Categories
transport

Who decides how often the trains run?

This came up several times recently on social media, so I thought I’d work my answers into a blog post. Who decides how often the trains (and other public transport services) run? It’s not the private operator MTM (Metro Trains Melbourne), it’s the State Government. If you want to read the grisly details, it’s in  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Inside Anzac and Parkville stations

The Metro Tunnel is nearing completion. Last week I got to look around two of the stations.

Categories
News and events TV

Here is the news

ABC America’s World News Tonight leaves me exhausted just watching it

Categories
Photos from ten years ago

Old photos from November 2014

Here’s my regular post of old photos from ten years ago. This time, it’s November 2014, plus a few from October 2014 that I missed last month. Another day, another train disruption. Plenty of unhappy punters at Richmond. For a while, Metro was putting ads on the windows. Not good. This was how a Comeng  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Wasting time in PAEC

There are plenty of real issues the government should be quizzed on

Categories
transport

V/Line falling short

Drizzle, and a crowded train couldn’t prevent an enjoyable quick trip to Ballarat

Categories
transport

Myki and 3G

You might have read The Age’s story a couple of days ago: Myki meltdown: Trams, buses hit by glitches linked to end of 3G (Paywall) The government commented, but didn’t confirm or deny that 3G was to blame. I’ve got good info that it was due to 3G, but perhaps not in the way you’d  ... [More]

Categories
transport

WGT city exits

Pretty strange looking tunnel

Categories
Photos from ten years ago

Old photos from October 2014

Here’s another of my monthly posts of photos from ten years ago – this time it’s October 2014, fast approaching the November state election. This was some unconventional advertising for the election – the “Southern Express” spruiking the Coalition government’s upgrades on the Frankston line. The unions meanwhile were lying in wait outside the station.  ... [More]

Categories
transport

V/Line patronage surging on weekends

The Monthly Average Patronage By Day Type And Mode data was updated to include up to June 2024, and I thought I’d look at how V/Line is doing, given the fare cap introduced on 31st March 2023. Here’s the chart, with weekends highlighted, as I’ll talk about them a bit more below. The overall pattern  ... [More]

Categories
transport

More frequent? Faster?

Are trains faster since the Glen Huntly tram crossing was removed? Perhaps surprisingly, no.

Categories
Politics and activism

Council elections 2024

Council elections are happening this month. In a lot of areas there’s been a change. Here in Glen Eira we used to have 3 wards with 3 councillors each. Now we’ll have 9 wards with 1 councillor each. I’m not so sure this is a good idea. Unfortunately some elected councillors aren’t great. In the  ... [More]