Bypasses on the Sunbury line have fallen by a third in the past
year, Public Transport Victoria’s latest quarterly report reveals.
However, the line was equal-worst when it came to efficiency, with 88.5
per cent of trains running on time in the year to August.
The Sunbury line had the second-lowest number of bypasses for the
April to June quarter, with just nine instances of stations being
skipped out of 923 weekly services. The Pakenham line had the most
bypasses (204).
Bypasses are used by Metro to limit delays during an unplanned
service disruption, and to minimise the knock-on effect that can occur
with major delays, as a late Sunbury-line train can affect Upfield and
Craigieburn services.
The decrease bucked the city-wide trend, with total bypasses jumping from 765 to 1150 for the year to June.
However, Kororoit Labor MP Marlene Kairouz was unimpressed.
“The Public Transport Victoria report confirms that trains on Sunbury line bypassed the city loop,” she said.
“What St Albans train users know is that public transport is
overcrowded and is failing because Denis Napthine only has one transport
focus, and that is his dud $8-billion tunnel that makes further public
transport investment decades away.”
A Public Transport Victoria spokesman confirmed city loop services
were on the decline and said the department would continue to monitor the situation.
“Metro’s performance in relation to short services and loop bypasses are subject to financial penalties,” he said.
Figures also show Public Transport Victoria received 65 complaints
from Brimbank commuters in the six months to June, of which 14 were
investigated. Forty-two complaints and inquiries related to myki, 13
were about staff and nine regarding refund delays.
