Transport fiasco hits thousands Transport fiasco hits thousands

Tens of thousands of New Year's Eve revellers battled dangerous crowd crushes and were left stranded at stations and taxi ranks as a transport crisis swept the city yesterday morning.

Acting Premier John Thwaites and rail bosses claimed the night was a public transport success.
But Herald Sun photographs of a jammed Flinders St station show how the meltdown ruined the night for many partygoers.

Mr Thwaites, M>Train and Connex refused to admit there was a problem.

Mr Thwaites said: "I believe that given the number of people that were there last night there was an adequate service."

M>Train said: "The reports . . . from our field staff this morning is that there were no problems."

Connex said: "Everything went really well last night from an operational perspective, it flowed really well."

But revellers had a different story.

On the very day commuters were slugged by a10 per cent rise in public transport fares:

THOUSANDS missed the few post-midnight trains and trams home.

REVELLERS waited for up to three hours in taxi queues stretching hundreds of metres.

POLICE turned away people trying to get to platforms at Flinders St Station because they were full.

HUNDREDS of people waiting at stations and tram stops were left stranded because they could not squeeze on to trains and trams.

TRAVELLERS climbed over each other to get to windows for air on a packed train that sat at Flinders St Station for 20 minutes.

TAXI drivers refused to take people home to outer suburbs, opting instead to cash-in on the New Year's Eve surcharge by doing shorter city jobs.

The transport crisis was the only weak link in an otherwise successful celebration that saw 400,000 people flock to the city.

But Mr Thwaites yesterday refused to guarantee Victorians around-the-clock public transport next year, saying only that the Government would monitor the situation.

"The private transport operators have to make an assessment of when the peak demand is going to be and of course there's a cost to them and the community if they run public transport all night,"he said.

The debacle prompted Lord Mayor John So to seek an urgent meeting withthe Government.

He said the Government had declined many requests from the council to extend public transport in the lead-up to New Year's Eve.

German tourist Friederike Sell was shocked by the early shutdown of public transport.

"I bought a ticket and went through the gates and then found out there was no trains,"she said.

"I can't understand how such a thing can happen. I can't believe that there were no trains running through the night for a city this size on New Year's Eve.

"I also can't believe there was no one around to tellme that there was no trains. "

The 25-year-old student said the experience was horrible and she would think twice about coming backto Melbourne. "This has made a very bad impression on me,"she said.

Public Transport Users' Association president Daniel Bowen described transport services after midnight asa shambles.

He said people were prevented from entering Flinders St Station, where crowds at least 15-deep lined the platforms.

"Some of them couldn't get onto the platform because police were holding them back for safety reasons,"he said.

"Services were packed full . . . and many people wereleft behind.

"We suspect a lot of people living in the inner suburbs just gave up and walked."

Jennie Sasson, who caught a packed train home to Cheltenham, said people were body slamming to get on to trains.

She said she was amazed no one was hurt in the crush.

Ms Sasson and hundreds of other passengers waited 20 minutes on the stifling train before it left the station, with people climbing over each other to get to windows for air.

"It really spoiled it for us,"she said.

Another woman, Debbie, described Flinders St Station like a cattle run.

"People were screaming, getting crushed,"she said.

"Parents were huddling over children to try to protect them from the commotion."

Mr Bowen estimated train and tram services catered for just 60,000 revellers.

"If you're expecting 300,000 people you need to plan for 300,000 people,"he said.

"It's simply not enough. We really need to see transport through the night as we are seeing in other Australian cities."

Victorian Taxi Association executive director Neil Sach, who warned of a transport meltdown earlier this week, repeated the industry's call for help on New Year's Eve.

"What happened just demonstrated that we need the public transport running longer, and perhaps all night,"he said.

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Stranded thousands leads to review - The Age
By Martin Boulton
January 2, 2004

The State Government will review public transport for next New Year's Eve after complaints that services were inadequate to deal with the huge crowds.

An estimated 400,000 people flocked to the city on Wednesday night. The Public Transport Users Association said the services available after the fireworks at midnight catered for only 60,000.

Association spokesman Tim Petersen said police on duty at Flinders Street Station had to stop people entering the station after midnight because it was so crowded. "There were thousands of people left behind; some couldn't even get to the (train) platforms,"he said.

"Other cities, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney, were running trains all night and our last train was at 1.30am. It raises the question, is the Government serious about its road safety and drink driving messages if it's not providing people with an alternative?"

Acting Premier John Thwaites said fantastic weather had resulted in a bigger turnout than expected in the city.

He said the Government and transport operators would review services in an effort to better cater for large crowds, but a balance had to be struck between passenger numbers and the cost of extra services.

"I should emphasise, if you have hundreds of thousands of people in the city all at the same time, three or four times the size of a grand final crowd, it is a major challenge for everyone to get home,"he said.

Victoria Police spokesman Kevin Loomes said police did their best to manage the crowds of people streaming towards Flinders Street Station.

"There was a large number of people who wanted to leave the city at the same time (and) there were some delays to get on trains,"he said.

He said it was encouraging, however, that the number of arrests was down on previous years. Eight arrests were made on the state's public transport system overnight and 13 in the city. The number of arrests for the state was down 14 per cent to 260, from 303.

"Considering the large number of people in the city, the celebrations were well co-ordinated by the council, emergency services and the community,"Mr Loomes said.

Lord Mayor John So said he was proud to see so many people in the city, labelling New Year's Eve as "one of the biggest parties ever in Melbourne".

M>Trains spokeswoman Simone Gandur said train and tram services were carefully monitored and ran more smoothly than in recent years.

She said once the last train departed Flinders Street there were "about 600 people"left with no way home.

"However, through a fairly supreme effort by our staff we ran an extra three services,"Ms Gandur said.

"I can't say with confidence that everyone got home, but that's always going to happen."

Taxi driver Faical Assaf said public transport should be increased for New Year's Eve because it was "too dangerous"to work after trains stop running.

"There's plenty of work, plenty of money, but people get frustrated and violent because they want to get home and they can't,"he said.

In country Victoria, about 100 Gypsy Joker bikies from South Australia spent a peaceful New Year's Eve in Ballarat.

Meanwhile, animal shelters received hundreds of phone calls from pet owners searching for dogs spooked by New Year's Eve fireworks.

- with staff reporters, AAP

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