Track Record 34, January to March 2008 - Public Transport Victoria

Track Record
Victoria’s Public Transport Services
Quarterly
Performance Bulletin:
January – March 2008
34
June 2008
The Department of Transport

Track Record
Victoria’s Public Transport Services
CONTENTS
PAGE
SECTION 1. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
1.1 Introduction 3
1.2 Summary 3
SECTION 2. PUNCTUALITY AND RELIABILITY
2.1 Punctuality 4
2.2 Reliability (Cancellations) 5
2.3 Passenger compensation 6
SECTION 3. PAYMENTS
3.1 Metropolitan trains and trams 7
3.2 Regional trains 8
3.3 Metropolitan and regional buses 9
3.4 Metlink and OneLink 9
SECTION 4. CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
4.1 Overall satisfaction with metropolitan services 10
4.2 Overall satisfaction with regional services 11
4.3 Key aspects of service quality for trains, trams, taxis, buses and coaches 11
SECTION 5. PERFORMANCE OF AUTOMATIC
TICKETING SYSTEM (ATS) EQUIPMENT
5.1 Railway station ticketing equipment 15
5.2 Tram and bus ticketing equipment 15
5.3 Long term trends 16
5.4 Vandalism of ATS equipment 16
SECTION 6. GLOSSARY OF TERMINOLOGY
6.1 Contracts and partnership agreements 17
6.2 Punctuality and reliability measurements 17
6.3 Payments 18
6.4 Passenger compensation 18
6.5 Customer satisfaction 19
6.6 Ticketing and Customer-defined Availability (CDA) 19
To return to the contents page click on the page number at the bottom right corner of any page.
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Victoria’s Public Transport Services
SECTION 1.
INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY
1.1 Introduction
This edition of Track Record provides details on the performance of public transport services in Victoria for the period from
January to March 2008 (referred to as the March quarter 2008).
Please note:
Connex = Metropolitan trains
Yarra Trams = Metropolitan trams
V/Line Passenger = Regional trains
A Glossary has been added at the back of this report to provide explanations of other various terms and processes
described in the body of the bulletin.
1.2 Summary
Punctuality
• Connex
92.4 per cent
• Yarra Trams
81.2 per cent (average over the route)
• V/Line Passenger 84.2 per cent
Reliability (percentage of services cancelled)
• Connex
1.2 per cent
• Yarra Trams
0.3 per cent
• V/Line Passenger 1.4 per cent
Payments
As performance levels did not meet contractual standards, all train and tram operators incurred penalty payments for the
March quarter 2008.
Connex
$9.782 million
Yarra Trams
$1.671 million
V/Line Passenger $1.147 million
Customer satisfaction
• Metropolitan modes
(Trains, trams and buses) 58.9 index points
• Metropolitan taxis 55.9
• Regional trains 75.7
• Regional coach 81.5
Availability of ticketing equipment
• Railway vending machines 98.34 per cent
• Railway validators
99.44 per cent
• Tram vending machines 96.1per cent
• Tram validators
97.4 per cent
• Bus ticket issuing machines 99.4 per cent
• Bus validators
99.2 per cent
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Track Record
Victoria’s Public Transport Services
SECTION 2.
PUNCTUALITY AND RELIABILITY
For an explanation of how punctuality and reliability is determined, please refer to the Glossary on page 17.
2.1 Punctuality
Connex
• Punctuality slightly improved compared to the previous quarter and to the March quarter 2007.
Yarra Trams
• Punctuality recorded a small improvement in comparison to the previous quarter and was comparable with the result
in the March quarter 2007.
V/Line Passenger trains
• Punctuality continued to decline in comparison to the previous quarter but was slightly better than that recorded for
the March quarter 2007.
Metropolitan buses
• Punctuality slightly declined in comparison to the December quarter 2007 but was comparable to the result recorded
in the March quarter 2007.
