Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.
I’ve fallen behind in my series of ten year old photos, so I’ll try to catch up. Here’s some from March 2016, as well as a few from a couple of months earlier that I missed. A V/Line loco-hauled train departing Southern Cross towards Gippsland. These days these are all served by VLocity diesel railcars. ... [More]
Well, here we go, the Tap And Go (aka Contactless) trial has gone well, and from tomorrow Sunday 7th June it’s available on about half the train network: all the lines through North Melbourne, South Yarra, the Metro Tunnel and V/Line (at stations currently using Myki). The rest of the Metro network will be switched ... [More]
Which offence categories are increasing?
Melbourne’s no longer on top
Some thoughts on PSDs. They’re not simple to retro-fit, but would be a good goal to move towards.
It was a budget day last week. I havenât had a chance to write a blog post so I thought Iâd try this: I’ll do a quick video. Hmm yeah okay it turned out to be 7 minutes long. Not as quick as I thought. If you prefer to read, no problem. The rest of ... [More]
Metro’s 30 and 40 minute frequencies are steadily being upgraded – it’s great to see.
Back in 2023 I got to see and provide feedback for the X’Trapolis 2 train, based on a mock-up in a warehouse in Tullamarine. Time marches on, and the first actual trains have been delivered and are now testing. Myself and some other “rail influencers” were invited by the State Government to inspect one of ... [More]
Back to the 90s
Free PT is easy to say and easy to sell, but the effects and benefits are complex
I am working on a post on April’s free public transport, but hold those thoughts, as it’s taking a while to work through what I want to say. In the meantime: For years I’ve been disappointed by mobile phone coverage on my usual commute. It’s very bad for much of the train journey, in particular ... [More]
It’s April, a time for Easter eggs and of course it’s also Comedy Festival time. I went along to Julian O’Shea’s latest show: Maps. He’s playing at the Crowne Plaza, and ironically we could have done with a good map, as navigating your way there on foot isn’t easy at the moment, with works galore ... [More]
Updated public transport patronage data has just been released, including for January 2026. This is particularly interesting given the Summer Start free weekend travel that applied during December and January. Unfortunately the other data set that separates out patronage by days does not include weekend data for this period. It’s not clear if this is ... [More]
It’s finally here… almost. Tap and Go fare payments will be trialled from Monday (16th March) on the Craigieburn, Upfield, Ballarat and Seymour lines. This is important technology. Having bank cards (and connected devices such as phones) as a fare payment option is vital for new and occasional users, including tourists. They don’t want the ... [More]
To miss this chance would be incredibly short-sighted
Some thoughts on public transport over a busy long weekend