Categories
transport

Eastlink’s snarls are by design

From today’s Herald Sun: Eastlink labelled a disaster A NEW report has told us what motorists already know – the southern end of EastLink is a traffic disaster. … Toll company ConnectEast is suffering a $227,000 a day shortfall in EastLink tolls it expected to rake in. Trading in the company’s shares remains halted ahead  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Have you ever been to Unknown LineID [11]?

“Change here for Unknown LineID [11].” You know, I don’t think I’ve ever been to Unknown LineID [11]. It sounds like a delightful part of the world. To my surprise, it didn’t happen just once.

Categories
transport

Only $330 million?

From Hansard — Public transport: automatic ticketing I refer the Minister for Transport to his statement in today’s Herald Sun newspaper that: “Perhaps with 20/20 hindsight we may have tackled things in another way and not signed a contract for a system that had not been trialled anywhere else in the world.” Given this extraordinary  ... [More]

Categories
Geek / tech Health Home life Melbourne Politics and activism transport

Half-finished posts

It’s time for a clearout. Here’s a bunch of posts I wrote but never got around to posting. In some cases I intended to research them a bit more before publishing, so beware they may be a little half-arsed. Backwards There were claims and counter-claims during the Kororoit byelection campaign (June 2008). I suppose Les  ... [More]

Categories
PTUA transport

Going loopy (or not)

From today there were changes to the City Loop. Clifton Hill trains are now running clockwise all day on weekdays (though oddly anti-clockwise on weekends, just to keep people guessing) and Werribee trains are running direct via Southern Cross and Flinders Street in peak hours, bypassing the loop. Is there angst about this? You bet.  ... [More]

Categories
transport

The rally

The rally on Sunday was good. At least a couple of hundred rowdy residents protesting against the proposed $8 billion (or $9 billion, or maybe more) road tunnel proposal. I had prepared some notes, but sure enough, didn’t follow them when I spoke. I never do. Of course, the act of preparing notes lets me  ... [More]

Categories
PTUA transport

Activist things

I don’t know what’s wrong with The Age web site, but frequently the online version of the Letters page leaves big slabs of text out of people’s letters. They did it with mine this morning, which is a response to a letter in yesterday’s Age. Given the heading they gave it, the missing first paragraph  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism transport

Car culture

Now THIS is car culture. Come to Kingston Central Plaza! Bring your hulking great four-wheel drive! In fact WE DON’T EVEN ALLOW compact cars in our car parks! Yes, we’ve built a shopping centre just for you, where we wanted it, on cheap land. Why stick to the designated activity centres in the Melbourne 2030  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Missing the tram

If there’s one thing I miss since moving to the middle burbs, it’s the trams. Some people talk about public transport culture vs car culture. Car culture is where the default is to jump in the car to go anywhere. PT culture is where the default is to go to the local tram, train or  ... [More]

Categories
PTUA transport

Platforms 7 and 8

The pictures in the Heckler section on the back page of The Sunday Age this morning may look familiar… I originally posted them here.

Categories
transport

You’re welcome, but your car isn’t

Neil Mitchell in the Herald Sun last week, has some strange ideas about the City: Second, there’s transport. It is difficult to get into the city and difficult to move around it. As Jeff Kennett said this week, those monster tram stops have clogged traffic and undermined the principle behind the magnificently simple design of  ... [More]

Categories
PTUA Sport transport

Directions to Waverley

The new Customer Information Centre at Flinders Street Station is a funny looking structure. The native grasses growing out of the sides… well, I don’t know who thought of it, but it’s certainly distinctive. Staff will answer customer queries there, and additional staff will be on the platforms from November. Extra staff on Melbourne’s busiest  ... [More]