Liberal Party transport plans

Having already done the Labor transport plan (Metronet), I'm going to present the Liberals public transport plan.
They plan to -

MAX Light Rail map

- Build the MAX light rail project, with lines going to Balga Polytechnic via Alexander Dr and Mirrabooka (the first line to be built), Victoria Park via Hay St, and QEII Medical Centre, for $1.8 billion
- Build an Airport Rail Link with stations at the Domestic and International Terminals, and Forrestfield, for $1.9 billion
- Provide free off-peak public transport to carers at a cost of $1.2million (an extension of the free seniors public transport)
- Build a 560-bay multi-storey carpark at Edgewater Train station, for $47 million

Airport Rail Link

OPINION
GOOD
LIGHT RAIL
I also think the light rail is a good idea. The Alexander Dr corridor is far from heavy rail lines, and Mirrabooka is a major regional centre. The route to Victoria Park currently is the busiest bus corridor in Perth (albeit via St Georges Tce), and QEII is also an important centre.
Light rail is much cheaper than heavy rail in those corridor (since there is no reserved right-of-way, heavy rail would almost certainly be in tunnel, as elevated rail would be very unpopular), and can be a good selling point. It can bring people to Perth, and like Metronet, improve property values in areas such as Mirrabooka.
AIRPORT RAIL LINK
Most big cities have airport rail. Airport rail will help bring Perth into the big-city league, and make transport easier for residents of Perth taking a plane, tourists, business travellers and residents of Forrestfield and the general Foothills area. It will increase Perth's profile.
CARPARK
A multi-storey parking garage at Edgewater will help relieve parking pressures, while not taking up too much space. Edgewater is a good spot as it lacks feeder buses, increasing the need for parking.
BAD
LIGHT RAIL
Since the Victoria Park route is busiest, it should go ahead before Mirrabooka.
AIRPORT RAIL LINK
On the other hand, airport rail links are expensive, and some people believe they should not take funding from other, more useful public transport, just to join an abstract 'big-city league'.
CARPARK
As I've said before, excessive station parking is a problem. It is expensive to provide (especially in multi-storey form), takes up space (although to a lesser degree in multi-storey form), and makes walking to stations difficult and undesirable. If the problem is that Edgewater has no feeder buses, they can be provided for less than extra parking.
COSTING
The total cost of these promises will be about $3.75 billion. Let's see what costing we will come up with ourselves.

Light rail - 22km
Surface heavy rail - 4 km
Underground heavy rail 4km

Using figures explained in the previous, Metronet, post, as well as $20 million per km for  light rail, this will come to -
$20 (22) + $25 (3) + $250 (5) + $47 +1.2   million
$440 + $75 + 1250 + 47 +1.2
= $1814.2 million or $1.8 billion

This is less than half the official costing! You could nearly build both this and Metronet for the $4.4 billion or so Treasury said just Metronet would cost. While contingencies are necessary, this needs to be within reason, and I think that the total cost of Liberal public transport should not exceed $2 billion.

Red Cat changes 28th October 2012

On Sunday 28th October there will be some small changes to the Red CAT bus service. This does not concern frequency, but stop location. The Freeway stop (currently 20), will be removed, and instead of stop 1 being at Murray St (corner Pier St), it will be renumbered, and 1 will be at the WACA.
What do I have to say about this? Well, the Freeway stop is relatively quiet due to proximity to the freeway (lack of patronage generators, deterrence to walking across it) and the QV1 stop. But then again, the CATs are designed for fine-grained city circulation, and I don't think that this stop removal would free much time in the schedule (not that the Red CAT even has a timetable). Renumbering to start in East Perth may be logical, as the residential population make sit a good starting point. But these changes are relatively inconsequential.

Sunday 30th September Changes

 On Sunday, there will be several changes to Transperth bus services.

424 - Before

424 - After

414- After

414 - Before

Changes to the routing of Stirling feeder buses have been planned for a while, and will be carried out. The 414 will serve the western part of Balcatta that the 424 use to serve. The 424 will now travel along Karrinyup Rd and North Beach Rd, following the 427 (except for the deviation to Osborne Park Hospital, following the 423). Since the 427 follows the 423, the 423 will now travel west of Stirling station, taking Cedric St, Odin Rd, Barnes Rd and Huntriss Rd, serving the commercial area at the corner of Barnes Rd and Morris Rd.

