the commuter perspective: critical issues to be address to create a world-class public transport...
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Daniel Bowen, President, from the Public Transport Users Association has presented at the Victorian Transport Summit. If you would like more information about the conference, please visit the website: http://www.statetransportevents.com.au/transport-conference/vic-transport-infrastructureTRANSCRIPT
Who is the PTUA?1
• Formed in 1976
• A not-for-profit, voluntary organisation, with no political affiliations
• We lobby for better services for passengers (and potential passengers)
Why do we need to better integrate
modes?
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• In any big city, moving the bulk of people in private cars is grossly inefficient
800 people = 1 train, or...
Melbourne’s now a big city3
• Big city crowding: traffic, parking, PT
• Even on weekends, even in the suburbs
“World-class” doesn’t mean underground railways4
• World class public transport: moving lots of people, quickly, with little waiting
• Capacity, and frequency
Getting people onto public transport:It’s not about infrastructure
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• It’s about services
• Reliability, speed, capacity, cleanliness, safety, and frequency
• Infrastructure built to enable services
• Are we building the right infrastructure for the services we want?
Don’t get dazzled by technology6
• Monorails? Maglevs? Ferries?
• What transport problems will these solve?
• PT needs economies of scale to create a network, not competing modes
Yarra: 5 knot (9km/h) speed limit!
“Frequency is freedom”- Jarrett Walker, Human Transit
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• Only frequent public transport can be a true competitor to the car
• People don’t want to live by timetables
• “Every 10 minutes to everywhere”
Anywhere to anywhere
frequent network
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Melbourne’s frequent network: Peak9
Every 15 minutes or betterPeak hour
Melbourne’s frequent network10
Every 15 minutes or betterWeekday off-peak
Melbourne’s frequent network11
Every 15 minutes or betterWeekends (Saturday)
Melbourne’s frequent network12
Every 15 minutes or betterEvenings
2006 vs 2012 – Every 15 minutes or better13
• One train line that is every 10 minutes, every day – more soon?
• A few more Smartbus routes
• But most areas still have only infrequent buses
2006 vs 2012 – Every 15 minutes or better14
2006 2012
Patronage growth15
Frequent buses get people on-board.
Year to December 2011:
• Smartbus: patronage up 40%
• DART: patronage up 46.1%
How infrastructure helps:Reliability, frequency, speed
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• Duplication
• Signalling
• Grade-separation
• Tram/bus priority
Myki
• Nearing end of the saga?
• Good for regulars, if it’s fast/reliable
• Problems for occasional users: no short term ticket (unlike other cities)
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The PTUA vision
• “Every 10 minutes to everywhere”
• 7 days, until midnight
• A web of frequent services to every suburb
• Staff at every station to help
• Public transport that people actually want to use
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Public Transport Users Association
www.ptua.org.au
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