Public Transport Users Association

Thanks to all who attended last week's Volunteers and Members meeting! Great discussion, plenty of ideas. Sign up as a free supporter or a paid member to stay up to date on future events. ptua.org.au/members/

🌧️It's one of those days when you see the effectiveness of the shelter at your station or stop... and the benefits of a short wait.

Low floor trams alone can't make the tram network accessible for everyone.

What is the future of public transport in Melbourne? Join us for a workshop and roundtable on how we can advocate for better, more frequent public transport - 6pm on 23rd October. For details and to register: ptua.wildapricot.org...

Weekends are the busiest shopping days... so why do most bus routes have fewer services? More buses more often will cut the wait and get more people onto public transport and out of the traffic.🛍️🚌

Our campaigns are funded entirely from memberships. Join now to support better public transport. ptua.org.au/members/

This Saturday, midday: GetWestMoving. Have your say. Hear from decision-makers. Help get the West moving. Details and registration here: www.melbournefoe.org...

🚉🎂Happy birthday to Paisley station, opened 14 October 1929, closed in 1985. Re-opening this station alongside a shake-up of Werribee line timetables would boost public transport options in this part of Melbourne's west, helping more people avoid congestion. 📷Lachlan Tansey via Wikipedia

The plan to move buses out of Moorabool Street in #Geelong will make trips worse for bus passengers, and risks making existing problems worse. Statement from our Geelong branch: ptua.org.au/posts/20...

Station car parks are full early in the morning. Expanding them is incredibly expensive and never meets demand. Vastly improving feeder buses, walking and cycling options is a better, more affordable, more scalable way of getting people to the station.

🚉🎂Happy 137th birthday to Upfield station, first opened 8th October 1889. With Melbourne's north growing, the single track section is a big issue, preventing frequent reliable trains from running. It's time for government to duplicate, and move ahead on an extension further north.

What is the future of public transport in Melbourne? Join us for a workshop and roundtable on how we can advocate for better, more frequent public transport - 6pm on 23rd October. For details and to register: ptua.wildapricot.org...

Today's tram incident is shocking, and our best wishes are with the victim for a full and speedy recovery. Unfortunately, hundreds of trams still have no CCTV, and we call on the government to act on this. All passengers have a right to be safe on public transport.

🎂Happy 45th birthday to V/Line's N class carriages, which first entered service on 5th October 1981. Unlike most of the newer VLocity trains, they have catering, and easy access to all carriages. The VLocity design is 20+ years old; it's time for a new design of regional train for Victoria.

Good to see a Senate Committee recommendation of a text message option to contact Triple Zero. Public transport users have been asking for this, as a way of reaching help without having to make a voice call.📱🚨 www.aph.gov.au/Parli...

Labor pledge to duplicate the Upfield Line and run more train services - will the Coalition match it? Postponing the crossings to align with this project also means an opportunity to provide Sydney Road with platform tram stops before the works close the rail line - essential for access. 📰The Age

Many cities use colours, names or numbers for their train lines. "Bayside line" would be a lot easier to remember than "Werribee, Laverton, Williamstown and Sandringham line". 🚉🏖️ What do you think? (See baysideline.com)

Our friends at Rail Futures have released their vision for an integrated multi-modal public transport network, with frequent services and seamless connections right across Melbourne, to keep people moving as the city grows. Read about the plan here: www.railfutures.org.au/

When we compared Sydney vs Melbourne suburban train patronage, some people asked about trams. Good question! So we added trams, and also buses. Sydney still comes out on top. One factor: a bigger network of high frequency services, making public transport easier to use, getting more people on board.

It's that time of year again. Hopefully your wait for a train is a short one, but watch out for swooping birds! 🐦‍⬛

🚉🎉Happy opening day to West Tarneit station! More upgrades are needed for Melbourne's growing west, but this station will make a big difference to the local community.👍 📷LachlanTansey, via Wikipedia CC BY 4.0

NFL in #Melbourne: big event, with no MCG public parking. Public transport is showing how good it can be - plenty of services ensuring the crowds get easily and efficiently to the game.👍🚉🏈

📅🚧Everyone's least favourite calendars. But it's worth checking for disruptions when planning a trip. Planned closures for upgrades might be necessary, but authorities need to ensure disruptions are minimised, info is clear and that there are plenty of staff and buses to help keep people moving.

🚉🚴Cycling and public transport make a great combination. We support the call from Bicycle Network for 5% of state transport infrastructure budget to be used to provide better cycling infrastructure. Read more here:

There's heavy traffic and travel demand 7 days a week in Melbourne and our regional cities. It's time public transport services caught up. More frequent services means more people on public transport.

More public transport systems are adding monthly or weekly fare caps, so regular users can avoid the hassle and upfront expense of preloading a Pass. Victoria should do this too, especially now we've got Tap And Go.

With so many suburban and regional town buses offering inadequate services on the weekends, we're calling for Sunday timetables to be scrapped, upgraded to Saturday - to ensure more 7 day routes - and for key routes to have improved frequencies. www.busnews.com.au/p...

⚠️From Tuesday: Watergardens to Sunbury and Dandenong to Cranbourne trains are replaced by buses due to industrial action affecting train maintenance. We hope this is resolved soon and doesn't spread - if you're on these lines, keep a look out for updates from Metro.

Whether or not SRL proceeds or is paused, it's important that the rest of the public transport network gets more upgrades to make it fast, frequent and reliable. We've outlined initiatives for buses, trams, Metro and V/Line that our politicians should be prioritising. ptua.org.au/posts/20...

Upfield line: every 10 minutes between Coburg and the City? Yes, it is possible! It's happening all this weekend due to Craigieburn/Werribee/Williamstown line works. Great to see... maybe they should try this more often... for instance every peak hour? 🤔

When it comes to infrastructure, the best outcomes come from well researched independent advice. We're incredibly disappointed that the State Government has taken the short-sighted decision to shut down Infrastructure Victoria, putting an end to their good work.

Minimising project costs is important, but convenient easy interchanges are not "unnecessary extras" - especially for a project designed primarily to connect existing rail lines. They are key to ensuring the benefits of the investment are maximised.

Part of the problem: "We have transport projects, but no plan – the Big Build *is* the plan." Read more: ptua.org.au/posts/20...

Great to hear V/Line has been testing 6-car trains for the Warrnambool line to help boost capacity. Short trains aren't coping, especially on weekends. Read more: www.warrnambool.vic....

This Sunday's train boost cuts the wait time for this connection from 32 minutes to 12 minutes. More frequent services make public transport useful for more people. We'll keep pushing for further improvements, but this is progress! 👍

Frequent fast connections make public transport a pleasure.

We've been campaigning on poor train frequencies for years. Here's our video from 2024. It's great that the State Government has listened! Sunday 40 minute waits will be fixed from this weekend. There's more to do, but this is progress✅ #ItsAboutTime

It's the last Sunday morning of 40 minute gaps on Metro! Cutting waiting times to 20 minutes will encourage more passengers to use trains more often. Further upgrades are needed for public transport services around #Melbourne and Victoria, but this is a great step in the right direction.

There are fewer railway crossings in Melbourne nowadays, but many remain, including around regional Victoria. Stay safe around trains. #RailSafetyWeek2026

📢 PTUA's Ballarat Branch meeting, next Tuesday 18th August at 5:30pm. www.facebook.com/eve...