Our Achievements
Our achievements
Yarra Trams began operations in August 1999 under a franchise agreement with the State of Victoria to operate approximately half of the Melbourne tram network. The Victorian Department of Transport manages the tram franchise and closely monitors our performance.
In April 2004, Yarra Trams took responsibility for the operation of the entire Melbourne tram network.
Here are some of our achievements (from April 2004, except when otherwise stated):
Patronage growth
178 million passenger trips per year (as at March 2009), which is over 60 million more than in 1998 when the tram network was government operated. There has been significant growth since April 2008 with the latest patronage figure 15.2% higher than the same time last year.
Services and timetables
Service improvements on high patronage routes (1, 8, 19, 48, 55, 70, 75, 86 and 96).
A 10% increase in passenger kilometres travelled.
Late night services on Fridays and Saturdays (September 2006).
Reintroduction of tram services on William Street on Sundays (August 2005).
Route 3a introduced in 2009 to increase weekend services to St Kilda.
Extended the free City Circle Tram to Docklands (June 2009).
Safety
Derailments down by 55%.
Collisions involving trams down by 27%.
Falls by tram passengers down by 31%.
For Yarra Trams staff, the Lost Time Injury rate fell from 40.3 (including M>Tram) to 5.5.
National Rail Safety Week 2009
As part of National Rail Safety Week in July 2009 Yarra Trams in partnership with V/Line, Fulton Hogan, Coleman Rail, GHD, Public Transport Safety Victoria (PTSV) and the Australasian Railway Association launched a safety awareness campaign which reminded Melburnians to act with care and avoid distractions near tram and train tracks. This included an industry sponsored tram wrap promoting rail safety as well as outdoor advertising, tram faces and a campaign to secondary schools.
Security
Partnership with Victoria Police as part of the Love Your Trams campaign to combat anti-social behaviour on the tram network.
Authorised Officers deployed across the network from first to last tram every day.
Yarra Trams has also stepped up the installation CCTV on board trams.
Assaults against Authorised Officers reduced by 52%.
Fare evasion
Down from 18% to 9.2% (immediately before Yarra Trams took responsibility for the entire tram network in April 2004, fare evasion on trams was estimated at 22%).
At the same time, complaints against Authorised Officers have declined by 22%.
Yarra Trams convened a national transport industry forum on fare compliance.
Reliability
Cancellations reduced from 0.70% in 2000 (1st half) to 0.27% in 2007 (1st half).
Punctuality improved from 62.7% in 2000 (1st half) to 82% in 2007 (1st half). This is despite increasing traffic congestion in the inner suburbs where most trams operate.
Industrial Relations
No hours lost to industrial disputation.
Staff
Absenteeism declined from 7.8% in 1998 to 4.6% in 2007.
Infrastructure projects
More than 290 platform stops have been built across the network to improve accessibility and safety.
Stage one of the St Kilda Road tram improvement strategy (2008) provided platform stops and new tracks in the Arts Precinct.
Network extensions to Box Hill (2.2km), Docklands (1km) and Vermont South (3km).
Rubber boot technology has been introduced to reduce vibration and wear of tracks, resulting less noise, longer durability and improved ride for passengers.
Overhead powerline (trolley wire) renewed along 55km of double track.
Renewal of 20km of underground cable (17.1km more than planned).
Renewed 22.9km of double track.
Major track upgrades in CBD (Collins Street and Bourke Street).
Renewal of St Kilda light rail.
Reconstruction of tram depot facilities at Brunswick, Glenhuntly, Malvern, Kew and Essendon – these are one in 50 year projects.
Renewal and upgrade of electrical substations including removal of mercury and asbestos.
Involvement in State projects
Yarra Trams is contracted to install the equipment for the new ticketing system.
Consultation on the procurement of new rolling stock.
Think Tram (tram priority program) –completed more than 500 treatments (tram priority at traffic lights, installation of raised dividing strips, platform stops and turn bans etc) which have arrested the decline in tram speed despite increased traffic congestion.
Tram fleet upgrade
The entire tram fleet has been refurbished by Yarra Trams.
The older fleet is being upgraded to provide more state of the art customer information. Electronic destination boards have been installed on the A Class and Z Class trams.
Special events partner
Yarra Trams operates shuttle trams to the Australian Open Tennis (every three to five minutes) and Australian Grand Prix (every one to two minutes).
In 2009, Yarra Trams delivered more than 7,000 tram services to and from Melbourne Park - providing 368,871 passenger trips for patrons and staff. This represents approximately 1/3 of the Australian Open crowd.
In 2009, Yarra Trams carried just over 280,000 passengers to and from the Grand Prix area. This was provided by over 8,400 tram trips. This represents just under half of the Grand Prix attendees.
We also provide additional tram services for special events such as concerts, AFL, rugby and soccer matches.
During the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Yarra Trams operated a special Commonwealth Games timetable for 15 days. In that period:
We carried 650,000 passengers.
Travelled 135,000 extra kilometres.
Operated 16,000 extra trips.
Proactive response to emergencies
On Friday 23 March 2007, a tragic accident occurred in the Burnley Tunnel which resulted in its closure. Yarra Trams responded by providing more than 300 additional tram services during peak periods to relieve subsequent commuter pressure.
