Achievements

There have been some significant wins: One early demand was multimodal ticketing, which happened in 1983. A campaign during the nineties called “Seven day service for a seven day city” called for better Sunday services, which were delivered — at least on the trains and trams — in 1999.

If it wasn’t for PTUA, the government’s Smartbus project would have been all flashy electronic signs (of doubtful reliability), but no extra buses.

And it was video from the PTUA in 2003 which revealed the true scale of the mess on New Year’s Eve, which subsequently led to all night trains and trams.

It was the PTUA that kept pushing for the tram to Box Hill.

It was the PTUA that helped mobilise community groups across Victoria to fight the proposal in the early Kennett years to slash country rail services, close the Williamstown and Stony Point lines and run buses instead of trains after dark in Melbourne.

We were also involved in early discussions that led to the Nightrider buses and Metlink’s common branding. And it was the PTUA (in conjunction with the Consumer Law Centre Victoria) campaigning on passenger rights that led to the establishment of the Public Transport Ombudsman.

These sorts of improvements only come through the hard work of PTUA volunteers, and something to bear in mind is that we are always looking for members to contribute more — so if you have some free time, please do get involved.

Frank Casey passed away in 1994, but his legacy — and that of his torturous trip home in February 1976 — lives on.