Re: [TramsDownUnder] Re: Melbourne Free Tram Zone in the Guardian

Robert, it is hard to imagine what the general public will do when the new underground opens. There are many St Kilda Road workers who catch trams from Flinders Street Station who will have come in from the Dandenoung/Cranbourne train lines, along with from the Sunbury line. While I live close to Anzac Station and of course I've thought about whether I will use the new line to get to town, I really don't know. A tram might be quicker but it depends where in the city I want to go. The train to the northern end of the city might be quicker, but probably not to Flinders Street. After attending the open day for Anzac Station, it seems to be quite a simple and quick process to get to a train platform, but then how long to wait for a train has not been announced yet, and what is the exit process like in the city stations?

Fortnightly I catch a 58 tram to South Yarra Station and a train to Murrumebeena on the Dandenong line. Once Anzac Station opens, I will just use Anzac Station. The mobs of MGS and MacRob students will no longer crowd the 58 tram to and from South Yarra but use Anzac Station. Alfred Hospital workers on the aforesaid line who catch the 58 tram from South Yarra to Fawkner Park and walk to the hospital will stay on to Anzac Station and catch a tram from there. 

I don't think any modelling can predict how people will use the Metro Tunnel, but it will certainly be a game changer. 

Andrew.  

On Tue, 14 Jan 2025 at 19:45, Robert Smith <rksmith.63@outlook.com> wrote:

Andrew,

I don't believe that the opening of the Metro tunnel will affect tram passengers numbers for those heading into the city. It will be quicker to get a tram from ANZAC Station to the CBD then head down into the station catch the train and then head back to surface level, with the removal (?) Of the transferring of some Swanson Street route to the west side of the city, I can't see any relief for CBD trams in the near future.

On Monday, 13 January 2025 at 9:32:24 pm UTC+11 Andrew Highriser wrote:

Tony, the tram capacity for Melbourne's busiest tram street is adequate, as it is for other tram streets. It is the management and unevenness of the service that's the problem. Once the Metro Tunnel opens, who knows what tram passenger loading will be. Most of Melbourne's tram problems come down to very poor management that operates the system to meet performance targets, rather than what is best for passengers. I believe former Premier Kennett in the 1990s was the one who first set performance targets, and so took away the power of hands on management to do its best to manage the system for passengers. 

Andrew. 

On Mon, 13 Jan 2025 at 21:08, 'TP' via TramsDownUnder <tramsdo...@googlegroups.com> wrote:

The problem is not the FTZ. The problem is that YT has too little tram capacity to move crowds. The whole fleet should be 30 metre trams. Instead, not only is there still a large legacy fleet of bus-size trams, but the problem is being perpetuated with the G class.

Tony P

On Monday, 13 January 2025 at 20:40:33 UTC+11 Alan Cooper wrote:

The Free Tram Zone (Melbourne CBD) has got a mention in the Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jan/12/melbourne-free-trams-experiment-decade-critics

I do not expect anything to change.  The FTZ is like negative gearing:  counterproductive and damaging but popular.  It is politically impossible to get rid of it as doing so would cost too many votes.

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