It’s the end of May, so it’s time for a batch of photos from ten years ago.
I quite liked this ad for iiNet in Flinders Street Station:
I was snapping photos for Tony’s web site “Our Fading Past” (currently offline, but the Google Map is up), highlighting old signs around Melbourne. This classic is in Ripponlea on the side of a heritage-listed pharmacy.
On the 70s-era Z-class trams, you can still find these things. Originally these trams had front-door boarding, so you could have your ticket checked by a conductor. The rear doors were used to alight, and these little screens would light up to indicate you could press the button to open the doors. I think these days most of them are wired up to the Next Stop buttons.
Also arriving on trams: new Myki readers. Myki became active on Melbourne trains at the end of 2009, and on trams in mid-2010, with the touch-off requirement removed to make it work with the slow readers.
Excitement! New screens arrive at Richmond! Evidently some teething problems initially.
At this time, there were still plenty of CRTs around the network. These were at Parliament station.
A visit to the Dandenongs…
…wouldn’t be complete without a photo of one of greater Melbourne’s worst bus stops for accessibility.
A foggy morning at Glenhuntly station
…and here’s a view at the other end of the day from Richmond. Note the lack of platform cover, and the Hitachi train.
10 replies on “Old photos from May 2009”
The iinet ad is pretty clever and feel good. Yes, those buttons on trams are now all next stop buttons. I was a bit surprised to see one of the new myki readers on a bus a week or so ago. I’d forgotten about the CRT screens. They could be so difficult to read if in bright light. I note the lack of SUVs in the Dandenongs photo. It would be quite a different photo now, even if nothing else had changed.
The buttons beside the Z3 class tram doors used to have ‘Press to open door’ text on them.
https://railgallery.wongm.com/melbourne-tram-bits/E108_6032.jpg.html
I have always wondered what those screens were for above the next stop buttons on some trams. I asked a tram employee once and even they didn’t know.
@Marcus, but normally the text did not appear except when the tram was stopped and the back doors “unlocked” (eg the button would do something). I assume it was some kind of backlight, but the one you’ve pictured was broken.
Andrew. Well (not) spotted. The SUVs.
How do you get to that bus stop?
@Steve, by bus of course!
On the subject of poor bus stops, poor bus timetables, and poor buses… why do half the buses in Melbourne have the exhaust at ground level on the left hand rear, so after getting off the bus you get a choking shower of diesel soot as it leaves?
To take this further off the topic, bus comfort is a bugbear of mine. The newer the bus, the worse the seats and general comfort level. Suspension is terrible and not set up for a variable load, seats are hard and transmit every impact from the over-inflated tyres into the passengers.
Noise is often ridiculous. I measured the noise level in a 685 bus from Lilydale to Yarra Glen the other night. This was a very new bus and the air conditioner was making a terrible racket. 79 dB was the average reading. Impossible to have a conversation or use a phone with that amount of noise. I did the same thing in the back half of a Boeing 737 just after take-off and got the same reading. Trains are a good 10 dB quieter (as are Airbus planes, as it happens).
Absolutely, Philip. I was in a 630 a couple weeks ago and it made the most jarringly loud creaking noise every time the driver pressed the brakes. I noticed the driver was trying to see how far he could press the brakes before the creaking noise started – turns out, even light braking was ear piercing!