Building Melbourne's Useful Network: Part 33 - The Fishing Useful Network

This government is big on fishing. Fishing is administered by the same department that plans roads, trains, trams and buses. This explains why their latest strategic plan has fragments on fishing. Fishing is taken so seriously that there's even a participation target for the sport - Target 1 Million - contrasting with the absence of similar targets for public transport, walking or cycling. 

Boosting fishing is a stroke of political genius for state Labor. Appealing to family, suburban and regional outdoors types, it culturally differentiates the ALP from Greens (and vegans). Critically, some who fish also camp and shoot. Labor quietly walks a fine line on the latter, tolerating but not warmly embracing hunting. Vocal support would endanger votes or preferences from the (mostly urban) environmentally minded. Whereas fishing presents no such political problems and can be safely and loudly supported. 

What about boating? Andrews Labor loudly spruiks their scrapping of launching ramp parking fees. That's a practical (and not hugely expensive) demonstration that Labor accepts people keeping the fruits of their success and is not pursuing a hard redistributory agenda. While the latter excites party members, it risks scaring the 'middle ground' that decides election results. Eg your suburban home-owning tradie who has (or wants) a boat but doesn't care much for opera or literary festivals. 

An eagerness to present as culturally blue-collar mainstream (and not elite) is the context in which policies like love for fishing, free camping and the AFL Friday holiday start to make sense. Now you know why Victorian Labor legalised cage fighting and won't touch gambling, hunting and greyhound racing (which patrician North-shore Sydney Liberals briefly had banned in NSW before a major backlash). The electoral failures of Labo(u)r parties nationally and internationally will only firm Andrews Labor's support for blue-collar recreations, a price accepted through gritted teeth by its degreed activists who withhold sneers in return for power.

It's the 'bread and circuses' thing practised by both sides of politics. On the Coalition side, premier Denis Napthine's passion was horse racing, especially country racing. It showed through the attention it got in media releases. I think there were some special public transport services put on for country races. With stakes in multiple horses, Napthine was possibly the most racing-oriented premier since Henry Bolte. One of the tales about Bolte (not sure if true) is that he approved the Melbourne Underground Railway Loop  (in an otherwise lean time for public transport projects) when it was pointed out that it would speed access from Parliament to Caulfield Race Course. The point is that popular sports like fishing and racing can possibly shape public transport networks, services and promotion.  

Apparently PTV didn't get the memo. Unlike entrepreneurial UK private rail operators they are commercially pallid with no apparent patronage growth target. And rarely does the passenger information and marketing that is done embrace many ordinary peoples' pastimes, especially those enjoyed away from the CBD. 

Hence there's no Fishing Network Map on the website. If London can do a map showing where the cheapest pubs by the Tube are, we should be able to show where you can get to fishing spots by public transport. Especially given that they're now administered by the same department that has a growth agenda for the sport. 

Then there's the service aspects. If you go back to Melbourne on Transit posts from a decade ago you'll see things mentioned there (like some bus route reforms) that have happened. 

It's in this spirit that I devote today's Useful Network to service improvements that support participation in fishing. The Fishing Useful Network.  You never know some things mentioned today might eventually happen. Possibly led by interest in fishing participation more than transport.  

This is not to be sneezed at. After all public transport service isn't something run for its own sake but rather an enabler that helps people do more of what they wish to do. Today I'm talking about fishing. But if you substitute jobs and education these too can be enabled by good transport services such as I covered here.  

A fishing transport study

A fishing transport study requires us to look at where and when people fish. The latter seems easiest so we'll sort that out first. Walk down any popular pier and see when it's hardest to find a space amongst the rods and bait boxes. Visit again at dusk and early morning. You'll still see fisherpeople there. So a transport system that meets fishers' needs must operate frequently at those times. It's all about movement and plaice. 

Remember Target 1 Million? Target 1.5 Million would be better. We are seeking to dramatically grow fishing among all age groups. And that means a war on the impediments to it. With cars likely to queue half way to Dandenong since they scrapped boat launching ramp parking fees, public transport is key to boosting participation further. 

