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.

Second thoughts on Park n' Rides

Previously I said that Park n' Rides, or car parks at stations were a bad idea, but the reality is we need them now and in the near future. People use them. My family uses them. Most of them are at freeway stations that are hard to walk to and offer little redevelopment opportunity anyway. But they can be improved.
For one, the concept of partly free parking and partly paid parking is a good one. However the paid bays are at the back, so those who paid are further inconvenienced by walking further, while those who got free parking also get parking close to the station, so the only way to get convenient parking is, well, to arrive early. Or at least this is the set up at Stirling train station; I haven't seen the other stations but I suspect the situation is the same. It would be better to have paid parking at the front and free parking at the back, so people can pay for the convenience of parking near the station.

If I ran Transperth ... I'd lengthen off-peak services.

While most peak hour services are now six-car trains, trains at other times are still only 3 cars. I took the train today on the Joondalup Line, and the three car trains had some standing passengers on the journey in at about 1:30pm, and nearly full on the trip back at 5:15pm. Standing isn't necessarily a problem, while it can be inconvenient, it is a reality of public transport, and most cities with great public transport have lots of standing, because standing means the service is popular. However, during off-peak times like this plenty of spare sets are available to make six car services, and add more services if the six car sets are full. In fact, I think off-peak services should have been six-car before peak services, because we wouldn't need to add more train sets to our fleet.

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.