Altona Loop commuters are waiting up to 44 minutes for a peak-hour train after Metro cancelled several services because of a driver shortage.
The move has frustrated passengers of three loop stations – Altona, Westona and Seaholme – who already have the longest
zone 1 peak-hour wait of 22 minutes.
Metro’s website states that planned cancellations until May 30 are necessary because it is “upgrading its network with the Regional Rail Link and Springvale level crossing removal projects and we also need to train our drivers on the new sections of track”.
Altona Loop Group spokeswoman Jennifer Williams said other commuters on the Werribee line had a train every 11 minutes in peak hour.
“This [the cancellations] really disadvantages commuters on the Altona Loop stations and is unacceptable. The Metro website confused the issue by stating that buses would replace trains when the trains were running most of the time.”
Laverton-bound commuters requiring lift access on arrival have also vented frustration at being told to travel to Aircraft or Williams Landing stations.
Following a Weekly report that three out of four lifts at Laverton station are broken, Hobsons Bay deputy mayor Colleen Gates called on Public Transport Victoria to fix the lifts as a priority.
“For people with a disability, older people, parents with a pram and people with a shopping jeep or bicycle, broken lifts means they have to travel to the nearest station, which is almost a kilometre away.”
Metro has temporarily reinstated a bus service that had been controversially cancelled, to transport passengers between Laverton and Aircraft stations.
Metro spokeswoman Larisa Tait said that most cancellations had been implemented in off-peak hours.