What about location? Where are the best fishing spots around Melbourne? Everyone's got an opinion so we didn't need to do much work. Weekend Notes presents ideas here. More from We are Explorers. Also Fishing Mad. 

Priorities for the Fishing Public Transport Network (FPTN)

1. Metro train service upgrades. More than any other capital, Melbourne's train lines hug the coast and thus fishing spots. Train carriages are great for accommodating long fishing rods and tackle boxes. And the coming Melbourne airport rail will deliver fishing tourists from plane to pier within an hour. 

A Fishing Public Transport Network plan should see the following high priority service improvements: 

(i) Early Saturday and (particularly) Sunday morning trains upgraded from every 30, 40 or 60 minutes to every 20 minutes, starting at 5am, on the Werribee/Altona, Williamstown, Sandringham and Frankston lines. 

(ii) 6 - 10pm Saturday and Sunday evening frequencies upgraded from every 30 to every 20 minutes on the Werribee/Altona, Williamstown and Frankston lines. This will make it easier to get home from those summer solstice fishing expeditions.

2. V/Line train service upgrades. There's some great fishing spots in regional Victoria. Improved trains will help people get there.  Here are some:

(i) Better travel to Cunningham Pier with Geelong trains upgraded to run every 20 minutes on weekends. This is a doubling of the current 40 minute weekend frequency that often sees people crammed in like sardines.

(ii) Improved access to the Port of Sale. Instead of terminating at Traralgon, more weekend trains will extend to Sale and Bairnsdale. Connecting buses to the 90 Mile Beach will also be improved to connect with each train. 

(iii) Five trains per day (including weekends) to run to Warrnambool.

(iv) More trains and connecting coaches to the Murray River. In conjunction with Bendigo line upgrades, Echuca Fast Rail will cut Murray River to Melbourne travel time by an hour and boost frequency to six trains per day. Another six will run to Swan Hill as an Integrated Transit Solution for Mildura (which will get coaches meeting each train). More trains will improve regional travel and save people from being stung by high fuel prices.

3. Upgrades to key bus routes to fishing spots:

(i) Major upgrade to Route 788 on weekends serving most of the Mornington Peninsula. Weekend frequency boosted from every 80 to every 20 - 30 minutes year round. Longer operating hours, with earlier starts on weekends.

(ii) Route 782 extended to Flinders 7 days per week

(iii) Upgrades to cross-Yarra bus routes to permit easier access to the river from surrounding suburbs. We discussed how to do this a previous Friday when we upgraded La Trobe University's buses.

(iv) Doubled weekend frequency and longer hours on Bellarine Peninsula and Great Ocean Rd buses to increase travel options. The changes recently introduced are good but don't go nearly far enough. 

(v) Route 439 bus improved operating hours and higher frequency for access to Werribee River and beach. 

(vi) Route 708 doubled weekend frequency and an extra stop near the National Watersports Centre to improve access to Patterson River. 

4. Stony Point Phillip Island French Island Integrated Transport (SPPIFIIT). Upgrades to Stony Point Train Line and interisland ferry to provide more and connected trips with every ferry connecting with every train. This will create a new Westernport Wonder fishing experience, connecting piers at Hastings, Stony Point, Tankerton and Cowes.

5. Increased frequency, 7-day service, a larger vessel and improved marketing for the little-known Herring Island Punt: Allows improved near-CBD Yarra River fishing opportunities.

6. Cheaper weekend fares and myki fare integration on the West Gate Punt: Potential weekend CBD extension to a new Flinders St Pier near the station. Latter will also allow a Catch Train, Catch Fish school holiday program for kids, with free travel available to participants. Patronage will be monitored to determine whether a bigger vessel or higher frequency is necessary.  

7. Half price travel for anyone with a fishing rod on the Sorrento - Queenscliffe ferry: Timed to connect to buses to Geelong for the ultimate pier to pier fishing and travel experience. Additional trips will see frequency rise to 20 minutes with connections to buses on both sides.  

The more important FUN upgrades around Melbourne are summarised below: 

Other initiatives

In addition to the above the following exciting initiatives should be sufishent to achieve the revised aspirational target of 1.5 million fishers:

1. Turn up & Catch: Restocking allows enough stock for baited hooks to get a bite within 10 min 90% of the time at 90% of designated locations. The Fisheries website will report performance each month. Then there's Victoria's exclusive No Fish, No Pay policy that gives holders of fishing licences refunds on each month that restocking performance is below standard. 