Table 1 On-time performance for trains, trams and buses as a percentage of services run,
March quarter 2007 to March quarter 2008
Jan–Mar Apr–Jun Jul–Sept Oct–Dec Jan-Mar
2007 2007 2007 2007 2008
Connex 91.0 91.1 92.3 92.0 92.4
Yarra Trams – at destination 70.9 72.4 73.1 70.1 70.9
Yarra Trams – average over route 81.4 82.5 83.0 80.6 81.2
V/Line Passenger trains 83.7 86.9 89.3 87.1 84.2
Metropolitan buses 94.9 95.7 95.6 95.1 94.8
Figure 1 On-time performance for trains, trams and buses, March quarter 2007 to March quarter 2008
Percentage of services running on time
100
90
80
70
60
Metropolitan trains
V/Line Passenger
trains
Metropolitan trams –
average over route
Metropolitan trams –
at destination
Metropolitan buses
50
Jan–Mar 2007 Apr–Jun 2007 Jul–Sept 2007 Oct–Dec 2007 Jan–Mar 2008
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2.2 Reliability (Cancellations)
Connex
• Reliability marginally improved in comparison to the previous quarter and was significantly better than that recorded
in the March quarter 2007.
Yarra Trams
• Reliability was consistent with the previous quarter and with the March quarter 2007.
V/Line Passenger trains
• Reliability fell slightly in comparison to the December quarter 2007 and was also lower than that recorded in the
March quarter 2007.
Metropolitan buses
• Reliability has remained steady over the past five quarters.
Table 2 Cancellations of trains, trams and buses as a percentage of services scheduled,
March quarter 2007 to March quarter 2008
Jan–Mar Apr–Jun Jul–Sept Oct–Dec Jan-Mar
2007 2007 2007 2007 2008
Connex 2.1 0.7 0.6 1.3 1.2
Yarra Trams 0.3 0.2 0.2 0.3 0.3
V/Line Passenger trains 1.0 1.4 1.0 1.3 1.4
Metropolitan buses 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1
Figure 2 Cancellation of trains, trams and buses, March quarter 2007 to March quarter 2008
Percentage of services cancelled
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
Metropolitan trains
V/Line Passenger trains
Metropolitan trams
Metropolitan buses
0.0
Jan–Mar 2007 Apr–Jun 2007 Jul–Sept 2007 Oct–Dec 2007 Jan–Mar 2008
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2.3 Passenger Compensation
For details of thresholds for passenger compensation, please refer to the Glossary on page 18.
Connex
• No passenger compensation was payable during the quarter.
Yarra Trams
• Passenger compensation was payable in March due to punctuality not reaching the threshold.
V/Line Passenger trains
• January – punctuality did not meet the threshold and passenger compensation was payable on all short and long
distance corridors.
• February – punctuality did not meet the threshold and passenger compensation was payable on the following
corridors:
• Short distance: Ballarat, Bendigo, Geelong, Seymour, Traralgon
• Long distance: Albury / Wodonga, Bairnsdale / Sale, Swan Hill / Echuca.
• March – punctuality did not meet the threshold and passenger compensation was payable on all short and long
distance corridors.
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Track Record
Victoria’s Public Transport Services
SECTION 3.
PAYMENTS
See the Glossary on Page 18 for an explanation relating to the payment details in this section.
3.1 Metropolitan trains and trams
The payment information provided in Tables 3 and 4 relates to the current metropolitan rail franchise partnerships which
commenced on 18 April 2004. The farebox figures in each table represent an agreed payment of 40 per cent of the
metropolitan farebox to each of the rail franchisees. The remaining 20 per cent is remitted to the State.
Operational performance regime penalty payments for below-target performance in the March quarter 2008:
• Connex - $9.782 million
• Yarra Trams - $1.671 million.
The related service delivery performance to which these payments apply is presented in Section 2.
Other payments in Tables 3 and 4 are State contract payments to the rail franchisees under the categories noted.
Maintenance payments include those for maintenance of all fixed infrastructure, including track, overhead systems and
signals. The maintenance or refurbishment of rolling stock is included in base contract sums. Capital payments include
payments for metropolitan train or tram network extensions, and works on track, stations or stops which are not of a
maintenance nature.
