It comes at huge cost, but it’s progress
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New Myki readers activated
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Democracy day ’25
Happy democracy day! As I walked down to the polling place (chosen strategically for its sausage sizzle and cake stall) I was pondering voting and walkability and easy access. Voting in Australia is a chance to see suburban walkability in action. Most people are within a short walk of a polling place, mostly in local ... [More]
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You are my Sunshine
Some thoughts on this project, and some other issues
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Myki: new readers coming soon
The first really visible signs of Myki mark II are about to be unleashed. In the next few weeks a few stations will get the new card readers for testing purposes. Later on the readers will spread around the network and be switched on for public use, with the first stage seeing passengers using them ... [More]
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Bumblebees and CCTV
Why do five Melbourne trams have a bee logo? Because back in 2008 during a patronage surge, the government leased 5 surplus trams from Mulhouse in France. They were shipped over and put into service in their original black and yellow livery, for which they were nicknamed âBumblebeesâ. Subsequently the trams were purchased and given ... [More]
Right from the opening slide of a Melbourne landmark, Julian O’Shea’s Comedy Festival show is very, very funny
I missed last month’s ten year old photos post, so here’s bumper crop from March and April 2015. Remember when they tried to brand a residential development at the western end of the CBD with the New York-style “Upper West Side” name? Attending a Southland station consultation (at Southland naturally)… …then getting a photo at ... [More]
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Five years of COVID
(Not a transport post) I suspect some people would rather forget 2020, but I just wanted to mark that it’s five years since the COVID-19 pandemic really took hold, and lockdowns began in March 2020. Previous blogs have included posts from the midst of lockdown, a summary the events of 2020, and I also wrote ... [More]
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Weekend trains not keeping up
Long waits and packed trains for Moomba are a reminder that weekend services are not keeping up with travel demand
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Warrnambool line capacity
Shorter trains, but more of them
I’ve been pretty busy and missed my usual posting of ten year old photos from January, so here’s two months in one hit. January 2015, two months after Labor got into power pledging they would remove the level crossing at Bentleigh and rebuild the station – but the previous project to upgrade the crossing was ... [More]
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Show me the data!
No real surprises in the latest data, but it seems like service provision is holding back patronage growth.