2. PT2Fish: 90% of metropolitan and major regional fishing spots to have 7-day public transport within 400m. Community groups will be able to nominate network gaps and bid for local tailor-made transport solutions grants in a 'Pick my Project' style program managed by John Dory. Results announced before the next election. 

3. Mybait: Train stations near rivers and bays to have bait vending machines, payable with myki money by 2021. Unfortunately an earlier proposal to allow unused burley to be converted to myki money clogged up the machines so will not now proceed. 

4. Space for rods: Last carriage of trains will have dedicated spots for fishing rods. Exact location up for public debait. Contact Ray to learn more. 

5. Fish & Go: Showing a fishing licence entitles free Sunday travel on regional coaches as a regional tourism initiative. Special day fishing licences shall be available for a gold coin fee ($2 full, $1 concession) at all staffed train stations. No Fish No Pay refunds available at the station on the way back if you catch nothing. 

6. Drive 'n' Fish: Fishing from your car. 2021 State budget will fund 20 pilot drive 'n' fish sites around the state to be operational by spring 2022. Fishers will be able to fish without leaving their car. Free barbecue hotplates at car window heights will also allow cooking without leaving the car.

7. Kidfish: It's good to start them young. There will be free fishing licences mailed to every child who attends 3 year old kinder (another signature Andrews government policy). Accompanying parents or guardians will qualify for half price licences. Even if this does not increase participation it will boost the number of licences which is worthwhile for data keeping and reporting purposes.  

8. Taste of Fish: Those physically unable to fish will be mailed two Free Fish vouchers per year. They will be redeemable at any fish and chip shop in the state. Please explain. The idea is that when more people see their friends eating fish they will get the urge to go fishing themselves, thus aiding Target 1 (now 1.5) Million objectives. 

9. Transbay Hovercraft Metro: This is truly transformative. It caters for those who would like to fish at multiple locations around the bay in a day. And the air shuttle component makes it possible to offer Melbourne weekend fishing holidays from Singapore and Shanghai especially if no-terminal tarmac transfers are available. 

How does it work? We first of all buy end-of-service aircraft carriers to moor in the middle of Port Phillip. Ideally we'd want them to throw in the planes as these will be useful to provide  air shuttles to Avalon, Tullamarine and Moorabbin.  

The carriers will have piers constructed to allow direct fishing from them. They will also form a mid-route terminus for a hovercraft metro serving multiple locations around the bay. There would eventually be six express hovercraft lines and a local Mornington Peninsula line. Each line would operate every half hour, with all arrivals at :25 and :55 and all departures at :30 and :00. This efficient timed transfer network will allow easy connections to any destination. 

The aircraft carrier will host all-weather entertainments and a fishing discovery centre. Accommodation could be made available for school, youth and tour groups at subsidised rates. People with private boats and helicopters will be able to dock. There will be swimming trials. There is potential to use the hub for a weekday CBD, Geelong, Bellarine and Mornington Peninsula commuter network. And departing the Melbourne to Hobart Yacht Race from the hub is guaranteed to set time records tumbling.  

The Transbay Hovercraft Metro is a long-term project for the 2030s and beyond. But it's the sort of thing we should be thinking about if we are serious about achieving a revised target of 3 million participating in  fishing.  

Conclusion

Increasing fishing's take-up is a key government objective. Its success requires a concerted whole of government approach. Or at least a whole of department approach. Cooperation up and down floors and across partitions is critical. 

Given that it already goes near many fishing sites, public transport is a major untapped resource in helping to get 1.5 million Victorians to fish. The Fishing Public Transport Strategy and the Fishing Useful Network proposed here are core to the delivery of key strategic goals of higher fishing participation. 

Better public transport service is a welcome byproduct. In this regard it will be seen that this whole-of-department Fishing Public Transport Network Plan is both bolder and has a higher chance of government buy-in than any other transport strategy issued to date. The best thing a departmental transport planner can do this holiday break is to grab a rod and drop a line. Then they can return next year breaming with ideas with the sole purpose of making the Fishing Useful Network a reality.   

