Old photos from December 2014

Another of my series of old photos from ten years ago, this time covering December 2014.

The State Election had just passed, and our new Premier had some things to say in MX – apologies for the sun glare.

Particularly relevant for those of us interested in public transport is Andrews talking about Turn Up And Go services – unfortunately in 2024 you’d have to say that there’s been lots of infrastructure, the service on most of the network is a long way from not needing a timetable. (Here’s a blog post from the time with more about this.)

Part of service upgrades is bus route reform. Transdev had some proposals – some good, some bad – they ended up all being scrapped by the new transport minister, though some changes have subsequently come through, such as the splitting of 216/219/220 into NW and SE sections.

At Sandringham station, here’s a very confused bus. (Routes 600/922/923 are pretty confusing too.)

Crowds outside Myer, looking at the Christmas windows.

I’ve been a long time (but occasional) patron of Minotaur Books – from memory they were in Swanston Street in the 1980s, then Bourke Street in the 1990s. This picture shows them in Elizabeth Street in 2014… they subsequently moved to Little Collins Street.

In Collins Street, flowers were left outside the Lindt Cafe, in sympathy with those caught up in the Lindt Cafe siege in Sydney earlier that month.

In South Yarra, this tower was going up next to the station – one of many in the area now.

With fare reform backed by both major parties going into the election, PTV had enough certainty to advertise the coming changes for 2015.

…the sting in the tail was the fare rise. In 2025, the $3.76 fare you see here will rise to $5.50, some 46% higher than it was ten years earlier, thanks to four CPI+2.5% rises budgeted by the Coalition and implemented by Labor. It seems the fears of (nearly) flat fares applying upward pressure to the base fare were not unfounded.

Before the Free Tram Zone started, tram crowding in the CBD was already an issue – it had been for years.

Closer to home in Bentleigh, a level crossing fault meant the road was closed. PSOs were on the scene, guiding pedestrians across. Presumably/hopefully that was carefully coordinated with train control! Happily since then, this crossing has been removed.

On a walk I found the newly upgraded Moorabbin station bus interchange… from memory the upgrade didn’t provide any extra bus services.

… and I encountered Moorabbin’s shortest Stop Sign – probably due to cars coming down a hill to the intersection here, so they wanted to make it more visible.