Ever tried to do a press conference at Southern Cross station and compete with a locomotive for the microphone? Don’t try. Locos 1. Me 0. — Kevin Rudd PM on Twitter Amusing. It occurred to me that there’s not very many people who would be qualified to reply in the affirmative to that, so even ... [More]
I think I might have out-done myself this time. Last month I represented the PTUA at a senate hearing into Commonwealth investment in public transport. During questions, the topic of public transport for special events came up, and as I had the night before been to such an event, I drew on that personal experience ... [More]
Just thought I’d highlight this, over on the PTUA web site: The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has called for the Australian flags on the Westgate bridge to be moved to Footscray station, in recognition that the station carries more people through it than the bridge at peak hour. Read the rest See also: story ... [More]
Apparently I’m a militant. [Myki] has been slagged by public transport militant Daniel Bowen by reference to the hideous early 1980’s hit ‘Hey Mickey’ recently revived in cheerleader films of dubious repute. — Vexnews — news for patriots (?!) Hmmmmm. Interesting that they linked to a blog post where I thought I was quite impartial ... [More]
There’s now proof that the introduction of Myki will actually slow down trams. The Libs FOI’d the test figures, which found that: …if 20 passengers join a tram and another 20 alight at the same stop, the predicted average time a tram would be stationary was 38 seconds under the new myki smartcard compared to ... [More]
She looked about twenty. She sounded upset on the phone. She wasn’t quite sure where she was going, and her phone battery was running out. The heat in the tram was stifling. She hung up and started to sob. Then she collapsed. She mostly fell downwards, and didn’t seem to bump her head. A couple ... [More]
Unlike the last one, I can’t claim a role in this: a hilarious video parodying the Victorian Transport Plan TV commercials. Meanwhile, over at the Sunday Herald Sun, they’re running an online survey on peoples views of PT. Click through and have your say. Finally, answer me this: if Sir Rod Eddington was very specific ... [More]
The bad news is that as expected Metcard prices will jump by 5% from January 1st. Stock up now! It’s a curious thing. If you have to increase fares, CPI rises are probably the most logical way to do it. But this time around, the September quarter CPI figures were heavily influenced by petrol price ... [More]
I was a bit busy yesterday. Took a few hours off work to deal with the Transport Plan release — the presentation to stakeholders and skulking around at Treasury Place to talk to media. In summary? Well although I’m at home today, I’m a bit rushed again, so maybe I’ll just paste in my two ... [More]
Including: Don’t come up with another half-baked transport plan! Click here to join the related Facebook group
In the late 80s, the then PTUA committee got together a group respected community leaders, including prominent figures from both sides of politics, to be patrons of the organisation. Here’s a picture of three of them, from The Age in June 1989: One of them, Frank Crean, father of Simon, and former Treasurer in Whitlam’s ... [More]
The Consumer Price Index for the year ended September 2008 was 5.0% — unusually high, for Australia. As the ABS says: This is the largest annual change since December quarter 1995, excluding the period associated with the introduction of the GST. This figure is used as the basis for the increase in public transport fares ... [More]