An index to all Useful Networks is here.

PS: This is the last 'Useful Network' for 2019. It will resume in 2020. Other postings here, like some bus routes, will be at reduced frequency until mid-January. 

Timetable Tuesday #53: The about to start 525

A new bus route will start in Melbourne's north on Sunday. Numbered Route 525 it will bring public transport to the new suburb of Kalkallo for the first time. Parts of Mickleham and Craigieburn will also benefit. It's not the most northernmost route in the area (The once-daily Route 511 goes up to Mandalay) but it is the first to offer seven day service.   

The 525 is roughly north-south running between Donnybrook and Craigieburn via Craigieburn Town Centre. Donnybrook is a lightly served V/Line station with roughly an hourly train. If you visited it you could be mistaken for thinking it was unpopulated; what passes for a town has a pub, post office, handful of houses and little else. 

Kalkallo, 1 - 2 km to the north-west, is where the real development is with house and land packages aimed at first homebuyers. Parts are close, as far as the crow flies, to the station but is severed from it by Merri Creek and a lack of walking paths. The bus will serve the southern part of Kalkallo but not the northern part which will remain without coverage. It's your classic story of people moving in first with services and transport (even as mundane as footpaths) arriving much later if at all. 

As significant as Kalkallo is the extension of service in north-western Craigieburn and parts of Mickleham. Existing routes in the area (eg the 529) are heavily used but don't go far enough west. The picture below shows 'leapfrog development' where instead of following a gradually advancing front, housing has skipped over areas planned for later development. Such patterns make the early provision of transport connections difficult.

 

Three versions of the map

At least three versions of Route 525's map are currently available.

First advice of the 525's route and service level came via information on Ros Spence MP's website. This is where you can view one version of the route map and timetable (map below).

The map has numbers showing the order of stops. This is particularly important in the confusing squiggle near Merrifield Park. In content but not format it matches the less clear version on the PTV website available when looking up the route (below).

However this is not the exact route that will start running Sunday. Buses leaving Donnybrook Station will deviate 2km east to turn around in Olivine Bvd before heading west along Donnybrook Rd to Kalkallo etc. You can see this on the map below (in yet another format) accompanying the PTV website announcement of the new route. 

Land at Olivine Bvd is currently selling with a major subdivision being built. There will no doubt be calls for a bus stop there as early residents will see buses going past. However this deviation is only a stop-gap until buses are able to turn around at Donnybrook Station. If a stop was to be installed there would be the expectation that a service continue after the station interchange is built since the one thing worse than not providing a service is to have one that's taken away.  

Bus routes are restricted by local street patterns. The whole area is a case study of how not to do development conductive to effective bus services. For example centring development away from main roads means that buses must deviate via confusing looping routes to assure adequate coverage. 

You can see this in Kalkallo with the hairpin-shaped route that double backs on itself and does not penetrate the north of the estate. Also Merrifield has a partial loop-the-loop which the PTV maps poorly illustrate. 

All this is a consequence of incomplete road networks and/or one bus route trying to do too many things. Consequently the 525 in its current form must be regarded as a stop gap until more direct routes can be implemented. Though the historical record is that stop gaps can last a surprisingly long time. 

Timetable

It's common for new bus routes to start (and often remain) with a limited service eg every 40 minutes even during peak periods. Route 525 is more 'peaky'. Its standard weekday and weekend headway is roughly 60 minutes, building up to 20 minutes for peak period trips to Craigieburn in the morning and from Craigieburn in the evening. 20 minutes is relatively good for an outer area bus. It's fully justified given the high usage of existing local buses and the area's favourable demographics including high population density along parts of the route.  

Unfortunately the 525's 20 minute peak frequency does not fully cover the pm peak. It finishes at 6:20 pm at Craigieburn. This means that you will need to knock off by 5:15pm (assuming a city job and 10 min walk to Flinders St) to reach Craigieburn in time to take advantage of the 20 minute frequency. After then it's down to an unattractive 40 minute service. Hence for the lack of a single trip the 525 timetable is inconvenient even for '9 - 5 ish' CBD workers. 

