Transport for NSW has received hundreds of complaints about overcrowding on the South Coast line since last year

It works out at about one complaint every day since January 2017.

From that date through to the end of May 2018, Transport for NSW had one “query” relating to crowding on the line for every 26,700 trips.

Using Transport for NSW Opal card trip data to calculate the total number of trips in that period, that equates to 504 complaints since the start of last year.

With there being 516 days since January last year, that’s almost a complaint a day.

As Opal trip figures for May 2018 were not available, the May 2017 figure was used.

READ MORE: Which peak hour trains are the most crowded?

When it comes to crowding, the worst South Coast services are the four-car sets leaving Central at 3.24pm and 3.54pm.

The Mercury asked Transport for NSW how many complaints it had received about those specific trains but it declined to respond.

Instead a spokesman pointed to several moves to deal with “capacity issues”.

This included a 2014 move to make the majority of peak services eight carriages long and a 2016 decision to make stops at Wolli Creek, Hurstville and Sutherland “pick-up only”.

“We are currently investigating options to improve services for customers on the T4 Eastern Suburbs & Illawarra and South Coast lines,” the spokesman said.

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He added the New Intercity Fleet would provide more carriages for South Coast customers.

“All services to and from Central that are currently operated by four-carriage trains will be progressively replaced by longer trains,” he said.

However, the intercity fleet isn’t scheduled to hit the South Coast line until 2021.

“This is not a quick fix and requires substantial planning and analysis.”

Bronwyn Batten, a South Coast commuter and founder of the Illawarra Rail Fail page on Facebook, was not surprised at the number of complaints.

“They’re probably not getting more because people get tired of complaining,” Ms Batten said. 

“When I was doing the [overcrowding] petition I met many people who said, ‘I’ve sent so many emails and nothing is done’.

“There is the odd person who keeps pursuing complaints but there have been a lot of people who have been complaining and it’s getting nowhere.”

Ms Batten questioned the ability of the intercity fleet to solve the problem, given each carriage has fewer seats than the Oscars now on the South Coast line.

“Sometimes I feel like it’s an episode of Yes Minister or Utopia where we’re told the solution is going to be a train with fewer seats,” she said.

“The four-car trains will get increases [in seats] if they make them eight carriages but the problem of overcrowding won’t go away because the eight-carriage trains will be more overcrowded.

“How is this in any way fixing the problem?”