Table 3 Connex payments ($ ,000)
Jan–Mar Apr–Jun Jul–Sept Oct–Dec Jan–Mar
Payment type 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008
Base contract 36,628 35,378 39,201 42,127 39,173
Farebox 52,885 51,075 48,016 47,998 53,753
Concession top-up 4,926 7,373 6,333 6,423 5,679
Maintenance 19,127 24,451 20,609 23,004 20,843
Rolling stock adjustment 23,576 23,485 23,290 23,185 23,061
Incentive and penalty –8,022 –4,849 -2,807 -8,254 -9,782
Capital projects 6,539 11,477 6,046 7,980 8,981
Other 1,260 4,382 2,877 -6,188 8,078
TOTAL 136,919 152,772 143,565 136,275 149,786
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Table 4 Yarra Trams payments ($ ,000)
Jan–Mar Apr–Jun Jul–Sept Oct–Dec Jan–Mar
Payment type 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008
Base contract 1,513 1,233 1,185 1,018 1,034
Farebox 52,885 51,075 48,016 47,998 53,753
Concession top-up 4,921 7,365 6,563 6,609 5,992
Maintenance 14,167 9,776 14,176 9,424 6,881
Rolling stock adjustment 8,679 8,679 8,679 8,679 8,679
Incentive and penalty –1,025 –1,225 -144 -2,855 -1,671
Capital projects 1,847 391 2,877 531 2,528
Other 931 1,911 2,189 -8,178 2,315
TOTAL 83,918 79,205 83,541 63,226 79,511
3.2 Regional trains
Payments by the State to the regional rail operator (V/Line Passenger)—including payments for coach services directly
contracted by V/Line—are summarised in Table 5. Farebox revenue is retained by V/Line and is included to provide an
overall indication of the cost of the services. State contract payments represent the net payments required for V/Line
Passenger to run the services.
On 3 September 2006, V/Line started operating numerous new and extended weekly services on rail infrastructure that
was significantly altered under the Regional Fast Rail project. In recognition of these changed operating conditions,
operational performance regime incentive payments for V/Line Passenger are being determined at a reduced payment rate
in the medium term. This reduced rate currently stands at around 25 per cent of the previous rate and will be periodically
increased until it returns to around the previous level.
Under these incentive arrangements, V/Line Passenger paid a penalty to the State of $1.147 million for below-target
performance in the March quarter 2008.
Table 5 Payment for V/Line Passenger train services ($ ,000)
Jan–Mar Apr–Jun Jul–Sept Oct–Dec Jan–Mar
Payment type 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008
Base contract 47,675 53,675 58,640 52,664 52,345
Farebox 14,834 12,604 13,985 13,682 15,413
Rolling stock 8,953 8,953 8,953 8,953 8,953
Incentive and penalty –1,248 –1,140 -788 -1,183 -1,147
Capital projects 3,152 2,997 1,010 1,685 2,291
Other 78 958 871 1,853 862
TOTAL 73,444 78,047 82,671 77,654 78,717
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3.3 Metropolitan and regional buses
Payments to metropolitan, regional and school bus operators are presented in Table 6. Farebox revenue collected on these
services is returned to the State and, therefore, is not included.
Table 6 Payment for metropolitan and regional bus services ($ ,000)
Jan–Mar Apr–Jun Jul–Sept Oct–Dec Jan–Mar
Payment type 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008
Metropolitan bus 83,448 84,294 86,716 89,099 89,166
Regional bus 19,941 20,286 21,014 20,928 21,892
School bus 28,354 42,802 43,179 43,637 44,761
TOTAL 131,743 147,382 150,909 153,664 155,819
3.4 Metlink and OneLink
Current metropolitan rail franchises establish Metlink as a provider of system-wide services. Metlink and OneLink (which
supplies the current automatic ticketing services for the metropolitan network) are paid for services supplied under
contracts with the State.
Payments for services provided by these two organisations are presented in Table 7. ‘Capital projects’ for the current
quarter refers to payments for Metlink signage.
Table 7 Payment for Metlink and OneLink 1 services ($ ,000)
Jan–Mar Apr–Jun Jul–Sept Oct–Dec Jan–Mar
Payment type 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008
Metlink 3,648 4,148 3,816 3,816 3,816
Capital projects 762 1,952 1,073 167 574
OneLink ticketing 24,676 - - - -
TOTAL 29,086 6,100 4,889 3,983 4,390
1 The Transport Ticketing Authority (TTA) assumed responsibility for the OneLink contract and payments from 1 March 2007. The last payment by the former
Department of Infrastructure (now the Department of Transport) to Onelink was made on 9 March 2007.
