Article: Tram jam: Melbourne's car glut puts the brakes on public transport

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Tram jam: Melbourne's car glut puts the brakes on public transport

Tram jam: Melbourne's car glut puts the brakes on public transport
Clay Lucas
April 21, 2011

MELBOURNE'S trams are slowing to a crawl, stuck in traffic as car numbers on the state's roads soar by 100,000 a year, according to a report written by Yarra Trams and handed to the Baillieu government days after it won office.

With the number of people catching the tram growing by 50 per cent over the past decade, there has been a ''rapid deterioration of travel speed'', the report says - with trams now travelling 15 per cent slower than in 1999.

Melbourne has the world's longest tram network - 250 kilometres - but it is also one of the slowest, with an average speed of just 16km/h as trams spend more than 17 per cent of their journey time stopped at traffic lights.

If Melbourne followed the boldest international examples, tram travel times would be slashed by up to 30 per cent, the the Tram Priority report says.

Melburnians have realised later than people in other cities that priority should be given to public transport because the existing road system has exceeded its capacity, the report says, making three key recommendations to the government:

■Give trams on the CBD's tram ''spine'', Swanston Street, instant priority at all traffic lights.

■Give all routes travelling east-west across the CBD more ''green time'' at intersections.

■Ensure trams get a clearer run at Melbourne's 690 intersections where trams compete with cars at traffic lights.

''If nothing substantial is done to improve the operational environment for trams, car use will continue to grow at the current recent rate of approximately two per cent per annum,'' the report says. ''The present situation for trams is likely to worsen significantly.''

Yarra Trams has been operated since 2009 by Keolis, a French transport giant that runs train, tram and bus systems in 12 countries around the world.

The report, released to The Age by the Department of Transport after a Freedom of Information request, shows Melbourne compares poorly to several international cities, including Zurich and London, that aggressively push public transport priority ahead of private cars.

The report says steps must be taken to remove cars from in front of trams where traffic has reached "saturation point" - including banning cars from turning right in front of trams.

Tram travellers yesterday said they spent too long stuck in traffic. ''We spend half an hour a day at traffic lights,'' said one commuter, Kathryn Tran, who regularly catches the 86 tram from Thornbury to the CBD.

Public Transport Users Association secretary Tony Morton said Yarra Trams had hit on the right idea - it was now up to the Baillieu government's long-promised public transport authority to make a difference.

''We have to decide what's going to be most effective at moving as many people as possible, without gross inefficiencies,'' he said.

Transport Minister Terry Mulder said the government was studying the introduction of further tram priority measures at intersections across the city, and had recently made improvements along St Kilda Road to minimise delays to trams.