In February 2007, a number of train services were cancelled due to Siemens train braking problems. Yarra Trams responded by providing up to 400 additional services during peak periods on a number of tram routes located near railway stations.
Maintained services during Victoria’s “heatwave of the century” in the summer of 2009 when other transport services were affected by buckled tracks and equipment faults.
Customer satisfaction
Yarra Trams rates consistently well above industry average:
Yarra Trams Customer Satisfaction Index CSI (Apr-Jun ‘09) 69.3 compared with Metro Public Transport Overall CSI (Jan-Mar ‘09) 57.6.
Innovation
Yarra Trams continues to modernise the tram network in Melbourne through innovations such as:
tramTRACKER™
tramTRACKER™ uses the latest real-time technology to track the whereabouts of all our trams and lets you know when your tram is due to arrive at your stop by iPhone, phone, SMS or online.
Passenger Information Displays (PIDs)
PIDs are installed at the busiest stops around the city and provide real-time information about the expected arrival time trams at that stop. Selected stops in the CBD also have audio buttons which provide real-time arrival information.
Fleet Operations Centre
At the commencement of Yarra Trams’ franchise, we invested in the development of our state-of-the-art Fleet Operations Centre (FOC) located in South Melbourne.
The FOC has a video wall fed by VicRoads traffic control cameras and an Automatic Vehicle Monitoring system. A special events room is used by Victoria Police and VicRoads as well as other external agencies to coordinate traffic and public transport for major events.
greendepot
The greendepot project is a major environmental initiative aimed at minimising the impact Yarra Trams has on the environment and to encourage staff to adopt sustainable practices at work and home. Through the installation of rainwater tanks, waterless urinals and flow restrictors, our greendepots at East Preston, Malvern, Glenhuntly and Brunswick are saving more than one million litres of water annually. Water from the depot roof is used to wash trams and flush toilets.
Information Technology
First class Information Technology infrastructure with failover (redundancy and backup) capabilities and disaster recovery through geographically separated data centres.
Low floor trams
Yarra Trams introduced the first low floor trams (Citadis) to Melbourne in 2001, followed by the Combino in 2002. In 2008, five C2 Class low floor Citadis trams were leased from the French city of Mulhouse to boost capacity on Melbourne’s busy Route 96. These trams are affectionately known as Bumblebees because of their distinctive yellow livery.
Supporting the community
Since 2005, the major charity partner for Yarra Trams has been the Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal. Yarra Trams made a commitment to the hospital to promote the appeal among the community, and designed one of its trams to feature photographs of young patients of the hospital with Yarra Trams staff. The tram operates all year round. Yarra Trams is a founding partner of the Royal Children’s Hospital Run for the Kids event, which was first held 2006. In March 2009 Yarra Trams created a Where's Jake? website selling Jake plush toys with all proceeds going towards the Royal Children's Hospital Good Friday Appeal. This was supported by a new tram livery promoting the campaign which commenced with a media launch and was also promoted through tram faces, print ads and outdoor advertising.
In this time, Yarra Trams staff have also raised over $125,000 which has been matched by the company to help build the Yarra Trams Parent’s Retreat and other projects at the Royals Children’s Hospital.
Yarra Trams donated a total of $163,907.50 to the Red Cross Victorian Bushfire Appeal 2009. The money was donated by Yarra Trams employees and members of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) and matched by the company.
Yarra Trams Authorised Officers have been actively involved in various community focused activities which have been predominantly focusing on young migrants and youth groups, for example Kicking goals for Harmony, Public Transport Challenge cup, Kokoda Challenge, KFC Cup, WYPIN, along with lectures at secondary schools regarding Public Transport and Travel Safe.
Each year, Yarra Trams sponsors over 160 events and community groups from some of Melbourne’s flagship events to community street festivals including:
· Melbourne International Film Festival
· Australian Open
· Melbourne Fringe Festival
· Tastes of Chapel
· National Gallery of Victoria
· Stonington Sustainability Expo
· Melbourne International Arts Festival
· Melbourne Open House
· Boroondara Music Festival
· Australian Centre for the Moving Image
· Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
· Hoy Polloy Community Theatre
Awards
Yarra Trams has won many awards, including:
John Truscott Design Award for Town Hall platform stop in Collins Street – 2002.
Department of Human Services, Victorian Inclusion Award for commitment to
addressing access issues for people with a disability – 2002.
Landscape Industries Association of Victoria, Landscape of the Year Award for the Box Hill Tram Terminus – 2003.
UITP Golden Angel Silver Award for best marketing campaign in Australasia,
Melbourne all over – 2005.
UITP Golden Angel Silver Award for best marketing campaign in Australasia,
Tram Awareness – 2006.
Savewater! Award for greendepot™ East Preston – 2007.
UITP Golden Angel Gold Award for best marketing campaign in Australasia,
tramTRACKER™ – 2007.
VICTEC Host Employer of the Year (Apprenticeships) – 2007.
UITP Light Rail Award for best accessibility improvement – 2008.
Australian Marketing Institute Awards for Marketing Excellence State finalist
new product/service launch for tramTRACKER™ – 2008.
CinéRail Festival - special jury prize for the "Marilyn" tramTRACKER cinema commercial and special jury mention for "Cycle of Service" staff training DVD in the corporate film category – 2009.
Marketing finalist UITP international “Did you know” campaign. Winner announced Nov 2009.
Information correct as at July 2009.