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SECTION 4.
CUSTOMER SATISFACTION
For an explanation of how customer satisfaction is determined, please refer to the Glossary on page 19.
4.1 Overall satisfaction with metropolitan services
• There was a slight increase in the overall satisfaction with metropolitan public transport (trains, trams and buses)
in the March quarter which rose to 58.9 compared to 58.6 in the December quarter with satisfaction remaining, on
average, at the ‘Somewhat satisfied’ range.
Figure 3 Overall satisfaction with metropolitan public transport services (trains, trams and buses), March quarter
2006 to March quarter 2008
85
Customer Satisfaction Index
Very
satisfied
Somewhat
satisfied
80
75
70
65
60
55
50
Jan–Mar
2006
Apr–Jun
2006
Jul–Sept
2006
Oct–Dec
2006
Jan–Mar
2007
Apr–Jun
2007
Jul–Sept
2007
Oct–Dec
2007
Jan–Mar
2008
Figure 4 Overall satisfaction with metropolitan train, tram, bus and taxi services, March quarter 2006 to March
quarter 2008
Very
satisfied
85
80
Metropolitan trains
Metropolitan trams
Customer Satisfaction Index
Somewhat
satisfied
75
70
65
60
Metropolitan buses
Metropolitan taxis
55
50
Oct–Dec
2005
Jan–Mar
2006
Apr–Jun
2006
Jul–Sept
2006
Oct–Dec
2006
Jan–Mar
2007
Apr–Jun
2007
Jul–Sept
2007
Oct–Dec
2007
Jan–Mar
2008
Overall customer satisfaction indices for each of the metropolitan modes during the March quarter 2008 were:
• Connex
• Yarra Trams
• Metropolitan buses
• Metropolitan taxis
60.5 (comparable to the December quarter)
67.6 (comparable to the December quarter)
66.4 (slight decrease)
55.9 (slight decrease)
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Victoria’s Public Transport Services
4.2 Overall satisfaction with regional services
Overall customer satisfaction indices for each of the regional modes during the March quarter 2008 were:
• V/Line Passenger trains
• V/Line Passenger coaches
75.7 (comparable to the December quarter)
81.5 (comparable to the December quarter)
Figure 5 Overall satisfaction with V/Line Passenger trains and coaches, March quarter 2006 to March quarter 2008
Very
satisfied
85
80
V/Line
Passenger
trains
Customer Satisfaction Index
Somewhat
satisfied
75
70
65
60
V/Line
Passenger
coaches
55
50
Oct–Dec
2005
Jan–Mar
2006
Apr–Jun
2006
Jul–Sept
2006
Oct–Dec
2006
Jan–Mar
2007
Apr–Jun
2007
Jul–Sept
2007
Oct–Dec
2007
Jan–Mar
2008
4.3 Key aspects of service quality for trains, trams, taxis, buses and coaches
The following graphs summarise customer satisfaction with specific aspects of service. Each graph presents an overall
customer satisfaction index as well as separate measurements for major aspects of service, such as ‘passenger comfort’.
The overall customer satisfaction index is produced from a specific question in the survey and is not an average of other
results.
All graphs are for the March quarter 2008. A statistically significant increase or decrease in the customer satisfaction index
from the December quarter 2007 is respectively indicated by a green ‘up’ or red ‘down’ arrow. Where there is no arrow, no
statistically significant change has occurred. Minor shifts in the index can be due to the nature of the survey, rather than
reflecting a genuine change in customer satisfaction.
Connex
• There was little change in satisfaction with metropolitan train services in the March quarter 2008 with overall
customer satisfaction at 60.5 compared to 60.6 in the December quarter 2007.
Figure 6 Customer satisfaction with metropolitan trains, March quarter 2008
No significant change
from Dec. qr 2007 to
Mar. qr 2008
Customer Satisfaction Index
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
OVERALL SATISFACTION
Service aspects ranked highest to lowest
Stations/stops
Information services
Staff service
Ticketing
Passenger comfort
Value for money
Service delivery
Personal safety
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Victoria’s Public Transport Services
V/Line Passenger trains
• Regional train services recorded a customer satisfaction rate of 75.7 in the March quarter 2008 compared to 75.6 in
the December quarter 2007. There were no significant changes in satisfaction with any service aspects.
