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.

Transferring at Chelsea: A case study

Today we look at Chelsea for an example where a poor stop location discourages passengers from catching buses or transferring to them from trains. Read a previous item for more information about easy and hard interchanges.

For those who haven't visited, Chelsea is a coastal suburb 30 kilometres south of Melbourne on the Frankston railway. As the largest commercial centre between Mentone and Frankston on the Nepean Highway, Chelsea is designated as a 'major activity centre' in the Melbourne 2030 plan.

As well as the train, Chelsea is the southern terminus of the 888/889 premium service SmartBus route that runs to Nunawading via Springvale Road. It is the access to this major bus route from the shops and station at Chelsea that is the subject of this post.

The following two videos show the access arrangements between Nepean Hwy Chelsea and the 888/889 bus stop to Nunawading.

Part 1

Part 2

As shown the barriers for intending passengers to reach the stop from the shops on Nepean Highway are formidable. Passengers must wait at no less than four pedestrian actuated crossings to reach the stop. Even with a clear level crossing, typical access time is over four minutes for a stop that should be reachable in one.

Because they don't have to cross the highway, transferring train passengers do slightly better; they only have three waits for the 'little green man'. However they still need to complete three sides of a square and the indirect access only encourages risk taking behavour across the unsignalised portion of the intersection (map below). Uncertain bus times may exacerbate this as bus timetables are not provided at station exits.

How can access be improved to provide the sort of well-connected hub that Melbourne 2030 advocates for places like Chelsea? We'll assume that Nepean Highway is there to stay, so that crossing will always remain. Ditto for the railway line. So that leaves the location of the bus stop, which is discussed in the next part.

Part 3

Moving the bus stop to the south side of Chelsea Rd would reduce the number of road crossings required from 4 to 1 for passengers arriving from Nepean Highway. Those transferring from the train fare even better with a reduction from 3 to 0. Train-bus interchange times could fall by 80-90%. Position relative to the existing underpass is also better; this could reduce pedestrian congestion at the current rail crossing and improve access to the southern part of the Chelsea retail strip, including the proposed Safeway Centre redevelopment.

Service costs and spreading the peak - 2

As well as fares and frequency, another way to spread the peak is to provide express services during shoulder peak. Generally expresses are even more 'peaky' than train frequency. This is good for inner-suburban passengers (as it gives inner suburban stations a broad peak of frequent services) but less favourable for outer suburban commuters who have increased travel times relative to if they travelled during the height of the peak.

The following times indicate the first and last peak direction express trains passing through Caulfield (or Camberwell). 'Express service' is defined as one not stopping at five or more stations*.

AM Peak

Belgrave/Lilydale: 5:46am - 10:20am
Cranbourne/Pakenham: 6:12am - 8:36am
Frankston: 7:43am - 8:47am

PM Peak

Belgrave/Lilydale: 3:40pm - 7:37pm
Cranbourne/Pakenham: 4:41pm - 6:06pm
Frankston: 5:16pm - 6:21pm

(*) Based on 30/9/07 timetables, which are out of date. Will be updated with new data.

The main limitation of the above spans is that they change according to where you draw the line on the number of stations the expresses miss. For example, there are many trains that express through three stations. This will broaden the span - to most of the day in the extreme case of the Frankston line where it becomes meaningless.

Because it's better to spread the peak and this requires both service and behavioural changes, I opted only to include the faster express trains. This is in line with passenger behaviour - passengers able to will prefer the faster expresses, even if the travel time saving is small. Shoulder travellers on some lines pay a penalty in reduced service frequencies and/or fewer expresses, and tackling this is helping to spread the peak and increase efficiency.

What do the above lists show? The Belgrave/Lilydale lines have wide peak express spans, with express services running well into the shoulders. The Frankston line has very narrow peak express windows (literally 'peak hour'), although it has many lesser expresses outside those times and during the day. Cranbourne/Pakenham has expresses opearating during most peak times. The most conspicuous gaps where there are no or slow expresses are on the Frankston line before 5pm and on both the Cranbourne/Pakenham and Frankston lines from about 8:30am. These early finishes do not encourage 9:30am starting, though if this was encouraged the after 6pm services also need attention.

The narrow express peaks on the Frankston line warrant further attention. Planning for it is complicated by the interplay with the other Caulfield group lines. Service priorities are elsewhere and nowhere is the competition fiercer but on the Caulfield group. The number of Frankston expresses appear to be held back by a need to provide a service to inner suburban stations (Malvern - Hawksburn) that cannot be satisfied by existing Carrum, Mordialloc, Cheltenham, Westall and Oakleigh local trains alone.

Current arrangements have the advantage of relieving the burden on the Cranbourne/Pakenham line (which has heavier patronage but less infrastructure). However Frankston is also a long line with its own distinct needs. These are a wider selection of expresses to serve areas beyond about Moorabbin and more frequent service closer in.

This makes the concept of a two-tiered service based on frequent local and express trains running over a longer span attractive with better use of the existing third track to Moorabbin. However it could also mean that some zone 1 stations (eg Glenhuntly or Carnegie) may lose express trains, and more services would miss the loop, running direct to Flinders Street.

To summarise, spreading the peak by making shoulder peak service more attractive is a viable way to improve capacity and network efficiency. While it can't cope with meeting long-term requirements, it's a worthwhile short and medium term strategy to relieve pressure on the network and has an exceptional return per dollar spent.