Public Transport

[bluey33]

Just after feed back on Melbourne's Public transport.

Being more specific I will be looking to catch the train from Sydneham to Flinders st station in the morning around 6:40am, then from Flinders st onto the Sandringham line.

Being from Sydney, the transport up there is quite bad, Trains are all over the place, so I drove almost everywhere. I hear Melbourne is much better but to what extent I don't know.

Do many people here have problems getting to work on time?

Do either of these lines have bad "reputations"?

Cheers

Bluey

Edited August 12, 2008 by bluey33

[R31Nismoid]

lol the Sandringham line is the pits dude, one of the worst

There is at LEAST one service cancelled per week between 7am-8:30am.

Usually more like 2-3 in a week, and sometimes more than one in the 7am-8:30am block. (ive had two in a row a few times)

2 days outta 5 i get shafted is my 'average' for Sandringham, simple as that. Yet the connex stats would 'say' otherwise.

Trains are always late out of Flinders St in peak hour (morning/night) and thats going both ways. Fken gives me the shits. Its all because its a single line so if one train is late, your stuffed

Gotta wait for the next one unlike shared lines where you have a few options.

End of the day, regardless of the shafting, its still cheaper (and faster if i dont get shafted) than driving to work and i live less than 5kms from the CBD.

[nvsA4]

iused to catch the train to work due to lack of parking near my work but it's not good, some mornings there would be 3 trains in a row not running and most the time they ran late, i gave up after a while and just drove, i figured if it took me longer to drive at laest i would be warm and have a seat, turns out it's alot quicker to drive and no where near as annoying

[bluey33]

My other option is the tram from flinders to stop 43 Brighton rd/Glen Huntley

This may take longer "by the timetable" though if there are less hassles it may benefit.

I am trialling the journey tomorrow morning and then again Thursday to see how I go.

I worked out driving to be close to $100/week + toll Versus $20 zones 1+2.

On a 1st year wage I will try to catch the train as much as possible

[paulr33]

PT in melbourne has improved a LOT lately

try it out and see how you go

im on the train after many many years and im impresssed

its very reasonable, cheap and vary rarely do they cancel services

they have KPI's to adhear to these days so they cant just privatise it and do whatever

[paulr33]

forget the bus, train is a no brainer - stick with that

for me driving to city and parking there would cost me about $800 a month

getting the train to the same destination costs me $105 a month

[AGE]

And don't forget to validate you ticket... there's 187 reason's why you should.

[(B1) MR_fanny]

187? damn bush and his war!

I p/t once or twice a week though its not the sandy line so i cant comment but on average its been pretty good but dont be surprised if there is a delay. if you need to be punctual then i suggest to get the earlier train to what you had planned.

[Ant97GTR]

I've caught PT to work for ages due to not having a car spot for the R....the good points are that it gets me to where I need to go and it is cheap. The bad news is that trains get cancelled/delayed (esp relevant if you are trying to make another train/bus or whatever) and trains in peak hour are so packed that you might have to let a couple go before you can get on.

Overall the system is way more extensive than say sydney and you can pretty much get everywhere you need to go, but don't expect german/japanese timekeeping

[THE_32]

Hey mate,

Don't know if you have sussed it out yet but here is the metlink page and should help you out a bit.

Just don't fare evade because you will have to take the person out for tea that is paying for fare.

http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/

[bluey33]

Hey mate,

Don't know if you have sussed it out yet but here is the metlink page and should help you out a bit.

Just don't fare evade because you will have to take the person out for tea that is paying for fare.

http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/

Cheers. I have found out which Routes I can take, the point of this topic was just peoples experiences on how reliable it is.

I start my new job on Monday and I will be going by train. I will start getting there earlier at the start until it becomes 'acceptable' to blame the train and take the risk of hoping they run on time