423 - Before

423 - After

Frequencies have been co-ordinated so that buses run every 15 minutes on  weekdays and 30 minutes on Sundays along Odin and Barnes Rd (combination of 423 and 425, as well as half-hourly 423 on Saturdays). Corridors such as this create public transport that is dependable, as on weekdays you can turn up and go (TUAG) instead of looking at timetable. In addition there are more early morning trips on the 423 and 425 from Hillarys Boat Harbour and the intersection of Milverton Av and Karrinyup Rd respectively, with trips leaving Hillarys as early as 4:50am to connect with the first train. This again broadens the usability of public transport.
However, there was an opportunity to create a corridor much like that on Odin and Barnes Rds along Cedric St. Shifting 415 trips on Sundays 15 minutes forwards would result in bus service every 30 minutes along Cedric St until Amelia St, in addition to the 15 minute service on weekdays and the 30 minute service on Saturdays provided by the 415 on its own. Changing the 415 schedule would also create a similar corridor from Mirrabooka along Ravenswood Dr and Amelia St until Marloo Rd, if the trip times were reduced by 2 minutes eastbound and 3 minutes westbound. There is plenty of fat in the 415 schedule, as evidenced by waits at the intersections of Amelia and Cedric Sts westbound and Amelia St and Wanneroo Rd eastbound. This waiting is also present on weekdays, but is the worst on Saturdays, where a westbound trip may be scheduled to take 25 minutes but in reality only take 18 min. Passengers may wait 10 minutes for a train as a result, where the timetable shows 5 minute connections.
There will also be timing changes on routes 15, 365, 372, 386, 387, 388, 389, 390, 391, 401, 402, 407, 421, 426, 427 and 467, and stand changes at Stirling

Stand	Routes
Stand 1	402, 428
Stand 2	415
Stand 5	410, 412
Stand 6	421, 423
Stand 8	413, 424, 427

The case for metros and tiering

Train systems in Australia often come as one product to serve a whole metropolitan area, which I think is best described as a suburban railway. This means that governments only have to maintain one rail-based product, saving resources, but this can cause problems as cities grow and public transport use grows faster than population.
To make trains attractive to suburban passengers, railway lines often skimp on stop spacing in inner areas to get passengers from the suburbs to the CBD quicker. This does not serve inner city areas adequately, even of there is already a railway line in the area. For example, the Mandurah line does not make any stops between the city and Canning Bridge, despite passing through dense or significant areas like South Perth or Como.

To deal with overcrowding capacity can be increased by measures that make use of existing rolling stock such as replacing seating with space for standees, such as longitudinal seating (along the sides rather than in pairs). However, this is unpopular with long distance commuters from suburban areas to the CBD who may be forced to stand for long periods of time. This seating is already common on A series trains, which do not serve far destinations except for the Armadale Line, but this modification is present at the ends of B-series trains, and is being rolled out on other parts of those sets, which are used on the 70 km Mandurah Line as well as the 30 km Joondalup Line, which is constantly extended to follow suburbia.
The solution here is to split the suburban railway into two rail modes; the metro for inner areas, and the commuter railway for outer areas. Metros will have close stop spacing to serve inner suburbs thoroughly. Their use will be higher and service will be more frequent (TUAG) because inner areas are more conducive to public transport use, being built when cars were not available or not widely used. The trains may be driverless, or operated automatically by computer, to provide this service cheaply, and will feature full longitudinal seating, because average trip length will be shorter.
On the other hand, commuter rail will have much wider stop spacing, for quick journeys from the outer suburbs to the city centre. Their frequency will be dictated by levels of use, which likely aren't as high as further in. But, of course, users of commuter rail will usually get a comfy seat.
Perth is part-way there, with the two tiers operating on the Armadale corridor (commuter to Armadale, metro to Thornlie) Monday to Saturday 6am to 12am, and supplemented on Sundays by an all stops service to Armadale. However, the rollingstock is still the same on both lines, the metro section (at least) should be grade separated, and of course the tiering should be full time, with the Thornlie line a bit more frequent.
The Midland and Fremantle lines are probably short enough to be metros, despite the express running in the peak, but again, grade separation is needed, and frequency could be better.
The Clarkson and Mandurah lines have inner tiers to Whitfords and Cockburn Central operating on the peak shoulder (formerly off-peak and the height of the peak before service cuts and fleet expansion respectively). This is completely grade separated but the stations are in freeway medians, and so are widely spaced and pedestrian/bike-unfriendly, the tier is part-time only and frequency needs a boost.

