Public Transport Victoria (PTV) performance results for the month of November have been released, revealing continued strong showings from Metro Trains, a relatively unchanged if unspectacular V/Line performance, and a dip for Yarra Trams, which the transport authority has attributed to ‘unplanned’ street protests and bouts of hot weather.
November’s record run of consecutive days with above average temperatures, however, didn’t stop Metro Trains from running services on-time 92.5% of the time, a mere 0.1 drop from October’s figures, and one of its best performances of the year.
The percentage of timetabled services delivered also remained high at 98.8% — in-line with Metro’s 12-month average.
November was the last month of the Metro’s old MR3 franchise agreement with PTV, which enforced monthly punctuality rates of 88% for train services. The new MR4 contract – which came into effect on November 30 – requires the operator to meet a new punctuality rate of 92 per cent of trains running within 4 mins and 59 secs of their scheduled arrival time, and a new delivery target for timetable services of 98.5 per cent.
PTV’s acting CEO Dean Tillotson said that Metro Trains would have to continue to replicate November’s figures to avoid the harsher penalties enforced in the new contract (potentially up to $1.25 million in fines).
“They will be helped by the $80 million increase in annual maintenance investment in the metropolitan train network under their new contract to further improve reliability,” Tillotson said.
The best performing line for punctuality was once again the Glen Waverly Line, which, with 98% of services running on time, surpassed its previous year-high of 97.6% in September. With 86.1%, the Craigieburn Line was the worst performing line of the month, suffering a 3-point decline from its October result.
With an overall network service punctuality performance of 85.8%, V/Line gave showings rather similar to the last two months (and above the 12-month average of 84.2% for 2017), with most lines meeting the November targets set by PTV.
The Swan Hill and Echuca Line saw the month’s best punctuality figures, with 92.6% of services running on time (down slightly from 95.1% in October, but well above the 12-month average of 79%), while, much like the previous month, the worst performing was the Bairnsdale Line, with only 74.3% of trains running on time (down from 77.6%).
“V/Line passengers can also expect to see benefits from the new Metro contract, that commenced this month, through better management of shared tracks aimed at giving regional trains a more reliable pathway when travelling through the metropolitan network,” Tillotson remarked.
A November result of 79.3% of services running on time saw Yarra Trams drop to below 80% punctuality for the first time in 6 months. PTV has claimed that the result was due to “successive unplanned city centre protests”, with Yarra Trams citing 5 separate rallies affecting eight tram routes for a total of nearly 22 hours during November.
Like Metro Trains, Yarra Trams has just started operating with a new contract enforcing harsher penalties of up to $500,000. Trams will now have to run on-time 82 per cent of the time per month (up from 77 per cent in the previous agreement).
Temperature records for November, including 12 days above 30 degrees, and nine consecutive days over 28 degrees, according to Yarra Trams, led to an overall dip in network reliability in November, with 97.9% of timetabled services being delivered. This meant that Yarra Trams failed to hit their 98% target for the first time in 3 years.
Tillotson said that, under the new contract, maintenance spending the tram network would increase by over 57% to $81.5 million annually, improving the long-term reliability of services.
“At the same time, we’re continuing to upgrade our fleet with 80 new E-class trams expected to be in service by mid-2019, providing space for more than 17,000 extra passengers,” he said.