Article: Push for more train-bus links to limit wait times

[ozbob]

From the Melbourne Age click here!

Push for more train-bus links to limit wait times

Push for more train-bus links to limit wait times
DEBORAH GOUGH
May 9, 2010

MORE than half of Melbourne's train services do not connect with a bus service, and those that do can leave commuters waiting at stations for more than 30 minutes.

A study of bus and train connections has revealed just how disjointed Melbourne's public transport network is and prompted calls for an independent authority to oversee the time-tabling co-ordination of both transport modes to allow seamless travel around the city.

To view the results of the study, click here.

The survey found that on weekdays just 46 per cent of train services connected with buses. Of those, only 10 bus routes had timetables ensuring commuters on every train service only had to wait between three and 10 minutes for the next bus.

Many buses were scheduled to leave stations one or two minutes before trains arrived. This meant 42 per cent of the time commuters were left waiting longer than 10 minutes for a connecting bus, Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said.

He said the situation deteriorated further on weekends, especially on Sundays, when less than a third of train services had a bus connection.

The association's study - which compared train arrival times with bus departure times from stations - found the average waiting time for a bus was 11 minutes on weekdays, 12 minutes on Saturdays and 14 minutes on Sundays. At some stations, however, some commuters, are forced to wait half an hour for a bus.

The longest delays were experienced on Saturdays and Sundays at Berwick station where patrons regularly waited either 21 minutes or 36 minutes for the bus to Narre Warren South.

''Nobody wants to sit at a stop for 20 minutes or half-an-hour waiting for a bus home. People will instead either drive to the station, or just give up on public transport and drive all the way to their destination,'' Mr Bowen said.

The shambolic state of the bus and train system was the result of no government department taking responsibility for making the two transport modes work together.

Mr Bowen called for Transport Minister Martin Pakula to make his department responsible for co-ordinating train and bus services and for increasing the number of bus connections at train stations. He also called for a shake-up of public transport management and the introduction of an independent public transport authority to run it.

The data analysis is part of the association's ''Every 10 minutes to everywhere'' campaign - a push for buses and trains to run every 10 minutes to make public transport a more attractive option.

''There just aren't enough buses ... Only some areas are lucky enough to have train services - buses have to fill the gaps, but they're falling far short,'' Mr Bowen said.

He said the department had shown it could co-ordinate bus and train timetables with two TrainLink routes in Cranbourne and Epping, but had failed to carry this across the network.

He said it was disappointing the state budget had no new funding for better bus services.

Mr Pakula's spokesman, Stephen Moynihan, said there were no plans to create a transport agency but agreed more frequent bus services were needed.

''The Department of Transport believes one solution is to increase the frequency of bus services so that, no matter what time your bus arrives at the train station, it's never long until the next train,'' Mr Moynihan said.

A spokesman for the Bus Association of Victoria, Chris Loader, and Mr Moynihan both said train-to-bus links were difficult to manage especially when bus routes intersected with more than one station, when train and bus frequencies did not match and passengers needed to travel in different directions.

Mr Loader said the State Government had implemented less than one-third of its bus service review's recommendations for bus-train connections.

The long wait

The wait time between a train's arrival and a bus's departure is more than 10 minutes for 42% of train services. (Weekdays 39.7%, Saturdays 56.7%, Sundays 58.6%)

- On Sundays, the 630 bus leaves Gardenvale Station for Elwood one minute before the train from the city arrives, ensuring a 19-minute wait.

-  The 418 bus leaves St Albans station two minutes before the train arrives, ensuring an 18-minute wait on Sundays and 14 minutes on Saturdays.

- The 532 bus from Upfield station to Broadmeadows only has one good connection a day - the rest of the time it is an 11 or 21-minute wait on weekdays.

- The new Smartbus 903 at Altona station on weekends runs every 30 minutes and trains every 20 minutes, making it an average 23-minute wait after the train has arrived.

[#Metro]

The association's study - which compared train arrival times with bus departure times from stations - found the average waiting time for a bus was 11 minutes on weekdays, 12 minutes on Saturdays and 14 minutes on Sundays. At some stations, however, some commuters, are forced to wait half an hour for a bus.

This isn't too bad considering Brisbane "connecting" buses aren't all dedicated feeders but often the nearest bus that drives past.
On the other hand, busway/railway co-location at South Bank, Buranda, South Brisbane, Roma Street and Boggo Road/Park Road
has been excellent.

dedicated feeder buses are a good idea, lots more work can be done in Brisbane on these.