Article: Tardy trains and trams run a fine line

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Tardy trains and trams run a fine line

Tardy trains and trams run a fine line

Clay Lucas
April 15, 2008

VICTORIA'S public transport operators have been hit with their biggest ever penalties for poor performance since the system was privatised in 1999.

Train and tram companies have been punished with $15 million in fines for late or cancelled services in the last three months of 2007.

And passenger satisfaction on Melbourne's train, tram and bus network has plummeted to its lowest point since privatisation, with just 58.6% of passengers happy with service levels.

The figures, released in the State Government's quarterly Track Record bulletin on public transport performance, show train operator Connex will be forced to pay $10.3 million in fines for late and cancelled trains ? a record high.

Yarra Trams was also fined a record $2.9 million, and V/Line $1.491 million.

Last night a spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the Government was monitoring the performance of the transport operators.

"Increased patronage is affecting train times," said spokesman Stephen Moynihan, on the 30% jump in train patronage over the past three years.

"More people boarding and disembarking means the time a train is stopped at a station is increasing," he said.

"The Government has introduced additional services to be rolled out later this month and more to come in November."

Last May, when confronted with marginally lower fines handed out to Victoria's public transport operators, Ms Kosky told The Age the Government had talked to Connex in particular and had agreed on "short-term improvements, including timetable changes ? and additional trains".

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said the record fines were proof the system of fining privatised operators for poor performance did not work.

"If fines worked, we'd see them decrease. But we keep seeing them happen and the problems aren't being fixed," Mr Bowen said.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the penalties and plummeting passenger satisfaction were a sign the system was not being run properly by the State Government.

"These results spell two words: Kosky Chaos," he said.

"Wanton neglect" of public transport since Labor came to office in 1999 had led to the poor performance, he said.

"These figures show the crisis we have in public transport, and a minister who does not really want to be in the job she is in," Mr Mulder said.

Connex spokesman John Rees conceded the fine was a record, but said several factors had added to its severity.

"The extremes of weather in December, with storms and floods one day, which affected 1000 services, followed by a string of 40-degree or near 40-degree days stressed the system and caused above-average cancellation rates," he said.

Signalling and vandalism issues also contributed to more than 3000 service delays, he said. "(But) the single largest issue remains the extraordinary growth in patronage."

New train services put on last week to start later this month were "not a silver bullet" but would help improve reliability, he said.

Yarra Trams said traffic congestion was getting worse, slowing down tram services and causing many delays.

"With the traffic congestion, we can't always guarantee we're going to get every service through unfortunately," spokesman Colin Tyrus said.

"It just shows that Eddington's recommendation was right," Mr Tyrus said, referring to Sir Rod Eddington's transport study, which this month recommended more clearways on major roads so that trams were not delayed by parked cars.

Sir Rod recommended that where councils and local traders opposed the removal of street parking, the State Government should step in.