Sunday afternoon, waiting for the 6:40. Yes, people with grey hair use laptops too. “Mind the gap” is something familiar to Londoners (where some of the gaps really are worth minding), but this warning has recently shown up at Footscray. Monday the 16th was not a good day on the Frankston line. I didn’t have ... [More]
Category: transport
All forms of transport, including gunzelly
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That picture again
That picture showed up again, this time in an article I wrote for Planning News. I like the blur they’ve put on it.
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Not a good sign
Arriving at the station yesterday morning, up the line at McKinnon, we could see this: Not a good sign. Word was there was a fire on the train. The evening TV news and today’s Herald Sun revealed what happened: Jesse Martin, once lauded as the youngest person to sail solo around the world, had come ... [More]
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So why are the trains so bad?
I was going to post a photo showing the ugly truth of working at home with no aircon when it’s 43.2 degrees outside and nobody else is home. But I think the world can be spared that. Instead I’ll ponder this: why are the trains so bad this summer? Were they always this bad and ... [More]
A comment from Anna the other day: A letter in The Age today outlined what happened to an inconvenienced train traveller in Britain recently: after an hour delay, each passenger was personally given a form to claim reimbursement for the trip. The train management apparently have an agreed passenger treatment charter, and they abide by ... [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]
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How many trains?
Attributed to a government spokeswoman: as part of the Victorian Transport Plan, 38 new trains would be put into the system in 2009, increasing the train fleet by 40 per cent. — The Age: One in 10 trains either cancelled or delayed WRONG. We already have: 95 Comengs, 7 Hitachis, 36 Siemens, 29 X’Trapolis = ... [More]
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Tramcar of the Beast
Tramcar of the Beast… The next station is Connex… I don’t think I’ve ever been there.
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]
On the subject of mobile phones, it’s astounding after all these years how many people look surprised when their phones (on any network) drop out in the City Loop. Perhaps half of people, including myself, know this’ll happen. If I’m on the phone going into the tunnel, I’ll tell the other party I’m about to ... [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]