Metlink was the marketing body and

umbrella brand Umbrella branding (also known as family branding) is a marketing practice involving the use of a single brand name for the sale of two or more related products. Umbrella branding is mainly used by companies with a positive brand equity (value ...

for public train, tram and bus

transport Transport (in British English) or transportation (in American English) is the intentional Motion, movement of humans, animals, and cargo, goods from one location to another. Mode of transport, Modes of transport include aviation, air, land tr ...

operators in

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

, Australia. On 2 April 2012, the operations of Metlink were transferred to the newly created public transport planning and management authority,

Public Transport Victoria Public Transport Victoria (PTV) is the brand name for public transport in the Australian state of Victoria. It was previously the trading name of the Public Transport Development Authority (PTDA), a now-defunct statutory authority in Victo ...

History

In 1999, the public transport system in Melbourne was disaggregated and privatised. Immediately after privatisation, there was no active system-wide branding or marketing. As a result, branding, marketing and the provision of customer information became fragmented and disjointed. In 2003, the Victorian Government and operators joined forces to create ‘Metlink’ which provided a single identity for Melbourne's public transport system. Metlink involved the provision of integrated signage, consumer information and advertising.

Responsibilities

Metlink was responsible for the promotion of travel by public transport. It published timetables, maps and guides, operated a multi-modal website, provided a

journey planner A journey planner, trip planner, or route planner is a specialized search engine used to find an optimal means of travelling between two or more given locations, sometimes using more than one Mode of transport, transport mode. Searches may be op ...

, call centre, market research and data collection. Metlink also accepted and processed customer feedback, and tracked lost property. As well as establishing a common brand for Melbourne's public transport network, the Metlink initiative was intended to better integrate information about train, tram and bus transport in Melbourne, and therefore provide passengers with better information about connecting services. Following changes to the

privatisation Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...

of Melbourne's public transport system in April 2004, the Metlink brand was transferred to a new company, Metlink Victoria Pty Ltd, the role of which was also to perform several minor functions previously performed by the State Government and the franchise operators. Metlink's ownership was then handed over to the two remaining major metropolitan operators -

Yarra Trams Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the Trams in Melbourne, tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victoria State Government, Victorian Department of Transport and Planni ...

and

Connex Melbourne Connex Melbourne was a train operator in Melbourne, Australia. Formed in July 1998 as Hillside Trains, a business unit of the Public Transport Corporation, it was privatised in August 1999 becoming a subsidiary of Veolia Transport, Connex. In ...

- the latter replaced by new train franchisee

Metro Trains Melbourne Metro Trains Melbourne, often known simply as Metro, is the operator and brand name of train services on the electrified metropolitan rail network serving the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is the largest urban rail network in Au ...

in 2009. Representatives of the Bus Association of Victoria and

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates Regional rail, regional passenger rail and Intercity bus service, coach services in the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria. It provides passenger train services on five Commuter rail, ...

had input into Metlink, but they did not have a controlling interest. Metlink also had responsibility for the Revenue Clearing House, the passenger information website (formerly Victrip), the 131 638 (131 MET) telephone information service, and the public transport information centre ''Met Shop'' on

Swanston Street Swanston Street is a major thoroughfare in the Melbourne central business district, Victoria, Australia. It was laid out in 1837 as part of the original Hoddle Grid. The street vertically bisects Melbourne's city centre and is famous as the wor ...

Branding

Metlink developed a master

style guide A style guide is a set of standards for the writing, formatting, and design of documents. A book-length style guide is often called a style manual or a manual of style. A short style guide, typically ranging from several to several dozen page ...

for timetables, maps and other customer information, to complement the graphic design style of signage. The Metlink brand signage was implemented in 2003, with progressive replacement of the heterogeneous signage previously used by the various (some defunct) public transport operators at railway stations, tram and bus stops throughout Melbourne. Under the Metlink branding system, railway station signage and timetables were colour-coded Blue, tram stop signs and timetables were colour-coded Green, and the bus network was colour-coded Orange. Additionally, the regional train and coach network was colour-coded Purple. This colour scheme has also been adopted by the successor public transport operator,

Marketing

Metlink also acted as a marketing entity for public transport, and released several television advertisements. However, this was not an exclusive arrangement, as a separate set of TV advertisements was produced by former train operator Connex (featuring

Sheena Easton Sheena Shirley Easton (; born 27 April 1959) is a Scottish singer and actress who achieved recognition in an episode of the reality television series ''The Big Time (TV series), The Big Time: Pop Singer'', which recorded her attempts to gain a ...

and a trainload of passengers singing her 1980 hit ''

Morning Train (9 to 5) "9 to 5" (or "Morning Train") is a song by Scottish singer Sheena Easton from her 1981 album '' Take My Time''. It was written by Florrie Palmer and recorded and released as a single in 1980, becoming Easton's biggest hit. It peaked at number th ...

