Melbourne Public Transport

[Slax]

Melbourne public transport is fine if you live within 10km of the CBD, further out than that and it's very ordinary with only trains offering anything near decent services. In my opinion Melbourne is the worst PT system with the most unreliable ticketing system of any major city that I have been to.

 

[Caesar]

It's interesting, people from Melbourne always say that Sydney has better public transport for some reason. Personally I found Melbourne's PT far better than Sydney's when I was living there (although I did live pretty close to the city).

Sydney's double decker trains are great though. I presume their absence in Melbourne has something to do with the rail gauge.

 

[filandia2nuts]

It's interesting, people from Melbourne always say that Sydney has better public transport for some reason. Personally I found Melbourne's PT far better than Sydney's when I was living there (although I did live pretty close to the city).

Sydney's double decker trains are great though. I presume their absence in Melbourne has something to do with the rail gauge.

I was waiting to see how long it would be before you came along. Anything with 'Sydney' in it and you're all over it like a rash.

Still, I'm surprised to find that I agree with you here. (Except for the fact that I don't think most Melbournians think Sydney's is better.)

Sydney's PT system is a joke, when compared to Melbourne's. I don't think that anyone who has lived for a significant amount of time in each city can suggest otherwise. Melbourne always had the advantage here, in terms of planning and topography.

Sometimes people may visit another city on holiday and they generally stay in places that are well-serviced by transport. They are also in a better mood. Perhaps this skews their view?

 

[Caesar]

I agree that it's probably to do with the visitor effect. I have always had good experiences with Perth's public transport but its residents bitch about it to no end. Melbourne has some notable PT black-spots (e.g. Doncaster) but on the whole I think it's alright.

 

[nicky]

I live 7km from the city and am right next to 2 trams lines and a train station. The access i have to transport is excellent but it's far too infrequent. On a friday night around 9pm there was going to be a 35 minute wait for the train and a 40 minute wait for trams. That is pathetic.

Sydney seemed ok to me but i've not lived there. It's a worry if the transport is worse than melbournes. Perth's transport seemed excellent the last time i was there in terms of punctuality.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

And yet, prior to privatisation, Melbourne's transport system was among the best in the world.

That said, I do prefer Myki over Metcard. I used get monthly Metcards, and if I wasn't careful by the end of the month it was unuseable. Myki is more robust, and in theory quicker to scan (that is where it seems to fail, it seems to take five or six scans sometimes so instead of the quarter of a second or so it should take, it takes 5-6 seconds Metcard maybe took 1-2 depending on whether anything was being printed on it or not).

What is going to happen for tourists? I'm in Melbourne often enough that Myki is worth it, but for others Myki would be a watse of time. If there is no Metcard how will they pay for trips?

 

[FootyJunkie]

I live 7km from the city and am right next to 2 trams lines and a train station. The access i have to transport is excellent but it's far too infrequent. On a friday night around 9pm there was going to be a 35 minute wait for the train and a 40 minute wait for trams. That is pathetic.

Sydney seemed ok to me but i've not lived there. It's a worry if the transport is worse than melbournes. Perth's transport seemed excellent the last time i was there in terms of punctuality.

Why does Sydney have express trains at night in the western suburbs after peak hours during the week? Very odd practice that no doubt makes some punters happy, and others not so much.

In Melbourne, the 30 min wait for trains to the suburbs after peak hours is a joke. Used to just walk to Richmond for exercise and catch the train from there instead of waiting in that horrid yellow/orange light on the platform at Flinders St. for 30min.

 

[Howard Littlejohn]

Why does Sydney have express trains at night in the western suburbs after peak hours during the week? Very odd practice that no doubt makes some punters happy, and others not so much.

Would you stop in some of Sydney's western suburbs? Nor will train drivers.

 

[Bunk Moreland]

Melbourne transport is great if you live walking distance from a train station (prob covers 30% of the population), and everywhere you would ever want to go is walking distance from a train station (probably covers 5% of the population). And it’s a weekday during daylight hours.

Being better than other Australian cities does not make it good.

People always say other cities are better than their own – I suspect it’s due to being more relaxed when you’re holidays and not actually relying on it to be somewhere at (thus not getting too pissed off when it fails you), and attractions you attend when visiting are generally well located and well serviced by transport.

Take someone from interstate and plonk them somewhere like Rowville for a couple of weeks... I guarantee you’d get no responses of “oh Melbourne PT is just fine”.... quite the opposite.

