Article: Passengers give free morning travel the flick

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

Passengers give free morning travel the flick

Passengers give free morning travel the flick

   Ashley Gardiner
   From: Herald Sun
   June 14, 2011 12:00AM

FREE morning public transport has flopped: statistics show the number of commuters taking advantage of the "early bird" deal is on the slide.

Department of Transport documents obtained by the Herald Sun reveal train patronage before 7am has slumped by 5.6 per cent over a year.

Over the same period, patronage during the morning peak, from 7am to 9am, surged by 4.5 per cent.

On the Alamein and Dandenong lines, early morning patronage nosedived by as much as 28 per cent over 12 months.

Have you abandoned the early-bird offer? Tell us why

Minor growth was recorded on the Hurstbridge and Werribee lines, while a respectable 8.1 per cent growth occurred on the Craigieburn line.

The early-bird ticket, giving free travel to train passengers who arrive in the CBD before 7am, was introduced by the former Labor government in a blaze of publicity in March 2008.

It was joined by a "Flex in the City" scheme, to encourage flexible working hours and combat transport congestion.

But that disappeared without trace.

Surveys last October were the first to detect the early-morning slump.

Metro spokesman Chris Whitefield said commuters were still encouraged to travel outside peak times.

"We know that patronage overall is growing," Mr Whitefield said.

"For those people that can travel early, it is quite beneficial."

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said there had been very little promotion of the free early-bird travel.

"(And) it's still a problem that buses and trams aren't included," Mr Bowen said.

Read more: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/passengers-give-free-morning-travel-the-flick/story-e6frf7jo-1226074519985

[ozbob]

If you recall during the last State Election campaign the LNP wanted to do the same, that is free rail travel before 7am arrival CBD.  We advised against it because it was not an integrated approach and was not matched by service improvement.  Same issues in Melbourne, trams and buses miss out.  Tweaking off peak is a better way to go with full integration across all modes.