Let’s momentarily distract ourselves from the perils of March 2020 with some photos from ten years ago.
Parliament station, back when the old Passenger Information Displays were CRTs with a blue background.
They converted the Flinders Street Lane/Spring Street crossing from a zebra to signalised – thus downgrading the experience for pedestrians.
There was crowding on CBD trams before the Free Tram Zone, but the worst of it was mostly on the City Circle, seen here in Latrobe Street.
Being a fan of the old Max Headroom TV show (the sci-fi telemovie and series more than the music video show), I was delighted to find this down an obscure alleyway in Melbourne’s CBD.
Delayed trains, crowded platforms, on the old then-ground level station at Bentleigh – before the level crossing removal. Who needs seating when you’ve got bike hoops?
The old station had very narrow platforms at the citybound end. It made boarding with a wheelchair trickier than it should have been.
Also at Bentleigh: a bus kneels to assist a mobility impaired passenger to board. This and low-floor designs mean most buses now are wheelchair accessible.
On 6th of March a torrential storm hit Melbourne, causing all kinds of chaos. This is Glenhuntly.
In those heady days of 2010, train crowding was a real issue, and the delivery of brand new trains into service actually got the media in attendance.
Me in a quiet train moving slowly through the City Loop, trying to snap the signs in the tunnel telling you how far it is to the nearest emergency exit. The distances are odd because they were converted from imperial to metric.
Not something we’re seeing a lot of at the moment: a crowded train.
For those of you reading this in 2020, stay well, stay safe.
7 replies on “Old photos from March 2010”
Who needs seating when you’ve got bike hoops? They are about a meter apart and don’t collect much dust. Maybe they knew something we are only realising.
re the Zebra Crossing, Flinders Street should read Flinders Lane.
Many bus drivers don’t stop their bus close to the kerb, leaving a wide gap between the bus step and the nature strip/footpath. Your choice is a long step down onto the road and then up to the nature strip, or a leap from the bus across the gap and onto the nature strip.
Perhaps we should look at installing an accessible kerb solutions, such as the Kassel Kerb, at bus stops.
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@Rod, thanks – fixed.
@Malcolm, that design makes a lot of sense. They probably should have used it for the Casino East tram/bus stop – last time I looked, the platform kerb was being steadily worn away by impact with the bus tyres.
the parliament CRT-based PIDs … mostly blue background, but shot through with red or green for a few seconds when a motor unit went past … then *clunk!* the deGauss coils kicked in and it was blue again for a bit …
Parliament’s CRT monitors ended up at Box Hill when the City Loop had its screens upgraded, the Parliament CRTs were a newer style flat CRT unlike the other loop stations, and replaced Box Hill’s old screens which also had the more typical curved CRTs. Box Hill kept its CRTs well after the City Loop’s ones were upgraded. Sadly, time caught up with these too and Box Hill eventually received LCD or plasma screens. The Box Hill CRTs had the old station names burned into the monitors, so you could see an afterimage of the lines/stations they previously used at Parliament.
@Daniel, that photo of the wheelchair at old Bentleigh reminds me of Canterbury, which also has a ridiculously narrow island platform at the city end, and a non-DDA-compliant ramp as a bonus.
@Malcolm, at Box Hill you could even see the magnetic interference on the CRTs at Box Hill when a train was departing Mont Albert or Laburnum, it was a good way to tell when the next train was coming!
How things have changed ten years on.
How could we have then predicted what life would be like exactly ten years on from then,
I guess the same is so, with us today not having a clue what will be so in the year 2030. Arh, but we (the Richmond Tigers) will still be premiers. We can dream until then hey.