressed. The Sunday increase occurred a few years after off-peak weekday train services in the eastern and southern suburbs went from 20 to 15 minute headways. Both increases, which occurred under the Kennett government, did more than anything else to make public transport more practical for the complex travel needs of a seven-day city.

Review: Time-line history of Melbourne's Government Cable and Electric Trams and Buses

By Barry George, Don Storey, John Birch, et al, published by the Association of Railway Enthusiasts, 1997

I picked this up from the Railfan Shop and it's exactly as described; a chronology of significant government tram and bus developments. The book covers horse-drawn, cable and electric trams, the VR street railways as well as government buses from the 1880s to the 1990s. Its writing style is terse and no pictures are contained within.

Though the general reader may find other books of more interest, the 'just the facts ma'am' format makes it an invaluable digest for the transport historian, researcher or activist. Given that we often forget changes ocurring as recently as a few years ago, the authors have done a valuable service in documenting these (with exact dates no less) for posterity.

Highly recommended!

(see below for my interpretion of its contents)

----

Some common threads

Though hundreds of dates and events are documented in Time-line history of Melbourne's Government Cable and Electric Trams and Buses there are a few common threads that unite most. The more significant include:

Transport technology

In very broad terms, the 1880s-90s and 1910s-20s stand out as periods of massive change in all transport modes. The expanding suburban steam train and cable tram networks became dominant in the late 19th century, with horse tram services also operating but eventually being replaced.

The 1920s saw suburban train electrification (beyond the scope of the book), widespread replacement of cable trams with electric trams and the use of motor buses.

Network

The 1956 to 1962 period saw closures of all non-MMTB tram services, notably the Footscray system in 1962 and VR-run services in the southern bayside suburbs. Geelong closed around this time, while Ballarat and Bendigo services lingered longer.

However the MMTB system continued to evolve, with trams returning to Bourke St, double tracking in sections, new crossovers and (later) extensions to Bundoora and East Burwood being constructed. MMTB's bus operations also steadily expanded. This was in the sense of taking over routes abandoned by private operators (eg in the Brighton area), expanding route coverage of developing suburbs (eg Doncaster/Templestowe), and boosting service levels (eg Melton/Sunshine/Footscray and West Heidelberg areas).

Service levels

The big story here is the halving of tram service frequencies as car ownership and use grew after WWII. The trend can be seen from this table (exact dates not reproduced here):

1936: Sunday morning services commenced on cable & electric trams
1937: All-night trams introduced
1941: All night trams expanded (note wartime shift work)
1954: Off-peak and after 6pm Mon - Thurs service cut from 10 to 12 min
1957: After pm peak services cut from 12 to 15 min
1959: Saturday night services cut from 10 to 12 min
1960: Some Sunday trams cut from 10 to 15 min
1962: Sunday afternoons cut from 12 to 15 min, weekday after 6pm services cut from 12 to 15 min, Saturday pm service cut from 10 to 12 minutes, Saturday night services cut from 12 to 15 min
1963: Sunday service cut from 15 to 20 min (evenings) and down to 30 min (am)
1967: Sunday service cut from 20 to 30 min (evenings) and 15 to 20 min (pm)
1969: Mon - Sat evening trams cut from 15 to 20 min
1989: 'Staff cut' alterations made permanent
1992: 'Special weekday service' introduced and made permanent

(table contents much abridged from the reference)

Just about all this decline took place in the 1954 - 69 period. However this should be viewed in the context of the time; during this period all other Australian capital cities closed their tram networks and may have had even bigger service reductions on the replacement buses.

The service decline was largely halted in the 1970s, but the strikes during that decade would have made service unreliable and further encouraged driving. Though not shown on the table, overall service levels probably reached their nadir in the 1990s as there have been Sunday and off-peak improvements since.

There have also been several smaller themes that buck the larger trend of postwar service decline followed by a modest upswing. These include continual experimentation with (and eventual abandonment of) all-night trams. This was mostly in the 1940s and 50s, but the last tram experiment was Route 99 in the late 1990s. Another has been more uniform services seven days a week. The practice of replacing trams with buses during quiet periods ceased in the 1990s. More recently, the Sunday only route 68 has been replaced by extended services on 55, which now becomes a standard 7-day route.

Trammies' working hours

The campaign to reduce weekly working hours was a major effort from the 1880s. This push largely lost momentum after 1950, and there has been no change since 1983. Significant milestones include (exact dates not reproduced here):

1885: 60
1908: 54
1911: 48
1939/40: 44
1948: 40
1983: 38

(table contents much abridged from the reference)

Industrial unrest and service disruptions

Not unrelated to the previous strand, there have been two significant periods where trams were commonly disrupted due to industrial unrest. These were the 1940s and the early 1970s to early 1980s period. Some of the difficulties in the 1940s were caused by coal shortages and strikes in the power industry which required trams to operate to reduced timetables. The last major disputes were the 1990 'tram blockade' and the Grand Prix stoppage a little later. More recently, changing attitudes towards industrial action, trade unions and privatisation have coincided with a long period of industrial peace and more reliable services.

Key industrial issues seem to have included the abovementioned working hours, pay and allowances, conditions and manning (particularly single versus two-man operations).

Political, organisational and economic changes

These matters did not feature prominently in the reference, so I won't cover them here. However, there would be themes of private operation, competition, operators strugging, government subsidies or takeovers, etc. Also such observations would not be complete without examining similar chronicles of Victorian Railways, private bus companies and even motoring.