 

[simmo41]

I hate public transport. I use it to into the city and enjoy myself, but the trip home usually brings the day/night back down to "average". I hate sitting at Jolimont station, watching the "next train" sign tick down from 24 minutes to 4 minutes, followed by the announcement of "the 10:12 to South Morang has been delayed and is expected in 17 minutes" at 10:45.

So many people don't use it because it's crap, yet the government won't spend money on it because so many people don't use it. Vicious cycle. It's all very nice to insist that the government make the first move, but they operate purely on checklists and measurable objectives. The concept of being proactive baffles a public servant.

My car takes me the places I want to go at the times I want to go there. PT will never beat that.

 

[millsy29gopies]

...Sydney's double decker trains are great though. I presume their absence in Melbourne has something to do with the rail gauge.

Melbourne actually used to have the same double-decker trains in 1999-2000 but they broke down too easily and were scrapped.

 

[HAWKS HEROES]

It's interesting, people from Melbourne always say that Sydney has better public transport for some reason. Personally I found Melbourne's PT far better than Sydney's when I was living there (although I did live pretty close to the city).

Sydney's double decker trains are great though. I presume their absence in Melbourne has something to do with the rail gauge.

i love the sydney transport ferries trains light rail and buses all covered , fantastic ! if there for more then 3 days get a weekly its cheaper

 

[zimma]

the whole zone system should be scrapped now that there is myki, should just be touch on, and touch off, and fare calculated accordingly...

I was so glad when they scrapped Zone 3, local station was 1 stop inside zone 3 so I either had to chance it to save money, or pay extra for one stop.

the idea of the myki card is fine, just that the scanners are about 2 seconds slow to scan, everywhere

The ones built into the "gates" can be the worst at times, ones at Glenferrie seem to take ages at times which is a pain in the ass at peak hour. Someone will be standing there for ages waiting for it to actually scan. One of the scanners at my local station seems to be broken every day as well. However now you actually have to "check off" it's amazing to see how many people are obviously fare evaders.

Melbourne actually used to have the same double-decker trains in 1999-2000 but they broke down too easily and were scrapped.

I thought the issue was that they couldn't go through the city loop?

 

[DivideandMultiply]

Melbourne has the worst public transport of any major city i've been to* including Perth and Sydney.


*LA is worse

Cannot agree. Sydney is by far the worst, followed by Adelaide, then Perth then Brisbane and GC.

The trains can be shithouse here in terms of reliability, but the coverage is good, except for the outer east, the buses generally run on time and the trams are excellent (simply because they exist and are fairly reliable). Myki is still useless though.

Singapore and Tokyo have the best public transport networks in my experience. On time, efficient, great coverage, user friendly smart cards, well staffed and clean. The only major issues are how packed Tokyo trains can get especially and cost. But I guess I am paying full fare prices so comparatively it is pretty reasonable.

 

[DivideandMultiply]

It's interesting, people from Melbourne always say that Sydney has better public transport for some reason. Personally I found Melbourne's PT far better than Sydney's when I was living there (although I did live pretty close to the city).

Sydney's double decker trains are great though. I presume their absence in Melbourne has something to do with the rail gauge.

Maybe I have simply had bad experiences, but I found Sydney's public transport when I was there shithouse.

 

[Bombers 2003]

Melbourne actually used to have the same double-decker trains in 1999-2000 but they broke down too easily and were scrapped.

Not quite
kennett scrapped the one double-decker train because he was too cheap to pay for more or get the 1 we had to be repaired.last i heard it was rotting away in some forgotten shed in the spencer st yards

 

[HAWKS HEROES]

that double decker was on the lilydale line i liked it not sure it could go through the loop though ?? i don't have too much trouble with the myki i just hate the waits for trains and sometimes trams

 

[Caesar]

Maybe I have simply had bad experiences, but I found Sydney's public transport when I was there shithouse.

I agree with your comments to nicky - Sydney trains are much more reliable, but in pretty much every other aspect the infrastructure in general is much better in Melbourne.

It varies pretty widely in Sydney. I lived on the North Shore for a couple of years, and walking down to the water and catching a ferry across to the CBD every morning was the best commute in the world. But I was paying a ridiculous proportion of my salary in rent. A mate who lived in Penrith spent an hour every morning standing on a packed train.

 

[Manila_Playa87]

Double Decker trains only serve to increase dwell times resulting in less trains being able to be run on the network which in turn offsets the increase in passengers per train since leess are being run.