'') during April and May 2004. In mid-2005 Connex launched another independent print and television advertising campaign, this time focusing on its safety initiatives, and featuring

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle, and is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. The first recorded versions of the rhyme date from ...

. In 2006, Connex launched a TV campaign ''

Don't Hold Others Back Don't Hold Others Back is an advertisement created by Connex Melbourne to encourage courtesy on the Melbourne Rail Network (Metlink) by implying that delays to a train which causes delays on the network are caused by people holding the doors open ...

'' focusing on encouraging courtesy on the Melbourne Rail Network. Metlink was also active in encouraging use of "value Metcards" (pre-purchased multi-trip and periodical tickets) and ran a humorous campaign promoting this called BATBYGOBSTOPL (Buying A Ticket Before You Get On Board Saves Time Or Problems Later). In July 2007, Metlink launched a new campaign, "I Highly Recommend You Get on the Bus", featuring comedian

Frank Woodley Frank Woodley ( Wood; born 29 February 1968) is an Australian comedian, author and musician who is best known for his work alongside Colin Lane as part of the comedic duo Lano and Woodley. The two first performed together for almost 20 years in ...

, to promote improvements in bus services and, following that, the "Take it Easy, Take the bus" campaign.

Viclink

Victoria's regional bus and rail services were brought under an associated brand to Metlink called Viclink. Related signage upgrades at regional railway stations began in October 2006, and were also rolled out for major regional city bus networks. The Viclink brand was subsumed by the new public transport umbrella organisation,

, on 2 April 2012.

Legislation and governance

Transport Integration Act

The prime transport-related statute in Victoria is the

Transport Integration Act 2010 The Transport Integration Act 2010 (the Act) is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia. The Act is the prime transport statute in Victoria, having replaced major parts of the '' Transport Act 1983'', which was ren ...

. The act established the

Department of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government a ...

as the integration agency for Victoria's transport system. The act also establishes and sets the charters of the State agencies charged with providing public transport rail services and managing network access for freight services, namely the former

Director of Public Transport The Director of Public Transport (also referred to as the Director, or the DPT) was the head of the Public Transport Division (PTD) of the Department of Transport (Victoria, 2008-2013), Victorian Department of Transport. PTD was the government ...

and

. In addition, the act establishes

VicTrack VicTrack, the trading name of the Victorian Rail Track Corporation, is a business enterprise of the Victorian Government which owns all railway and tram lines, associated rail lands, track corridors and other infrastructure in the state of Vic ...

which owns the public rail network and associated infrastructure. Another important statute is the Rail Management Act 1996 which confers powers on rail operators and provides for an access scheme for the state's rail network.

Rail Safety Act

The safety of rail transport operations in Melbourne is regulated by the

Rail Safety Act 2006 The ''Rail Safety Act 2006'' is a law enacted by the Parliament of the State of Victoria, Australia, and is the prime statute regulating the safety of rail operations in Victoria. The Act was developed as part of the Transport Legislation ...

which applies to all commercial passenger operations. The Act establishes a framework containing safety duties for all rail industry participants and requires operators who manage infrastructure and rolling stock to obtain accreditation prior to commencing operations. Accredited operators are also required to have a

safety management system An occupational safety management system (OSMS) is a management system designed to manage occupational safety and health risks in the workplace. If the system contains elements of management of longer-term health impacts and occupational disease, ...

to guide their operations. Sanctions applying to the safety scheme established under the Rail Safety Act are contained in the

Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983 The ''Transport (Compliance and Miscellaneous) Act 1983'' (the Act) is a prime statute regulating transport activities in the State of Victoria, Australia. Key areas regulated by the statute currently include taxi and hire car services and com ...

. The safety regulator for the rail system in Melbourne including trams is the

Director, Transport Safety The Director, Transport Safety, who operates as Transport Safety Victoria, is the independent Government agency responsible for bus and marine safety in the State of Victoria, Australia. The position was created as a statutory office by the ...

(trading as Transport Safety Victoria) whose office is established under the

Ticketing and conduct

Ticketing requirements for trains, trams and buses in Melbourne are mainly contained in the Transport (Ticketing) Regulations 2006 and the Victorian Fares and Ticketing Manual. Rules about safe and fair conduct on trains, trams and buses in Melbourne are generally contained in the

and the Transport (Conduct) Regulations 2005.

References

External links

Official Metlink website (archived)Official Viclink websiteBATBYGOBSTOPL Metlink website
{{MelbournePublicTransport Intermodal transport authorities in Australia Public transport in Melbourne 2003 establishments in Australia 2012 disestablishments in Australia