Operating hours meet minimum standards for local bus routes. That is starts before 6am weekdays, 8am Saturdays and 9am Sundays and no earlier than 9pm for the last bus on any day. A commendable tendency for some more recent upgrades has been to start weekend services an hour or so earlier than this as people are often up and travelling well before the normal bus start times. 525 does this on Saturday but not Sunday.

Thus there is quite an early Saturday start with the first bus arriving at Craigieburn at 7am. However the first arrival on Sunday is a late 8:40am. Another problem with its timetable is it doesn't harmonise with trains until 10 am or so due to the infamous 40 minute Sunday morning frequency that about half of Melbourne's train lines operate at.

While a good bus scheduling job has been done inasmuch as the first bus meets a train, the incompatible frequencies means that the second bus doesn't, with a 26 minute wait. Though it would not meet the minimum standard, it might be desirable to spread the first two trips on a Sunday out to an 80 minute frequency to allow both earlier starts and consistent coordination with trains. 

Weekend frequencies almost but not quite meet the minimum standard of an hourly service. This is because intervals between mid-afternoon trips can be 65 to 70 minutes. The timetable is harder to remember at some times as a consequence.  

PTV rarely publishes connection policies for bus routes. Route 525 is an exception. Its policy states that buses connect with trains at Craigieburn towards the city until 3pm and from the city after 3pm.

Conclusion

Route 525 brings a basic level of service to a transport-starved growth area. It should be well-used despite its hourly off-peak frequency. Given the rate of growth one would hope that other routes supplement it before long.

PS: An index to Timetable Tuesday posts appears here

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NEXIT: 17 years since the National Express walkout

Tomorrow is an important anniversary. 17 years ago National Express announced it was quitting. It couldn't make half our trains and half our trams pay under franchise contracts it signed just three years prior.

In retrospect it was a big ask. It seems foolish that anyone could commit to the conditions agreed. But such was the prevailing atmosphere of market-grabbing delusion that rail bosses like Peter Strachan could agree to conditions like 84% patronage increase and profitable operations by 2014 with a straight face. In his own words "Group experience elsewhere has proved that they are more than achievable".

But what seemed a pushover in 2000 became a struggle in 2001. Metcard ticketing wasn't reliable and Melburnians were apparently dodging fares more than had been factored in. You can hear these concerns in the management Q & A tape below (it's long - listen later).

National Express (along with other transport franchisees who were also struggling) demanded more money from the government. They got a bit but not enough. You can hear in this May 2002 management talkback the increasing concern about financial sustainability. Especially in the answer given to a question about National Express becoming an Australian company in which staff could buy shares. The answer was along the lines that you wouldn't want to since they were losing money.

Despite the worries over finances the franchise operators were doing one important thing right - service delivery. The service wasn't trouble free but the delays and strikes common during the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s were much rarer with fastest improvement during the last few years of government operation in the late '90s. Sentimental 'bring back tram conductor' types who hanker for the past tended to forget how bad the service they pine for really was, especially during the Cain/Kirner era. While an unpopular view, the early franchise years were somewhat of a golden era for metropolitan train travel, at least for commuters (evening service levels were then, and remain in 2019, depressed after the large frequency cuts of 1978).

The walkout

Seventeen years ago tomorrow, National Express dramatically gave notice that they were quitting their Melbourne train and tram franchises. More here: https://www.theage.com.au/national/train-tram-operator-quits-20021217-gduy0c.html and https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/2836793/National-Express-walks-out-of-Australian-rail-service.html .

The following week government-appointed receivers (KPMG) took over the running of services. https://www.theage.com.au/national/receivers-take-over-train-tram-group-20021224-gduz57.html  New managers were appointed in early 2003 https://www.railexpress.com.au/victorian-passenger-services-get-new-managers/ .

The good performance mentioned before didn't last. On-time running fell off a cliff from late 2003 (never to fully recover). Passengers around this time found more trains were getting cancelled due to 'insufficient drivers'. It was found later that National Express were skimping on driver training. Passengers who travelled widely also noticed that trains were kept cleaner on the Connex half of the network.