Analysis of Northern Suburbs Service Changes (Part 2)

This is the second part of a three-part series, see here for parts 1 and 3

From 6 November Transperth will be implementing service changes on buses across the middle northern suburbs (Wanneroo Rd, Alexander Dr, Stirling , Warwick , Whitfords , Mirrabooka , Morley , Ballajura and Alexander Heights). The network will be made simpler, with some new routes and trips added, increasing frequencies, and after-hour routes cut back or removed, replaced with more services on regular routes (The Transperth page for these changes is here, and a map is here). This second part of the analysis on northern suburbs bus improvements covers changes on Alexander Dr, Alexander Heights, Ballajura, Mirrabooka and Morley service changes.

The service changes to Alexander Dr buses aim to provide frequencies south of Yirrigan Dr up to every three minutes during peak hour on the 886, 887, 888 and 889, every 15 minutes until 8:30pm and on Saturdays using the 887, 888 and 889, as well as services up to midnight and every half hour on Sundays up to Beach Rd with the 887 and 889. This is in addition to the 10 minute frequency on weekdays off-peak already achieved.

To achieve this the 885 will have some minor time changes with an extra trip, 886 will have some small timing changes with a few extra peak trips, the 887 and 889 will have some minor timetabling adjustments and additional peak, night and Sunday trips, to operate every hour until midnight and on Sundays, slightly earlier and later too and route 888 will have some minor timing changes with extra early morning and weekend trips, and Saturday service every half an hour.

The frequency and service span increases are obviously a very big plus to current passengers and to increase patronage, adding Alexander Dr along with Wanneroo Rd into the group of corridors with buses every 10 minutes on weekdays and 15 min on Saturdays, or TUAG standard. The time changes will hopefully correct the current situation where an extra ten minutes of travel time is just lumped in at each end rather than evenly spread out (Perth to Mt Lawley ECU takes only 9 minutes but Mt Lawley to Perth is 19 minutes, and Beach Rd to the terminus takes 20 minutes, but from the terminus to Beach Rd takes 10 minutes (midday), although timetables aren’t available yet.

The 344 from Morley to Warwick via Alexander Heights and Ballajura will have extra services for services every 10-20 minutes in the peak, half hourly during off-peak (up from hourly) and hourly on weekends, with some short services now travelling the whole route, and buses from Warwick running earlier and later. The 345 from Morley to Bennett Springs will become a fully accessible route. A higher frequency and more full length services for the 344  are certainly a plus, making the route simpler and more convenient, and accessible buses are better obviously for disabled passengers but are also preferred by most able-bodied customers.

I have previously said that this will be a two-part series, however I have found that I will need three parts for this analysis, and the next part will analyse Mirrabooka’s changes.

Analysis of Northern Suburbs Service Changes (Part 1)

From 6 November Transperth will be implementing service changes on buses across the middle northern suburbs (Wanneroo Rd, Alexander Dr, Stirling , Warwick , Whitfords , Mirrabooka , Morley , Ballajura and Alexander Heights). The network will be made simpler, with some new routes and trips added, increasing frequencies, and after-hour routes cut back or removed, replaced with more services on regular routes (The Transperth page for these changes is here, and a map is here). This first post of this three-part series covers changes on services on Wanneroo and from Stirling to Warwick, Warwick to Whitfords and Whitfords to Joondalup.

Wanneroo Rd services will be changed and improved significantly, with two routes deleted, two routes renumbered, two new routes, and 374 staying mostly the same apart from a few small timing changes. 363 will be deleted and replaced with extra service on the 373 and 365, while 347 is also to be withdrawn and replaced with the new route 387, from Warwick via Balcatta and Wanneroo Rd to Perth, running every 15 minutes during peak hour and every hour in off-peak. Route 388 will also be introduced, from Warwick on Beach and Wanneroo Roads to Perth running every 10-15 minutes in the peak, and every half an hour during off-peak and on Saturdays. The 346 will be renumbered to 389 and will services will increase to every hour on Sundays, with small time changes on weekdays, and 373 will become the 386, with Sundays services again increased to every hour, with small time changes on weekdays, and only wheelchair accessible buses will operate on it.

 The aim of these changes is to get a bus along Wanneroo Rd as far as Amelia St every 10 minutes on weekdays, every 15 minutes on evenings until 9:30 pm and on Saturdays, and every half hour on Sundays. This is good because TUAG frequencies (every 15 min or less) are important in attracting riders who have the choice of a car. Wanneroo Rd will be join the now lonely club of corridors that run TUAG buses on Saturdays, although Sunday buses still won’t be up to scratch.