The concept of Myki was good. The implementation of Myki however was shit. It's been proven to not validate any quicker than the old metcard ticket courtesy of a railpage gunzel. The advantage of Myki is that you can top up electronically but then again one could get a monthly metcard easily anyway.

Almost two billion dollars and two years later one wonders whether that two billion could have been put to better use such as kick starting the eddington rail tunnel and grade separating along the dandy corridor...

 

[Dont be a lemon]

Of course most visitors to a city think that city's public transport is good. They're usually only visiting the CBD and a handful of inner suburbs. They're not visiting the 'unremarkable' middle and outer suburbs where most of the city's residents live. And if they are there's a good chance they're using a car anyway. And unless they're visiting for business they don't have the "Have to be somewhere by X time 5 days a week" thing to care about.

So many people don't use it because it's crap, yet the government won't spend money on it because so many people don't use it. Vicious cycle. It's all very nice to insist that the government make the first move, but they operate purely on checklists and measurable objectives. The concept of being proactive baffles a public servant.

Far more industry and lobby in cars than public transport. How many car companies sell in Australia? 80,000? How many car repair/product businesses and companies in Australia? Then you've got the RAC in each state with most car owners as members (that might be different across states but you get the jist of what I mean).

What's public transport got? The train builder in Germany (or wherever it is) and some relatively piddly bus companies? The PUTA that nobody gives three fifths of **** all to?

 

[DivideandMultiply]

I agree with your comments to nicky - Sydney trains are much more reliable, but in pretty much every other aspect the infrastructure in general is much better in Melbourne.

It varies pretty widely in Sydney. I lived on the North Shore for a couple of years, and walking down to the water and catching a ferry across to the CBD every morning was the best commute in the world. But I was paying a ridiculous proportion of my salary in rent. A mate who lived in Penrith spent an hour every morning standing on a packed train.

Yeah, TBH I was staying in Darlinghurst and had little reason to complain. On my first day in Sydney though I went for a wander through Paddington and down the end of Oxford street and ended up in Bondi Junction.

A bit tired I decided to catch the bus back down Oxford into the city. No luck. It was Tcard only and the driver pretty much told me to GTF off.

Set a bad tone early, but generally I found it tricky get where I wanted to go easily. I ended up using taxis way more than I should have, but whether in a hired car, taxi or with friends I always found it strange how difficult it was to get to places from the city. The roads and public transport gave me headaches.

Darlignhurst is a fine place to live though, as long as you have money.

 

[Caesar]

The biggest problem with Sydney is that from an accessibility perspective the CBD is in the wrong place. Nobody lives anywhere near it - its way over in the east and there is water all around it. Makes getting to and from it an absolute bitch.

Melbourne is quite nicely designed in the sense that the city sort of grows out and around Port Philip, so the CBD is actually pretty central. You can design fairly straightforward road and public transport arteries to service it.

If you were designing Sydney today you'd probably put the CBD halfway to Parramatta.

 

[DivideandMultiply]

The biggest problem with Sydney is that from an accessibility perspective the CBD is in the wrong place. Nobody lives anywhere near it - its way over in the east and there is water all around it. Makes getting to and from it an absolute bitch.

Melbourne is quite nicely designed in the sense that the city sort of grows out and around Port Philip, so the CBD is actually pretty central. You can design fairly straightforward road and public transport arteries to service it.

If you were designing Sydney today you'd probably put the CBD halfway to Parramatta.

I agree completely.

The main strain to public transport and road infrastructure in Melbourne is that the population center has shifted so far east. Coupled with the lack of stringent regulation of public transport contractors and a lack of public spending in this area over the last two decades, things can sometimes be a little hairy.

 

[Big Jono]

I have lived in Melbourne for 5 years now and I think the public transport system is amazing yet all I hear is people bitching and moaning about it.

The city i come from in NZ has no trains and buses run everywhere, when a service isnt running you find out when the bus doesnt come. When its running late you find out when you sit there for half an hour waiting for it. If the bus driver doesnt feel like stopping to pick you up he doesnt.

People here dont know how good they have it yet they all moan about a train being 5 monutes late etc.

 

[nicky]

I'm comparing our transport to decent cities like London, Berlin, Barcelona, NYC etc. Our pt is abysmal. You might come from a small hick town in nz and not know any better. Melbourne is a big city and should have MUCH better pt.