In M>Train's favour, their passengers had better Sunday evening services with a service upgrade soon after National Express took over. Whereas those on the Connex lines endured 40 minute frequencies and early finishes until their lines got upgraded later. Before then those who wanted to watch night sports to the end couldn't take trains home.  

As the last people standing, Connex and Yarra, got more money and the rights to run the train and tram services abandoned by National Express in renegotiated more sustainable but dearer contracts.

Greens and old lefties wanted the government to 'take back the network' rather than refranchise with private operators. Transport activists wanted at least a public planning body to specify, contract for and coordinate services across all modes. However the financially conservative and pro-business Bracks Labor government continued private franchise operation.  After all it gave someone else to blame when things went wrong.

Key to success, especially under a Labor government, was what the RTBU thought. They went along with rail franchising provided their conditions were protected. Minister Batchelor guaranteed this.

National Express was a product of entrepreneurial British rail culture whose managers were informed by Thatcherite union-busting industrial politics. Connex and Yarra were from France where trade unions are considered an enduring part of working life rather than bodies to be weakened then overcome. This outlook might have helped railway workers support a transition to Connex. Had Connex bailed out first and National Express taken over then acceptance might have been less. For more see this John Stone paper on the industrial culture of public transport in Melbourne.

Meanwhile V/Line reverted to government management. https://www.theage.com.au/national/the-long-goodbye-20040314-gdxhmp.html . Although rural voters were more inclined to be Liberal or National voters than city folk, it was those parties that championed privatisation despite it being unpopular in the bush. Regional Victoria, particularly V/Line served cities such as Geelong, Bendigo and Ballarat, swung strongly towards Labor in 1999.

Supportive but mostly ex-National Party independents held other rural seats. They were critical to Labor governing in its first term. Also Labor had major plans for regional rail. So one can see why they kept V/Line in state hands given the backlash against privately-run hospitals in regional Victoria. A recent write-up on the Bracks government rail record is here. 

National Express operated under the M>Train, M>Tram and National Bus brands. Initially their trains were known as Bayside Trains and trams as Swanston Trams. These were the two names given when the networks were split (under government ownership) before being franchised to private operators. The "Yarra Trams" brand is the sole survivor from this era.  

National Bus was unaffected by the walk-out as it was contracted separately. However in 2004 National Express sold their bus concerns in Brisbane and Melbourne with ours being snapped up by Ventura Bus Lines. Our National routes were on a different type of contract to other Melbourne bus routes. They were later bundled with routes run by Melbourne Bus Link and refranchised. As a result operation transferred to Transdev Melbourne (not unrelated to Connex which ran Melbourne's trains until 2009).

The people legacy

National Express was a British firm. Britain had gone through rail franchising so it was logical that some with experience of it would be brought here. Some remained even after National Express quit.

Indeed the sun has not set on UK rail managers in Victoria, even though subsequent operator Connex was French and current operator Metro is from Hong Kong. Mother Country Overseers remain prominent, occupying the apex of a four-level colonial-style hierarchy in our railways. 

Below them are the driver ranks, dominated by (mostly) Australian-born males (although this percentage is declining). This skilled artisan class is represented by the powerful Locomotive Division of the RTBU. This truculent organisation is wary of if not opposed to reforms foisted on drivers by their shiny-bum Pommy blow-in bosses and bean-counter functionaries. While formally a Division of the RTBU, the drivers appear to run their day to day affairs separately, with their own office, website and newsletter (Loco Lines).  Read some Loco Lines columns for otherwise unavailable public expressions of the old rail union culture. It's a proud, well-paid blue-collar culture, not unlike police or the military, that would be particularly attractive to those who did not attend university.   

Next are 'worker bee' customer service roles at the barriers, on the platforms and behind the ticket counters. These (increasingly rare and thus prized) stable working class roles are popular among migrants (especially from India where the railways are prominent). They lack the prestige of the driver ranks but pay and job security beats most warehousing, retail and hospitality jobs due to higher unionisation.  This group is represented by the Rail Operations Division of the RTBU (as opposed to the 'elite' Locomotive Division).

