A question I forgot to raise here concerning Melbourne trams. When going
into the detail of the Melbourne fleet, I suddenly found myself in the
midst of wildly different claims about the size of the fleet. Yarra Trams
is now saying there are only 450 trams. Others are saying around 500. I
ended up using Marcus Wong's tabulation, which seemed to be the only one
with detail and I went with that, at about 550 trams. Come on Melbournians,
'fess up. How many trams do you have? (Potemkin trams now allowed.)

Tony P

On Monday, 6 February 2023 at 00:18:10 UTC+11 TP wrote:

> When there was some recent discussion of driving staff shortages in

> Sydney, I mentioned that I would go away and have a look at the size of

> various fleets in Australian capital cities and their commuting regions.

> The results are below.

>

> *Trains*

>

> Greater Sydney 300+

> Greater Melbourne 300

> Greater Brisbane 220

> Perth 130

> Adelaide 100

>

> *Trams*

>

> Melbourne 550

> Greater Sydney 48

> Adelaide 24

> Gold Coast (Greater Brisbane) 18

> Canberra 14

>

> *Ferries*

>

> Sydney 40

> Brisbane 28

> Perth 3

>

> *Buses*

>

> Greater Sydney 5,500

> Greater Melbourne 2,700

> Greater Brisbane 1,750+

> Perth 1,692

> Adelaide 1,034

> Canberra 460

> Hobart 167

> Darwin 79

>

> There are also some variable parameters. This shouldn't be regarded as an

> indication of capacity. Train consists in various cities vary in size from

> about 50 metres to 160 metres, the latter applying universally to the

> Sydney fleet and the HCMT in Melbourne. Thus there are considerable

> differences in carrying capacity per train. Ferries vary in size from small

> ships to small cats.

>

> The same variety applies across street public transport, though the

> dominant vehicle in that context is the ubiquitous 12.5 metre rigid bus.

> There is, however, a growing trend towards higher capacity street transit

> vehicles as population grows and this can be seen in the additional figures

> for high capacity vehicles (or consists) included within each total below.

> Note the capacity overlap between trams and buses, as the high-capacity

> artic or double deck bus does basically the same job as a 15 metre tram (or

> as a 24 metre tram in the case of the new Brisbane double-artic bus). The

> trend towards longer trams is a result of moving ahead of the greater

> capability that has emerged for buses in recent decades, so trams now aim

> for even greater capacity.

>

> *Trams*

>

> Melbourne 550 (125x30 metre, 204x24 metre, 223x15 metre)

> Greater Sydney 48 (30x60 metre, 18x30 metre)

> Adelaide 24 (24x30 metre)

> Gold Coast (Greater Brisbane) 18 (18x45 metre)

> Canberra 14 (14x30 metre)

>

> *Buses*

>

> Greater Sydney 5,500 (350 artics and double deck)

> Greater Melbourne 2,700 (40 artics*)

> Greater Brisbane 1,750+ (50 artics)

> Perth 1,692 (137 artics)

> Adelaide 1,034 (150 artics)

> Canberra 460 (44 artics)

> Hobart 167 (15 artics)

> Darwin 79 (1 artic)

>

> (* The 223x15 metre trams can be added to this figure for total vehicles

> of this capacity)

>

> Ironically, that old Australian tram fleet comparison of the 1930s is

> still reflected there in buses - Greater Sydney has a larger bus fleet than

> those of Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide combined, though it's no longer a

> valid comparison in that Mebourne retains a major tram system, which means

> it doesn't need anywhere near as many buses. We can, however, see that

> Sydney requires lots and lots of bus drivers.

>

> Tony P

>