Monthly total patronage for metropolitan and regional train, metropolitan and regional bus, tram and regional coach services in Victoria, to allow users to analyse trends in patronage by mode. Patronage is a count of patron boardings onto services, with the exclusion of train transfers that do not involve a change in direction. Patrons includes all persons 5 and over, excluding drivers and station staff.
Data Quality
1) Patronage data for metropolitan modes and for regional bus is derived from myki ticketing data. As ticketing data provides an incomplete picture of the number of people using public transport, DoT also conducts a patronage survey to supplement myki data. The purpose of the patronage survey is to determine the transaction rate, which is the percentage of passengers who ‘touch-on’ when they travel. Ticketing transactions are boosted according to the transaction rate to provide an estimate of total patronage.
2) As of January 2021, metropolitan train patronage uses barrier count data, where available, in place of survey observations to determine the transaction rate.
3) Metropolitan train patronage is derived from a count of station entries, plus a 5% ‘transfer uplift’ to account for trips following a transfer within a station.
4) Patronage data for regional train and coach is provided by V/Line and is based on conductor or driver counts for each regional train and coach service.
5) Patronage data for regional bus also includes patronage estimates for services that are not myki enabled. This data is derived from the ‘monthly statistical returns’ completed by each bus operator.