Worker bee' numbers were pared back under Kennett era reforms. Elsewhere in the public sector similar roles were either made redundant by technology or contracted out. Outsourcing has made the public sector a closed shop to anyone without a degree and, at least on class and education bases, less representative of the population it serves. The railways however remain an area where the on-the-job trained 'skilled technician' remains prominent, as opposed to other areas (especially public sector) that require general degrees even for junior roles.

If  you want a flavour of how things used to be here as regards to railway staffing, visit Brisbane, ride trains and see their stations. QR's Brisbane operations probably has the highest staff to service kilometre ratio in the country due to their high staffing but generally infrequent service.

At the bottom is the precarious 'Coolie-class'. They work on and around trains but aren't Metro employees and have no access to internal opportunities. They are low (and apparently sometimes under) paid contract workers from labour hire firms who do things like security, cleaning trains and direct passengers during works.

These people form a new insecurely employed "night army" proletariat of casual workers created by three decades of contracting out. Their labour hire bosses are basically Fagins that the Overseer class signs outsourcing contracts with before retiring to the pub to gloat over how much they've saved by downgrading 'Worker Bees' to 'Coolie' roles. Unions understandably resist this while the Andrews government is tightening regulation of the labour hire industry.

Where do women fit in? Rail, particularly the driving ranks, has traditionally been male-dominated. Managers want more women drivers to address shortages, drive cultural change (including openness to reform and better customer service) and strengthen inclusiveness.

Unions, like society generally, have had mixed attitudes to women's rights and roles. Communists and fellow travellers were early supporters of equal pay for women. The CFMMEU's John Setka has been criticised for what he's said on issues important to women. And his behaviour towards a woman brought him to the attention of the justice system earlier this year.

The ACTU's Sally McManus wanted him to stand down from his union role. Meanwhile the RTBU's Luba Grigorovitch has backed Mr Setka though it is obviously a sensitive issue with lots of internecine politics. Apparently both the CFMMEU and RTBU are in the same "Industrial Left" union faction allied to right-wing "Centre Unity" power broker Adem Somyurek MP after splitting from the "Socialist Left" grouping. The change brings the train, tram and ex-government bus-dominated RTBU factionally closer to the TWU - a union strong in the truck and private bus industries. 

The network identity legacy

Public transport branding, signage and marketing was a boom industry in early 2000s Melbourne. Operator brands had lifespans only slightly longer than fruit flies. Each change required new station signage, new train livery, new uniforms, new printed material, new advertising and new websites.

Part of this was because The Met had a bad name, largely arising from the industrial disputation of the early 1990s. It initially seemed that Bayside and Hillside (for trains) and Swanston and Yarra (for trams) would last a while. However they weren't counting on National Express changing it all before chucking it in. Consequently Swanston Trams became M>Tram and Bayside Trains became M>Train. The new brands looked nice but were highly self-indulgent given National Express were losing money and weren't doing important stuff like driver training.

All this rebranding confused the public. Maps in trains and trams showed only half the network and franchisees were advertising their own tickets that undermined the network offerings. The separate operator/single mode marketing proved a failure. When franchisees realised this they set up the Melbourne Passenger Growth Initiative Pty Ltd - a precursor to Metlink - to coordinate marketing.

The new M> brands didn't last when the trains went to Connex and the trams to Yarra. Shortly after Metlink started to bring some branding unity to the network. Recent experience, with the change to PTV followed by changes from PTV, showed that bureaucrats and governments can be as silly as private operators when it comes to unnecessary network rebrandings. However state ownership of Metro for trains and Yarra for trams mean that if operators change the names won't need to.

The 24 hour clock legacy

Some unexpected things survive from the National Express era. National Express briefly ran V/Line. They changed timetables from a 12 hour clock to a 24 hour clock. Even though PTV, Metro Trains and the bus operators all use 12 hour time, V/Line's 24 hour format remains, despite the regional transport operator being in government hands for 17 years now.  

The network management legacy

National Expresses' walkout taught those paying attention a few things. Both governments and private operators could be greedy. Both can count their chickens early. Governments might think they can get a service on the cheap. Private operators might think they can win business by bidding low and screwing the government later when they are locked in and charge steep mark-ups on 'extras' the client later requests. Franchise tendering processes can be brought into disrepute if quality suppliers are of the view that governments always go for lowball bids so it's not worth participating.

