Melbourne lagging on buses

The Public Transport Procurement Legislation Review Consultation prepared for Auckland (pdf 1.8MB) has some interesting comparisons between bus service levels, their change over time and patronage growth across major Australian and New Zealand cities.

The statistics (verifiable by consulting their timetables) show that Christchurch now has higher average bus service levels than just any other city in Australia or New Zealand. A concerted effort to redesign the nework and boost services was rewarded by higher patronage, with a growth of about 43% since 1990 (all of which occurred since 1999).

Of the Australian cities, Brisbane and Perth did best with increases of 35% and 14% respectively. The newly-integrated Translink fare system, high-quality BUZ services and better service co-ordination all contributed to Brisbane's performance.

Melbourne buses scored at or near the bottom on many measures, with a patronage growth of just 0.3% since 1990. Admittedly these stats exclude our large and popular tram system, which most of the other cities lack. However this also means that our buses disproportionately serve outer suburban growth areas, which should attract greater use through faster population growth. However you look at it, the statistics present solid evidence that there is room for Melbourne buses to do much better.

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Raining timetables!

In Victoria it's raining new timetables. It will only get heavier, with many of the new services coming into effect in the next month or two.

First off we had the proposed regional rail timetables, incorporating substantial service increases on most lines.

Next to be released were details of revised train timetables, with changes in either September and October. These changes will see extra peak services on some of the faster growing lines plus late-night Friday and Sturday services.

Buses within and between regional cities will also see service increases. The area around Geelong is a particular (and much-deserved) winner.

Finally there are the metro bus timetables. Changes to these will mainly include extended weekday and new weekend services especially for Sundays. There will also be the Wellington Rd SmartBus.

Timetable enthusiasts are having a field day as details emerge. It is hoped that the travelling public will also benefit and that the quality of the additions (as regards connections, routes, etc) is equal to their quantity.