Ghost Trams on the Network

[Mozz]

An interesting approach - actually taking passengers on Trams when they are moving between timetabled service locations and stabling yards:

http://www.theage.com.au/national/on-our-tramways-secret-service-20080913-4fye.html?page=-1

On our tramway's secret service
Reid Sexton
September 14, 2008
THEY don't show up in timetables and cannot be seen on maps.

Like the supernatural creatures after which they are named, they can be tricky to find and, on paper at least, their existence is difficult to prove.

They are Melbourne's ghost trams, secret services that slash waiting times for passengers in the know.

The phantom trams have been rattling around the network for years ? but they are not the tramway equivalent of the ghost ship Marie Celeste.

They ferry passengers to a depot or another point on the network where a tram is needed. It's just that they are unscheduled.

They currently operate across 25 of Melbourne's 27 tram routes, but if you've never heard of them you're not alone ? Yarra Trams keeps quiet about them.

Adding to the mystery ? or confusion ? is the fact that they have their own unique route number because they service only sections of a line.

This, according to the Public Transport Users Association, is great for tram-spotters who relish a chance to glimpse the number seven to Malvern Town Hall, but not so great for passengers in the city who don't know what route that service takes.

Yarra Trams says different route numbers are allocated to avoid confusion. But PTUA president Daniel Bowen said the current system was even more baffling.

"It's good that these services run," he said.

"But using unknown route numbers that nobody has ever heard of is not good customer service.

"If the service is running most of the distance of the main route they should just use the main route number ? it doesn't make sense to have so many trams running that no one knows about.

"They are not on signs, not on the web and just appear on the streets. If people knew about them they would recognise them and use them."

Yarra Trams said ghost trams showed up on electronic displays at some stops ? a claim disputed by the PTUA ? and on the mobile phone-based Tram Tracker service.

It knows when and where a ghost tram will operate, but said they remained under the radar because printing them on timetables could also confuse customers.

This is despite a Yarra Trams spokeswoman saying they account for 10% of the kilometres that Melbourne's trams travel each day and 8% of the network's travel time.

"Opportunity trips only service a section of route so are numbered differently and not published in our timetables to eliminate confusion with our passengers," she said.

"All our trams have to go back to the depot, anyway. They are bonus services for passengers."

Last year, The Age revealed the existence of ghost trains on the rail network that shuttle passengers across the city as they head back to their stabling yards.

But Yarra Trams doesn't like to use the word ghost in this context because, it says, a "ghost tram" is one that has lost electronic contact with the control room.

By contrast, these "ghosts" are contactable ? they're just not often talked about.

But Mr Bowen disagrees, saying the sooner they lose some of their mystique the better.

"Of course they're ghost trams," he said. "They are almost invisible, not on timetables and show up out of the blue.

"If these trams are running every day, they could be taking more passengers and the mystery needs to be removed."