Sydneysiders, if you’ve been harbouring suspicions that your trains are becoming more and more crowded… then you’d be right, you’d be absolutely bloody right.
New figures show that overcrowding on morning trains has surged over the past year by a whopping 10 percentage points, putting the average passenger load now at 114%. If every single passenger on the train had a seat, the passenger load would be at 100%. So yeah, you’ve probably had trouble finding a seat.
The worst offenders are the 8am–9am trains on the Inner West line stopping at Redfern Station, which have an average passenger load at 141% (up from 138% last year).
Second place goes to the 8am–9am trains on the Illawarra line (which have an average passenger load of 136%, up from 134% last year), and third place goes to the 8am–9am trains on the Northern line via Strathfield (which have an average passenger load of 135%, up from 130% last year).
To put that in perspective, transport officials reckon passengers begin to suffer from overcrowding when trains hit a load of 135%. So you Northern line folk, you might be getting pushed to your very limit, but at least you’re not *actually suffering* like your Northern and Inner West line brethren.
It’s also slightly concerning that the Western line – which, with an average 8am–9am passenger load of 134%, narrowly missed out on third place – grew a staggering 21 percentage points in the space of 12 months.
Public transport advocacy groups put this down to a lack of investment in the rail network over the last 50 years, while Sydney Trains said they were actually in line with transport systems in London, Paris, and New York. Um… we don’t know if you’ve ridden the Tube in peak hour, but that is not something you want to compare your transport system with.
There is, however, a bright side. If you live in the Eastern Suburbs, not only are you statistically more likely to be better off financially AND know someone who sells scented candles online for a living, but you are more likely to find a seat on the train. Your morning trains have an average passenger load of 60%. Something to keep in mind if you’re just not in an ‘Aldi kind of mood’ one day.
Source: Fairfax.
Photo: Getty / Greg Wood.