Figure 7 Customer satisfaction with V/Line Passenger trains, March quarter 2008
No significant change
from Dec. qr 2007 to
Mar. qr 2008
Customer Satisfaction Index
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
OVERALL SATISFACTION
Service aspects ranked highest to lowest
Value for money
Staff service
Ticketing
Information services
Passenger comfort
Service delivery
Stations/stops
Personal safety
Yarra Trams
• Overall customer satisfaction with metropolitan trams remained steady at 67.6 in the March quarter compared to
67.5 in the December quarter.
• There was a statistically significant increase in satisfaction with personal safety at 61.5 compared to 59.3 in the
December quarter.
Figure 8 Customer satisfaction with metropolitan trams, March quarter 2008
Statistically significant
increase from Dec. qr
2007 to Mar. qr 2008
Customer Satisfaction Index
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
OVERALL SATISFACTION
Service aspects ranked highest to lowest
Service delivery
Stations/stops
Passenger comfort
Staff service
Value for money
Information services
Personal safety
Ticketing
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Victoria’s Public Transport Services
V/Line Passenger coaches
• There was little change in satisfaction with V/Line Passenger coaches in the March quarter 2008 with overall
satisfaction at 81.5 compared to 82 in the December quarter.
Figure 9 Customer satisfaction with V/Line Passenger coaches, March quarter 2008
No significant change
from Dec. qr 2007 to
Mar. qr 2008
Customer Satisfaction Index
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
OVERALL SATISFACTION
Service aspects ranked highest to lowest
Staff service
Passenger comfort
Value for money
Service delivery
Ticketing
Personal safety
Information services
Stations/stops
Metropolitan buses
• Customer satisfaction with metropolitan buses decreased from 67.5 to 66.4 between the December and March
quarters.
• There were significant increases in satisfaction with the service aspects of staff service and passenger comfort.
• The service aspect of value for money, however, recorded a significant decrease.
Figure 10 Customer satisfaction with metropolitan buses, March quarter 2008
Statistically significant
decrease from Dec. qr
2007 to Mar. qr 2008
OVERALL SATISFACTION
Statistically significant
increase from Dec. qr
2007 to Mar. qr 2008
Customer Satisfaction Index
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Service aspects ranked highest to lowest
Staff service
Passenger comfort
Personal safety
Value for money
Ticketing
Service delivery
Stations/stops
Information services
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Metropolitan taxis
• Overall customer satisfaction with metropolitan taxis decreased to 55.9 in the March quarter, down from 57.6 in the
December quarter.
Figure 11 Customer satisfaction with metropolitan taxis, March quarter 2008
Customer Satisfaction Index
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
OVERALL SATISFACTION
Service aspects ranked highest to lowest
Booking
Drivers
Passenger comfort
Service delivery
Information services
Personal safety
Ranks
Fares
Value for money
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Victoria’s Public Transport Services
SECTION 5
PERFORMANCE OF AUTOMATIC TICKETING
SYSTEM (ATS) EQUIPMENT
See the Glossary on page 19 for details on Customer-defined Availability (CDA) reporting and a background on the ticketing
contracts.
5.1 Railway station ticketing equipment
Table 8 ATS CDA for ticketing equipment at railway stations (%)
Jan–Mar Apr–Jun Jul–Sept Oct–Dec Jan–Mar
Device Target 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008
Vending machines 98.26 98.46 98.53 98.59 98.55 98.34
Validators 99.47 99.40 99.42 99.49 99.49 99.44
5.2 Tram and bus ticketing equipment
• Availability remains high for ticketing machines and validators on trams and buses with only marginal decreases in the
availability of validators.
Table 9 ATS availability for mobile equipment (%)
Jan–Mar Apr–Jun Jul–Sept Oct–Dec Jan–Mar
Mode Device 2007 2007 2007 2007 2008
Tram Vending machines 91.2 90.0 91.1 96.1 96.1
Validators 97.8 97.8 97.7 98.0 97.4
Bus Issuing machines 99.6 99.5 99.6 99.4 99.4
Validators 99.8 99.8 99.8 99.7 99.2
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5.3 Long term trends
• The availability of ticketing equipment on metropolitan trains and buses has been very high over the past four years.
