Article: Just the ticket for weekend commute

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Just the ticket for weekend commute

Just the ticket for weekend commute
Clay Lucas
September 17, 2011

STANDING on a train in Melbourne used to be something you did only on a weekday.

As the city grows though, it seems Melbourne's trains are now often crowded on weekends, too.

But despite passengers showing up for trains in ever greater numbers, there have been only minor changes to weekend timetables in the last decade. And the City Loop's Flagstaff station still shuts down for the entire weekend.
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On Saturdays, trip numbers are up 56 per cent since 2004, with an average 342,000 train trips now made.

On Sundays the growth is even more striking, with 92 per cent more than in 2004. Back then, just 147,000 Melburnians took a Sunday train trip. Today, 282,000 do.

Weekend growth has far outpaced weekdays, where train trips have grown by 41 per cent from 2004, to 736,000.

It isn't a phenomenon unique to Melbourne - in July The New York Times noted it on the city's subway. But Melbourne's weekend growth has far outpaced other cities, in part explained by population growth, the CBD's popularity, and lower weekend ticket prices.

Monash University city historian Professor Graeme Davison says he has noticed more people riding the trains on weekends. ''Historically this may represent something of a return to the interwar period, when the old Victorian Railways carefully monitored weekend traffic and actually promoted train travel for shopping.'' Davison sees considerable numbers of travellers, particularly Asian students and migrants, returning by train from shopping trips in the city, and at hubs like Box Hill. ''These groups are accustomed to treating Saturdays and Sundays much like other days of the week.''

Weekend patronage is dominated more by people without cars than weekday travel, says RMIT's Dr Paul Mees, who believes the enormous weekend increase is largely a result of deregulated retail hours since the 1990s. ''Sundays used to be sepulchral, but even five years ago the trains weren't as lively as now.''

Work crews carry out most maintenance on weekends, and as usage grow on weekends, the window for much-needed maintenance will reduce.

A Transport Department spokesman says crews will still do most work on weekends to minimise weekday disruption. He also says Metro now runs six-carriage trains to cope with weekend train use, which is projected to continue rising faster than weekdays. Extra weekend services are also expected soon.

Lower weekend train numbers are most evident in Melbourne early on Sunday mornings when, says Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen, trains run as little as once every 40 minutes, with the first not reaching Flinders Street until 8am - too late for events such as fun runs.

''Melbourne is now a seven-day city,'' Mr Bowen says.

''Weekend services even every 20 to 30 minutes just don't cut it any more.''

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/just-the-ticket-for-weekend-commute-20110916-1ke3s.html\