Some buses departing from Stirling Train Station will undergo time changes and a few extra trips, and one route will be added but another removed. Routes 413 will have some time changes, 414, 423 and 427 will have some timetabling changes as well as some additional trips. 425 will have timing changes, some extra trips, including some serving Charles Riley Rd and on Sundays, and a stand change at Warwick to Stand 8. Route 428 will be added, operating along Jones St and in Balcatta to Warwick every 15 minutes in peak time, and every hour during off-peak and on weekends. The after-hours route 435 will be replaced with extra 425 services, with some deviating to Charles Riley Rd. Removing an after-hours route will make the network simpler and easier to remember, and the introduction of a new route will improve coverage and make PT for those near Jones St or going Balcatta better.

Warwick services will also have some changes. Route 381 will change stands at Warwick to stand 7, 441 will have major time changes, and it’s route will be modified slightly, 442, 443, 445, 446 and 447 will have major timing changes and night and weekend service, to replace the after hour routes 452, 455, and 457 that will be discontinued, and 444 will undergo major timetabling changes. 344 chnages will be explained in the next part of this analysis. In addition, two services from Whitfords to Joondalup will only be served with low floor disability accessible buses. The network between Warwick and Whitfords will be made much simpler with the removal of after hour buses, and the accessible buses from Whitfords to Joondalup will not only be better for the disabled, they are newer, and more spacious and attractive to able-bodied passengers.

In the next part of this analysis I will look at the revised Alexander Dr, Ballajura, Alexander Heights, Mirrabooka and Morley services.

Why Park n' Ride isn't the answer

Park n’ Rides, or stations with large amounts of car parking, are usually considered good public transport policy. They encourage public transport usage in low density regions. Perth has them at most new stations, and we’re not doing too badly from them. However, maybe we could be better off with a different strategy.

Park n’ rides consume large amounts of land and discourage walk-up patronage. While our Park n’ Rides are mostly at freeway stations on the Joondalup and Mandurah Lines, where walking to the station is already hard, the large parking lots surely aren’t helping. There is also insatiable demand for them, just like roads. They often fill up in the morning peak, so they encourage peak usage over off peak usage. Instead of replacing car usage with PT usage, it lets car usage continue along with PT, which is an easy and fairly good outcome for now but not optimal.

In place of these alienating Park n’ Rides we could allow residential and commercial development, or TOD (Transit-oriented development), buildings that will generate much more traffic that is also more balanced than in Park n’ Rides, while earning money rather than costing money. To compensate for the loss of the car park feeder buses should be run much more frequently.

We could also place Park n’ Rides just beyond walking distance of the station (about 400m for most people) where the attraction of the station is lesser and so land cheaper, with links to the station by feeder bus. This would be the best of both worlds, but it would be difficult to get the land in our existing suburbs because it would probably be housing, and new suburbs should be optimised for walking, cycling and taking a feeder bus to the station, so large Park n' Rides aren't necessary.

In conclusion, we should reduce our dependence on Park n' Rides, although the idea suggested in the last paragraph of car parks beyond walking distance of the station deserves consideration.

The case for good off-peak public transport

Public transport is often used as an alternative to peak-hour traffic, but it should be embraced just as much during off-peak times.

Getting more passengers on off peak and weekend services gets the most out of capital investments already spent, such as railway lines, bus stops and vehicles. A bus has already been purchased so there is no extra cost to run it during off-peak times except for the driver and fuel, but the trip will earn money from fares.

Good off-peak services also gives peace of mind to peak hour commuters that should they need to come to work earlier or later, go home early, stay behind or do an errand that services are available for them at that time.

It also offers an alternative to driving to the city because while traffic isn’t bad, it will become an issue in the future, and parking is still a problem. The city is easy to serve well by public transport.

Trains run every 15 minutes all day everyday and some trips are standing room only, but most buses only run every hour during off-peak and so are unattractive to travellers with cars. Even major bus routes have a long way to go on weekends with only services along Beaufort St and on the Circleroute between Fremantle and Southlands running every 15 min on weekends.

In conclusion, off-peak public transport is a good use of infrastructure and fleets that have already been bought, and although Perth is doing well on this matter with its trains, we could improve, especially on buses.