I love catching trams because they come regularly. I live on the Upfield line and gave up catching the train over a year ago. In peak times the service runs every 20 minutes, which goes out to half an hour in non peak times. It's just too far between trains, especially if one gets cancelled or they decide to shorten the train to 3 carriages and you can't get on!
Gosh I lived along the Upfield line in Coburg, when I was a kid and I remember the train running every 20 mins then!! If one went past we were able to walk to the station and get the next one and still make it, Sydney road is a shocker for trams , still is and there are more cars ! Its not wide enough to squeeze through when moving.
Also the trains on the upfield line would not run past our place on Sundays or after 7.20pm on weeknights, imagine the horror of that today and they still cant run them every 10 to 15 mins.
That comment about Frankston sounds so, so typical of the place! But they are introducing new smoking bans unheard of elsewhere in Franga, you can't say the place is all that bad.
The Upfield line didn't use to have trains running on it on a Sunday.
There was also a plan to shut down the line in the late 1980's turn it into light rail and shut down the Sydney Road Tram altogether.
I we also leave the car at home and go on a bus to Epping Plaza.