Thank you Daniel for that explanation.

That's not an overcrowded bus, it's not even a crowded bus! Assuming all the seats are full, there would be less than 55 people there. The buses have a capacity of 82 and you wouldn't even think it crowded until at least something over 60 on board. The all-door loading makes a big difference to loading and circulation efficiency and eliminates that "plug" of people at the front you get on the typical Australian bus. The main downside is the high floor at the back that discourages people from standing there, but they're stuck with the general current offerings of the Australian bus manufacturing industry. A third door behind the rear axle would also help a lot - but same supply problem.

This is a crowded bus! ;)

http://historyworks.com.au/SOR%20bus%20Prague.jpeg http://historyworks.com.au/SOR%20bus%20Prague.jpeg

What Melbourne could learn from Perth is the contribution a decent, heavy-duty free circulator service makes to taking the load off regular services passing through the free zone. Melbourne has one circulator route, conceived as a tourist rather than commuter service and run by old high-floor rattletraps. Perth has four CAT circulator routes in Perth central area (as well as two in Fremantle and 3 in Joondalup) operated by modern, fully-accessible vehicles. These would pick up most of the demand, unlike Melbourne where obviously the regular services are left to do most of the work.

Melbourne needs a couple of those central area circulators, operated by low floor trams.

Tony P
---InTramsDownUnder@..., <danielbowen@...> wrote :

On 25 April 2017 at 15:45, prescottt@... mailto:prescottt@... [TramsDownUnder] TramsDownUnder@... mailto:TramsDownUnder@yahoogroups.com>; wrote:
Incidentally, I just discovered rather belatedly that Perth also provides free travel on all trains and buses within its defined city central area (not just on the CAT buses), like Melbourne. It doesn't seem to have the overcrowding problem that Melbourne has

The CAT buses can get overcrowded.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielbowen/7643406162/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielbowen/7643406162/

One of the reasons Perth has their Free Transit Zone is that unlike Melbourne and many other cities, there is no daily fare cap. If not for the FTZ, suburb to CBD commuters would end up paying extra for lunchtime journeys.

http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/Tickets-Fares/Free-Travel/Transit-Zones http://www.transperth.wa.gov.au/Tickets-Fares/Free-Travel/Transit-Zones

Daniel