Loading The renewed $7 billion contracts set out tough penalties for station skipping, bypassing the City Loop and stopping trams before they reach the end of the route, known as short shunting. Metro's target for on-time monthly performance was lifted from 88 to 92 per cent. But in the first year of the contract, Metro has failed to meet the new target six times. The operator has continued to cancel services and bypass the City Loop, with more than 900 Frankston trains cancelled in the past year (1.1 per cent of services) and 730 Pakenham services bypassing the loop (1.2 per cent).

Yarra Trams has failed to meet its new 82 per cent punctuality target (up from 77 per cent) in five of the past 12 months. Yarra Trams met its on-time performance target only five times in the past year. Credit:Joe Armao More than 2000 train services have been short shunted on the Lilydale line, amounting to 3.2 per cent of Lilydale trains. On the tram network, more than 6500 services (7.5 per cent) on the busy Route 86 have been short shunted and 5520 services on Route 70 (8 per cent). Yet the operators have been given millions of dollars in bonuses – sums that far outweigh their penalties.

Metro Trains has been awarded $6 million in bonuses and paid $770,000 in penalties. Illustration: Matt Golding Credit: The operator had the potential to win up to $14 million in bonuses under the terms of the contract. Yarra Trams was awarded $1.26 million in bonuses (but had the potential to receive $5.5 million) and paid more than $300 000 in penalties. Meanwhile, V/Line failed to meet its 92 per cent on-time target every single month in the past year.

In May, its performance drastically dropped to a low of 79 per cent across the state-owned country rail network. But the government says train and tram performance has improved overall due to the tougher targets. Train faults on the suburban network have dropped almost 20 per cent and infrastructure faults reduced by nearly 30 per cent, the government said. Public Transport Victoria data shows that Metro Trains has met its 98.5 per cent reliability target in 11 of the past 12 months. Acting Premier Tim Pallas described the year as one of "massive improvement" and attributed improved train reliability to a 32 per cent increase in maintenance funding given to Metro Trains under the new contract.

Loading He said customer satisfaction on the train network reached a 22-year high in the November 2018 quarter. "We've spent a lot more time thinking about what the customers, passengers on the network want," Mr Pallas said. "We're seeing some of the highest levels of approval on record for our train services in particular." New customer satisfaction and mystery-shopper surveys showed a 15 per cent drop in complaints to Yarra Trams.

Bonuses are handed out to Metro and Yarra Trams for exceeding performance targets. To determine the penalties or incentives, PTV performs a complex calculation that gives greater weighting to altered or cancelled services than to late running. Loading Train lines with the lowest proportion of City Loop bypasses were Hurstbridge, Upfield and Sunbury. Tram routes 82, 78 and 1 had the lowest proportion of short shunted services.