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 hope everyone’s doing okay. The widespread view is that government mismanagement has made this latest outbreak far worse than it needs to be. They don’t want more lockdowns – perhaps fair enough given high rates of vaccination – but they’re not ensuring the testing (PCR and Rapid Antigen Test) capacity can properly handle it. ... [More]
I’ve been on a long term course to reduce my household emissions, so this little list caught my eye: One by one on these (in a slightly different order): LED lighting – yes – I think all the CfLs have been replaced by LEDs. LEDs to me seem to be living up to expectations of ... [More]
A fare rise took effect from 1st January. It’s usually more-or-less in line with the annual CPI to September the previous year – this time 2.3% against CPI of 2.9%. CPI was so low in 2020 that they waived the increase in January 2021, but most other years they’ve done it. I thought it might ... [More]
Happy new year! We’re all used to the standard size buses (pictured above). Bigger buses either go to double deck, requiring higher bridge clearances, or longer articulated buses, needing longer bus bays and larger turning circles. Spotted recently on the Western Freeway near Melton: a smaller FlexiRide bus. The aspect ratio on this pic is ... [More]
If you celebrate it, I hope you’ve had a good Christmas. The strangeness of 2020 has continued in 2021, and looks set to continue into 2022. COVID infections are now rife – not just overseas (one UK uncle and his entire family have had it, and last week a UK cousin tested positive) but now ... [More]
Very busy so not many blog posts recently. Here’s another in my series of photos from ten years ago… December 2011. Flinders Street Station’s rather nice Christmas decorations Here’s the main entrance to the station, the classic Melbourne photo. Remember the confusing old train maps? This one from the City Loop of the Northern group ... [More]
While the debate about new and expanded station car parks continues to rage, I wonder if authorities are properly managing the ones they have? The whole reason for politicians wanting to expand station car parks is that in normal times, they are full. But are they full of train users? How can one tell? This ... [More]
Not a transport post. After much dithering, I’ve made the switch to iPhone. I’ve used Android phones for ten years. If I’m honest a lot of that was due to the price. Midrange Android phones seemed like better value for money. But they also have a short life. 2 years then you replace them because ... [More]
SRL is a huge project. Here are a few thoughts on what it needs to really be a success.
Here’s another post of photos from ten years ago… November 2011. These old tram signs from the corner of Elizabeth and Flinders Streets seem to have disappeared around 2015. On the bright side, the huge number of tram route numbers in use whenever the signs first went up (somewhere between 1943 and 1962) has been ... [More]
Federal Labor is getting behind a “Trackless Tram” idea for a route from Caulfield via Chadstone and Monash Uni to Rowville, pledging $6 million for a business case if they win power next year. The proposal is to run from Caulfield via Dandenong Road past Chadstone, then Ferntree Gully Road, Blackburn Road past Monash University, ... [More]
This is real priority for pedestrians
The pandemic has resulted in millions of people staying home, with overall travel demand dropping significantly. This is clearly shown in the annual public transport patronage figures from the State Budget Papers released in May. Now we have a new piece of info: annual fare revenue – from the Department of Transport annual reports, the ... [More]
It’s the end of October already… so here’s a post of photos from ten years ago: October 2011. Brisbane – we’d gone up to visit my Dad’s memorial bench at University of Queensland and to see relatives. We had a hotel room in central Brisbane. My practice is to try and book something walking distance ... [More]
Not a transport post. For those who only visit for those, sorry – I’ll have something meaty for you in a few days. Having just ranted on vaccines, here’s something else that may be controversial. When I was a kid, the tech debate was which home computer was best. Nowadays, it’s operating systems. Mac OS ... [More]
Happy end of lockdown, Melbourne! On a related note: Last week Texan Republican senator Ted Cruz weighed into the news that the NT government will mandate vaccines for public-facing workers: I heard similar sentiments from an Australian recently, in the context of Victoria’s vaccine mandates for permitted/essential on-site workers. Here’s my view on this, if ... [More]