Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for the Public Transport Users Association / professional geek.
Bunurong land, Melbourne, Australia.
Opinions on this blog are all mine.
On Wednesday the Coalition announced a pledge to upgrade all the main regional rail lines to 200 km/h, cutting travel times. ABC report: Coalition promises 32-minute trips from Geelong to Melbourne under regional rail upgrade Melbourne is bursting, we must take control of population growth by decentralising growth. The Liberal Nationals 200kmh high speed rail ... [More]
How can it be October already? It’s still September in some timezones, so here’s my regular post of photos from ten years ago, covering September 2008. At Richmond station, I was probably trying to take a photo to help publicise the PTUA’s discount yearly tickets – but couldn’t get the ticket itself quite into ... [More]
The other day I had cause to catch a train from Gardenvale to Balaclava. It’s interesting to compare these two stations. They are both elevated over main roads. Both have shopping centres that have built up around them. Both have connecting street-based public transport. Gardenvale station opened in 1906 as an additional station on the ... [More]
Normally each month I post photos from ten years earlier. I noticed that it’s twenty years since my 1998 trip to Europe. This was the first trip I blogged in excruciating unnecessary detail – and I’m glad I did, as I’ve been rereading the posts, reliving the trip. I’ve taken the opportunity to re-scan some ... [More]
Longtime readers of this blog may recall that back in 2010 an apartment block was being advertised at Caulfield, smack bang between where the Frankston and Dandenong lines diverge. It was never built. Google Street View shows by 2014 the site was still empty, and the advertising sign was covered in graffiti. Around 2016 the ... [More]
Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. This is especially so for school reunions. My eldest son is pondering whether to even go to his – the people he wants to stay in touch with, he does via Facebook. Fair enough. I however do go to my school reunions. Melbourne High School has an active ... [More]
Despite living in a sports mad city in a sports mad country, I’m not the world’s biggest sports fan. But as a public transport advocate, I embrace big sporting events, because it’s amazing the things they can help get done in transport. This is only natural. Such events are often a showcase, particularly in Melbourne, ... [More]
Some more thoughts on the Suburban Rail Loop — which in this post, I am going to cheekily call Metro 3 for short, since it’s been proposed after Metro 1 (currently under construction) and Metro 2. A week and a half on, many questions remain, but the idea still looks like an incredibly forward-thinking, positive ... [More]
Here’s my monthly post of photos from ten years ago. For a while I was waging war on ghost tram route numbers via this blog post and then this Age article. Numbers like 7 and 9 were pointless because nobody outside a few gunzels knew them. This was tram route 7 to Malvern Depot. In ... [More]
Okay, I didn’t see this coming. Orbital rail for the middle ring of Melbourne, announced on Facebook this morning. Labor say they want to build a 90km suburban rail loop from Cheltenham (by which they appear to mean Southland), Clayton, Monash, Glen Waverley, Deakin Burwood, Box Hill, Doncaster, Heidelberg, Latrobe Uni, Reservoir, Fawkner, Broadmeadows, Airport, ... [More]
On Sunday I went out to see the Mernda rail extension. The Level Crossing Removal Authority, who built it (well, it does involve new stations and grade separation of an existing disused rail corridor, so it kinda makes sense) ran a community open day, with free shuttle trains between South Morang and Mernda. After catching ... [More]
It’s been very busy the last week or two, which is why the blog has been a bit quiet. Apart from the day job, this week I’ve been to two MTF transport forums (Melbourne, and Glen Eira), and a PTUA committee meeting. There are more MTF forums (fora?) in the coming weeks, and if you’re ... [More]
I was looking through some old photos, and found these from November 1996. I’ve scanned them from the negatives. As you can see, they provide some good advice… (Click on either photo to view it larger in Flickr) Things to note here: “Don’t be a jerk” is a work by Barbara Kruger, originally from 1984 ... [More]
I am discovering that there’s some powerful psychology going on when you get a new car. Playing into this for me is that my old car was wearing out, and was getting difficult to drive, plus the change from manual to automatic. This means the new car seems like a breeze to drive. The “new ... [More]
Transport For Victoria have quietly put out a map and plan for the rail network for 2025. It’s dated June, but I hadn’t spotted it before. Well, I say plan… it’s only a ten page brochure (eight if you exclude the covers) mostly summarising projects that we already know are fully funded: Metro tunnel (aka ... [More]
Another in my series of old photos from ten years ago… Let’s start with Melbourne Central. A few years earlier, the centre and station concourse had been re-developed to better integrate the shops with the station. And by integrate, I mean funnel the passengers through the shopping centre instead of directly out to Swanston Street. ... [More]