Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.
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]
The Metro Tunnel is nearing completion. Last week I got to look around two of the stations.
ABC America’s World News Tonight leaves me exhausted just watching it
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]
There are plenty of real issues the government should be quizzed on
Drizzle, and a crowded train couldn’t prevent an enjoyable quick trip to Ballarat
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]
Pretty strange looking tunnel
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]
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]
Are trains faster since the Glen Huntly tram crossing was removed? Perhaps surprisingly, no.
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]