• Ticketing availability on trams has been historically lower due to delays in detecting equipment faults. This is because
the equipment on trams is not in permanent communication with the OneLink control centre and technicians can only
meet the tram at a terminating point to fix any problems with the ticketing equipment. Yarra Trams and OneLink are
working on programs that will improve the availability of ticketing equipment on trams.
Figure 12 Quarterly availability of ATS equipment from January 2004 to March 2008
Availability of ticketing equipment (%)
100
95
90
Train vending
machines
Train
validators
Tram vending
machines
Tram
validators
Bus vending
machines
Bus validators
85
Jan–Mar
2004
Jul–Sept
2004
Jan–Mar
2005
Jul–Sept
2005
Jan–Mar
2006
Jul–Sept
2006
Jan–Mar
2007
Jul–Sept
2007
Jan–Mar
2008
5.4 Vandalism of ATS equipment
• There were 1,408 reported incidents of vandalism on ATS equipment in the March quarter 2008.
Figure 13 Incidents of vandalism to ATS equipment by quarter, March 2001 to March 2008
8,000
7,000
Vandalism incidents per quarter
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
Mar
2001
Sept
2001
Mar
2002
Sept
2002
Mar
2003
Sept
2003
Mar
2004
Sept
2004
Mar
2005
Sept
2005
Mar
2006
Sept
2006
Mar
2007
Sept
2007
Mar
2008
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Track Record
Victoria’s Public Transport Services
SECTION 6
GLOSSARY OF TERMINOLOGY
6.1 Contracts and partnership agreements
Bus, train and tram public transport in Victoria is operated by the private sector under contracts or franchise arrangements
(referred to as Partnership Agreements) with the State.
The Director of Public Transport manages the train and tram partnership agreements and bus contracts. The agreements
and contracts specify:
• Levels of service operators are required to provide;
• The tickets they must offer;
• The maximum fares they can charge for tickets; and
• Other performance standards.
In response, the Government monitors the quality of services provided to the community by the operators, with emphasis
on:
• Punctuality and reliability: comparing the performance of train, tram and bus services with government-set
punctuality and service delivery targets; and
• Customer satisfaction: using surveys to measure whether operators are providing the quality of service customers
expect.
6.2 Punctuality and reliability measurements
Punctuality
Punctuality is defined as the percentage of delivered services that run on time.
Metropolitan trains, trams and buses - For trains and buses, on-time performance is measured at the end of the journey.
Tram on-time performance is measured at monitoring points along the route (as the average of the second, third and fourth
of five monitoring points) and near the destination (at point four of five monitoring points). Since tram on-time performance
is greatly affected by road congestion, both the destination punctuality performance figures and the average punctuality are
reported.
A metropolitan train or tram service is considered on time if it arrives no more than 59 seconds before and no more than
five minutes and 59 seconds after the time in the timetable.
Metropolitan buses are on time if they are no more than two minutes early or five minutes late at the destination.
For tram services, the 80 per cent compensation threshold for punctuality relates to the average of the punctuality at the
second, third and fourth of the five monitoring points along the length of the route.
Regional trains - For V/Line Passenger train services, long-distance services are considered to be on time if they arrive no
more than ten minutes 59 seconds late, while short-distance services are considered to be on time if they arrive no more
than five minutes 59 seconds late. Early arrival at the destination is also considered to be on-time.
Reliability
Reliability is defined as the percentage of scheduled services that actually run. The exception is for trams where the
passenger compensation threshold for reliability is measured by the percentage of actual service kilometres delivered
compared to the scheduled kilometres.
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How punctuality and reliability are measured
All timetabled train and tram services are monitored every day of the week.
Delays, cancellations and other service failures are measured to the nearest 60 seconds and ‘weighted’ according to the
number of people estimated to be travelling on the train or tram. The passenger weightings vary according to the time
period, day of week and direction of travel. Delays to a heavily-loaded peak train or tram are given a greater value than
delays to a less loaded off-peak train or tram. This system provides a measure of operational performance expressed in
‘passenger-weighted minutes’ of delay.
