Category: transport

Here’s a handy thing Metlink is beta testing at the moment: apart from having online timetable displays that show you the whole day on one page (at last!) you can also get a timetable for your individual stop. To get them, go to the Metlink web site. You can search for the route number, then  ... [More]

So, Eastlink is open. Whoop-de-do. And even though it was meant to be the solution to eastern Melbourne’s traffic, it’s already clear it’s just moved the problems elsewhere: Opposition leader Ted Baillieu said congestion on Eastlink could cause problems at both ends including at Hoddle Street and at the Frankston end at the Cranbourne Road  ... [More]

April 2005: September 2005: May 2008: June 2008: Richard Heinberg: “I think what the oil consuming nations really need to understand is that this is not a temporary blip in the oil market. What we’re seeing is a fundamental and permanent change in the global energy economy. We will be dealing with the fallout of  ... [More]

(Move your mouse over the vehicles) In reporting a proposed congestion charge in Manchester, UK, some of the international media seem to have got a bit confused. The Daily Mirror says: There are now also congestion charges in Stockholm, Melbourne and Toronto. CNN reports: Melbourne, Australia, has imposed a charge for downtown driving since 2000.  ... [More]

I liked the vehicle emissions chart I posted here last week that I included it in Sunday’s presentation. A journo at the presentation liked it so much he wrote it up for this morning’s Age. The graph has been published again in full here (it doesn’t have my old Magna, and includes some extra cars)  ... [More]

Another post about traffic lights… Apart from the CBD, it seems there are some other places where you don’t need to press the button to get a green man. From what I can tell, this includes a number of intersections in the Caulfield area, such as along Glen Eira Road, on Friday nights and Saturdays.  ... [More]

I just about punched the air when I read Elliot Fishman’s great opinion piece in today’s Age: RACV heading down the wrong road. Elliot highlights some of the things I’ve pondered recently, such as the RACV’s 2004 spectacularly wrong guess on oil prices, as well as pointing out the flaws in their calls for lower  ... [More]

While one can see that developing hybrid Camrys is going to be of some benefit, with reduced petrol consumption and therefore reduced emissions, I think we need to get a little perspective here. What they’re saying is that the hybrid Camry will reduce consumption by about a third. That’s certainly a start, putting it below  ... [More]

Brian K posted about different types of people and their behaviour at pedestrian lights: those who don’t press it, then look confused when nothing happens; those who press it once; those who rapid-fire press it dozens of times, in the mistaken belief that it makes the lights change quicker. (Ah. It seems I’ve written about  ... [More]

Just following-up the post the other day about high fuel prices, more than anything, hopefully forcing action on public transport. TonyH pointed me to this excellent article by George Monboit, who notes that so far there is no such action, and that high fuel prices are in fact the biggest thing currently helping to reducing  ... [More]

Public transport is by its very nature a social experience. Which probably explains the number of Overheard in Melbourne posts from PT. It’s not all people with noisy phone ringtones, those with annoyingly sniffly noses, and raucous teenagers. These are the people I’ve randomly run into on the train/tram/at stations in the last couple of  ... [More]

I was helping on a PTUA stall back in January, at the Sustainable Living Festival. It was interesting to talk to the different people coming by. One guy expressed disappointment about car pollution. He said some people would never want to part with their cars. This is not an opinion I entirely agree with. People  ... [More]