Fair to say that the currently on-going trial of 24-hour public transport in Melbourne has been A BIT BLOODY HANDY for everyone from shift-workers and hospitality staff, right through to those of us thoroughly unenthused by the thought of lengthy cab lines after sinking a metric shedload of piss on a Friday or Saturday night.
The Victorian capital has been operating its
tram,
train, and
bus networks across limited services through the wee hours of the weekend to great success,
with estimates putting the numbers at around 35,000 extra people using the late night services. Trains currently operate on all lines once an hour from
Flinders Street station after the usual timelines cease, meanwhile select tram lines cop services once every 30 minutes, and 2am bus services to regional centres like
Geelong,
Ballarat, and
Gippsland are also operating.
In fact, the trial has been so successful thus far, that Premier Daniel Andrews has gone ahead today and extended it for an additional 6-months, meaning the all-night services will now run until at least June 2017.
The Andrews Government announced a $25million package to extend the service for another half-year, which includes $13.7million for security and PSOs staffing the routes.
“This really is a case of Victorians voting with their feet. We want to make sure we have a full festive season picture and a full summer snapshot. A contemporary picture of what services a contemporary Victorians want.”
The Government stated that, whilst the inner-city services are seeing huge spikes in numbers (which are only increasing as time goes on), the regional services are a little below what could have been expected, as Transport Minister Jacinta Allen explained:
“This is the benefit of having a trial. We have a very clear view as a government that regional Victorians have services. It is a service that is being used and will be part of the trial.”
Young people between the ages of 17 and 25 represent 75% of the people utilising the all-night transport options, which provide safe, affordable, and reliable means of getting people home from the CBD. The Government also states this has had the flow-on benefit of making the city safer thanks to less congregation in the CBD.
The Government expects the all-night services to see a spike in usage as the weather gets warmer.
Photo: Scott Barbour/Getty.
