[The Age] - PT fails Monash Uni students

Natronomonas · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 9:18 am

Kerpal · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 11:31 am

While not a student myself, I used the "SmartBus" that runs from Huntingdale station to Monash Uni.

I found the train was often late/cancelled, meaning the bus connection was missed. When the next bus turned up, it would fill up and leave about 20 unlucky people left behind.

The SmartBus infrastructure itself doesn't seem so smart. The displays were frequently out of use or incorrect. The displays appear to offer train information as well as bus information, presumably so the bus driver can decide whether to wait for the train to arrive; but again, I didn't see this ever working.

I too, gave up on the train / bus combo and opted to take the faster option of crawling along the Monash Freeway.

Eratik · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 4:43 pm

route14 · Posted: Sun May 11, 2008 6:48 pm

I wish that the articulated buses that currently operate route 811 and 812 can be used on that route.

Man proposes, god disposes.

L1150 · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 11:43 am

As an employee of the Uni and a regular user of the 703 "Smart Bus" from Monash Uni to Clayton station, I certainly agree that they are little different to non smart bus services. The electronic displays ARE frequently wrong (and this is a second generation system - the first one was so bad , about 80% wrong in my experience that it was shut down and removed.) Last week,one afternoon, the display at the Uni was showing that the next bus to Middle Brighton was over 3 hours late!! Punctuality is fairly poor! If the bus I catch is on time, I have a 12 minute connection for my train at Clayton, however I have, on a number of occasions missed my train, or only caught it because it was running late. Another problem is loading time at the Uni stop. The bus may be reasonably close to time arriving at the Uni but leaves late because as fast as the crowd at the stop is boarding and validating their tickets (or worse, buying a ticket from the driver) more students are continuously arriving at the stop and some drivers are too kind hearted and won't close the doors and leave, even if they are late, while more students are running up to the stop!
Considering the size of the Uni Campus and the number of students, I would agree that PT is very inadequate.

Kerpal · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 2:26 pm

BMTA511 · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 3:14 pm

Would converting Monash Bus terminal into a prepay only stop with ticket machines places at a number of different points in the bus terminal help to speed up loadings of busy buses.

Huntingdale Oakleigh and Clayton bus stops could also go Prepaid with a ticket machine at the stop. This would reduce delays somewhat both to and from Monash.

The ticket machines should be able to accept banknotes and coins for this system to work well.

Also Huntingdale - Monash uni and Clayton - Monash University could operate with a lot of short working trips all day long to reduce overcrowding on other bus routes.

BMTA 511: Thai Mass Transport Systems http://thaitransit.blogspot.com/ Check it out now.

jfan · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 4:30 pm

mjja · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 7:17 pm

Eratik, I don't think you can defend the point that SmartBus Mk.2 PIDS are at all reliable. I use Clayton and Monash Uni daily or close to it, and I take note of when it's right, not when it's wrong. The whole "smart" bit of SmartBus is a bit of a sham - it would have been a good thing if it had worked, but it doesn't. The main value of a SmartBus route is the service frequency (which I will say is a Good Thing).

As for what public transport should serve Monash Uni - I'm still in favour of the Huntingdale-Rowville elevated railway via Wellington Road.

Happy Gunzelling and remember, "Go by rail!"

Michael Angelico
President, Smart Passengers Inc
Councillor, ARHS Vic Div
(My opinions are my own unless specifically stated.)

drwaddles · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:03 pm

Metlink · Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 9:18 pm

I personally find Monash a pain to get to via public transport. I think this is in terms of where I actually live. When I go and visit my mates there I normally drive, however I have caught the bus a few times. It was the whole train/bus connection part that really got me angry. If a train was late you would miss a bus, if a bus was late you would miss a train. I think something needs to be further done to improve the connections, or allow more time as we all know, trains are quite often late on the Dandenong line.

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route14 · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 12:50 am

The buses just need to be more frequent so that you can take your pick.

Man proposes, god disposes.

Michaelje · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 7:25 am

Kerpal · Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 9:19 am

Scottie_theNerd · Posted: Wed May 14, 2008 7:59 pm

It's worth noting that the option of going to Clayton to catch the buses there is not available for many (if not most) students who PT it to Huntingdale. Huntingdale is the last Zone 1 stop; buses from Clayton require a Zone 2 ticket.

Frequency isn't so much a problem for the 630 and 900 routes from Huntingdale. I think the bigger complaint is that if a train is delayed by a few minutes, the connecting bus service is missed. A 15-20 minute wait at that bus stop isn't too pleasant, considering there are no shelters, and for the past five months there has been construction work going on at the corner. Some might consider it a superficial complaint. I'm more fussed about getting to my classes on time, which happens mostly.

Peak hour presents more problems. The 9am load of students have to cram onto two 630 buses and possibly one 900 bus, which is generally enough. A delay means that you essentially have three bus-loads of students waiting for the next bus, and another train-load of students will arrive and be stranded until the next service. The effects of disruptions aren't as profound for the rest of the day.

I do have memories of taking an earlier train to get to uni sooner, and ending up being half an hour late. I personally don't find the PT trip to Monash to be terrible, and it is more reliable than not. It's only when the delays pile up that it gets hammered as "unreliable", in my opinion.

6-car trains have a total of 18 doors. Don't feel obligated to use just one.