PTUA urges Andrews Government to fund plan for trains every 10 minutes

SICK of waiting up to 40 minutes for a train? A public transport lobby group is, and it’s urging the Andrews Government to fund off-peak trains to run every 10 minutes on most Metro lines.

THE Andrews Government has been urged to run trains every 10 minutes by an influential public transport lobby group.

The Public Transport Users Association has called on the Government to fund the official PTV rail network service plan, which included trains every 10 minutes on most Metro lines by 2016.

The PTV plan, written in 2012, proposed that by 2016 there would be six trains an hour off-peak and on weekends to Sunshine, Craigieburn, South Morang, Macleod, Ringwood, Glen Waverley, Sandringham and Newport in addition to existing services to Frankston and Dandenong.

Three trains would also run every hour off-peak and on weekends to outer suburban stations at Sunbury, Belgrave, and Lilydale.

The Andrews Government has been urged to tun trains every 10 minutes by an influential public transport lobby group.

PTUA spokesman Daniel Bowen said the upgrade would revolutionise train travel around Melbourne by cutting waiting times and crowding outside peak hours, and making more trips viable by public transport, including those requiring a change of service.

“Studies show that waiting time for public transport is often perceived negatively, with passengers believing waiting time is longer than it actually is”, Mr Bowen said.

“This actively discourages people from using infrequent public transport, especially for journeys requiring connections between services.

“Running trains every 10 minutes every day, just as we see already on a few lines, and just as we see in other cities of Melbourne’s size around the world, will get people off the roads.”

Mr Bowen said weekend road traffic was almost as bad as weekdays. He said rail commuters still waited up to 40 minutes between trains on Sunday mornings.

Planning for the network now sits with Transport for Victoria.

“We know from VicRoads figures that there is almost as much travel demand in the middle of the day, and on weekends as there is at traditional peak commuting times”, Mr Bowen said.

“There is plenty of spare fleet and track capacity outside traditional peak times.

“Public transport users should not have to wait another decade until the tunnel opens in 2026 to see better services.”

A Government spokeswoman said it would deliver more train services with each timetable change, with one to metropolitan services already delivered this year.

Ten-minute services operate during the weekday inter-peaks to Dandenong, Frankston, Clifton Hill and Newport and to Ringwood on weekends.

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