By ALESHA CAPONE
A CHANGE in the much-maligned Altona Loop train timetable has been criticised by commuters.
Last week the State Government announced 90 extra weekly train trips across Melbourne commencing on 18 November.
A statement from the government said this would include reducing connecting times at Newport for the Altona Loop and Laverton shuttle from seven to four minutes.
However commuters on the Altona Loop Group Facebook page have derided the change as “outrageous” and “spin”.
“All that I can see that is different to the timetable during the off-peak weekday service is that the departure time has been delayed to reduce the waiting time at Newport,” one commuter posted.
The new timetable will take three minutes away from the train’s parking time at Laverton.
Instead the train will remain at Westona station for an extra three minutes.
Western Metropolitan Region Greens MP Colleen Hartland panned the revamped train schedule.
“Reducing an 80-minute trip to 77 minutes doesn’t really make your train journey any better – the slicing of a few minutes doesn’t change that you still have to catch three separate trains just to get into the city loop,” she said.
But Public Transport Terry Mulder told Star the Altona Loop timetable changes were “positive”.
“The majority of off-peak weekday daytime passengers are travelling from Westona, Altona and Seaholme to Newport, Footscray, the City Loop or Flinders Street, not to Werribee,” he said.
“Reducing the time passengers spend changing trains at Newport will be welcomed by many travellers.”
A spokesperson for Public Transport Victoria said the vast majority of commuters using the Altona shuttle service during off-peak times are seeking to head in and out of the city.
“Providing a quicker transfer at Newport will help reduce travel times for the majority of people during this period,” he said.