Savings can prove illusory, especially, as in the railways case, most were already made under government management. That leaves few extra 'efficiency gains' for private operators to exploit. Governments may wish to transfer risk to the private supplier but they end up paying eventually - either in a price premium on the contract or, as here, the operator walking out and the government having to renegotiate with other suppliers (who will want higher payments).

In the case of Melbourne's rail franchising, the first round skimped on the funding enough for National Express to walk out, the second (with Connex) skimped on it enough for maintenance and service to be insufficient while the current round (with Metro) is skimping on necessary service increases.

The 1999 patronage projections, along with the diminished funding, seemed particularly fanciful since higher patronage can't reliably happen without improved service. Although it actually did a bit later under Connex, where a surge in passengers was met by an unresponsive government slow to improve service. The result was mounting crowding and falling reliability that claimed not just Connex but the government itself. However the rail contracts themselves are stable and we haven't seen a repeat of National Express's walkout.

As a hypothetical it's worth considering what could have happened if National Express remained for a few more years. They'd have kept losing money, and no one (except for some wild projections in Melbourne 2030) was projecting the patronage surge from about 2004. NX might however have been tempted to cut more corners with potentially bad consequences for things like safety.

The latter actually came to pass in Melbourne but on buses rather than trains or trams. Transdev signed what some say was a cheap franchise in 2013. They didn't clean or maintain buses. PTV were lax in monitoring their contract. In 2017 the transport safety regulator stepped in, declaring much of their fleet unroadworthy. We'll know next year what will happen after the existing franchise expires (January 2021).

What about National Express generally? As well as exiting Australia, this once-aggressive transport giant has retreated internationally. Except for some German rail operations it has returned to its roots of being a bus and coach company though today also with significant USA interests.  

Conclusion

While transport is a specialised and technical industry, it would seem that at least the franchising part of it is driven by primal emotions like fear and greed. For example 'fear of missing out' (forcing a private operator to put in a lowball bid) and 'greed' (a government purchaser accepting same).

Then, having been awarded a contract, franchisees can behave like the cool kids when the teacher leaves the class. For them it's more profitable (or fun!) to see what they can get away with than to focus on boring assigned tasks (like keeping trains clean).

Unless contract management is consistently tight one can start with good intentions but let things go in the middle of their franchise period. The performance, presentation, and, as it turned out, safety of Transdev Melbourne bus services is the most notorious recent example.

Then in the year or two before retendering (as they hear the returning teacher's footsteps) one panics and rushes to make things good to demonstrate improvement (on the recent past) and get a chance of winning the next franchising round (Yes, I think Transdev has got a bit better lately).

By then you will have experience and could offer over-trusting clients some 'value-adding' high-margin but cheap to provide extras. That could help you claw back what you sacrificed in bidding low early on to win the business. The main difference, which makes acting up more rewarding, is that teachers don't normally tell their class how long they'll be away for whereas in business franchise periods are known beforehand.

Some of the people involved might have elaborate degrees and MBAs, but the track record shows  that regardless of any higher order skills they may possess, they are just as prone to foibles like fear, greed, hype, ego and poor judgement as anyone else. These can over-ride a careful examination of the facts or lead one to discount historical lessons. After all, isn't it true that "this time it's different"?

PS: I bet you're itching to know what happened to Peter Strachan who made that couldn't-be-more -wrong prediction in 2000? After Melbourne he spent time with Arriva Trains in Wales. Then Britain's Network Rail before another Aussie sojourn to head up Queensland's Translink in 2009. Three years later he was a mandarin (Director General Major Projects and London) back in Britain. The West Coast Rail contracting blunder ended that. Australia took pity with a job on Sydney's North West Rail. Finally back to Scotland to run Caledonian Sleeper Franchise.

It seems that at these esteemed ranks, if you misjudge your only penalty is a game of climate ping-pong. Which Australian state will have him next? I'm guessing South Australia given (i) they're privatising rail, (ii) they're inexperienced and (iii) they want to do things on the cheap. And they say Adelaide follows Melbourne by 20 years!