Passenger-weighted minutes of delay in each month are checked against performance targets set in the partnership
agreements. Performance against these targets determines whether a bonus or a penalty applies to an operator. This bonus
and penalty system is referred to as the operational performance regime (OPR).
Performance targets are periodically adjusted so they become increasingly challenging. Significant reductions in passengerweighted
minutes of delay are required, compared to those measured in 1998, before bonus payments are made. The
required improvements in performance are:
• 32 per cent for metropolitan trams
• 36 per cent for metropolitan trains.
Metropolitan bus services are not included in this performance regime. Bus operators provide performance data for bus
services (on-time running and cancellations) via monthly ‘key performance indicator’ returns.
6.3 Payments
The details presented in this bulletin on payments for public transport services include:
• Information on the fares collected and distributed (referred to as the farebox); and
• Components of the contract payments made by the State to the operators and major service suppliers for the
services provided.
The incentive and penalty payments relating to performance during a particular period are reported on an accrual basis.
The figures are not final, as the contracts allow for adjustment in limited circumstances in later periods. Payments for prior
quarters are subject to change based on audits or mitigated performance adjustments.
All payments are exclusive of GST. Negative figures represent payments by the franchisee to the State.
6.4 Passenger compensation
Train and tram partnership agreements require operators to provide punctuality and reliability (number of cancellations)
service levels above a government-set threshold. Operators must report to customers every month on whether or not they
have met the minimum service requirements.
Operators who fail to meet minimum service levels must provide compensation (in the form of complimentary tickets)
to customers. The compensation applies only to passengers holding valid periodical tickets of four weeks or more
who travelled on the service concerned during the month in question. Customers apply directly to the operator for the
compensation.
V/Line services within each corridor are separated into short-distance and long-distance services, with passenger
compensation assessed and payable separately for the two categories.
Table 10 Service level thresholds for compensation purposes (%)
Metropolitan trains V/Line Passenger Metropolitan trams
Punctuality 92 92 80
Reliability 98 96 95
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6.5 Customer satisfaction
The Director of Public Transport commissions monthly surveys to measure whether operators are providing the quality of
service customers expect. A sample of people is randomly selected from electronic telephone directories in areas where
train, tram, bus, coach and metropolitan taxi services operate. Interviews are conducted by telephone. Interviewees are
asked to:
• Indicate their usual public transport usage
• State their level of satisfaction with specific aspects of public transport, as well as the service overall.
Respondents who do not use public transport are asked for their reasons and to indicate what would influence them to
begin using public transport.
Responses from interviewees are given a score of between 0 and 100 as per the following scale:
• Totally satisfied 100
• Very satisfied 80
• Somewhat satisfied 60
• Somewhat dissatisfied 40
• Very dissatisfied 20
• Totally dissatisfied 0
Survey results are compiled into quarterly customer satisfaction indices to allow for comparisons between modes,
operators and aspects of service delivery.
Note: Differences between metropolitan and country passenger services should be taken into account when making
such comparisons. These differences include the purpose and distance of travel, and the types of services offered on
metropolitan and country services.
6.6 Ticketing and Customer-defined Availability (CDA)
A private company under contract to the State Government operates and maintains the Metcard ticketing system for
Melbourne’s public transport. The current contract was awarded in May 1994 to the consortium OneLink Transit Systems
Pty Ltd.
CDA measurements commenced in 2004 and include targets to represent minimum levels of acceptable availability and
performance, and allow for specified levels of non-availability due to maintenance, servicing and breakdowns.
The targets are included in the OneLink contract and determine whether OneLink incurs a penalty or receives an incentive
payment for its performance.
Monitoring of ticketing equipment
The status of ticketing equipment at railway stations is automatically monitored via communication lines to OneLink.
OneLink, therefore, has accurate and up-to-date information on the availability of ticketing machines at railway stations and
can promptly schedule repairs or servicing. For repairs, OneLink gives priority to equipment at busier stations, where more
tickets are purchased.
Mobile equipment on board trams and buses does not have a permanent communication link. Therefore, equipment
availability cannot be known exactly. Tram and bus operators are required to make vehicles with faulty equipment available
to OneLink.
Due to these differences between fixed and mobile equipment, measures and performance targets vary between modes.
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