I love the concept of commuter cycling. While my trip to work is a little too far, I love the idea of riding to places like my sister’s house or my mum’s house or my dad’s place (all just a few km away) on the bike. I love the idea of taking the whole family ... [More]
Category: transport
All forms of transport, including gunzelly
The man who knew too much
Perhaps sometimes it’s a disadvantage knowing too much about all the transport options. When mild interruptions occur, it might make one more inclined to take the alternatives, even when ultimately it doesn’t really save any time. Take, for example, Tuesday morning’s commute. It started with two SMSs. The 8:36 and the 8:52 from Glenhuntly to ... [More]
Cabbies protest
It was easy to find a taxi this morning in the city, but more difficult to find a driver — or at least one who would take you anywhere. Taxi drivers were protesting about driver safety, blocking the intersection of Flinders and Swanston Streets. Quite a few empty cabs were parked nearby. Despite claims of ... [More]
The Age yesterday ran a report on the PTUA’s submission to the Garnaut inquiry on climate change, with the headline being “Ban new freeways: transport group” — above another rather good article about cars not being on average any more efficient than 40 years ago. It didn’t take long for the rev heads to spot ... [More]
Radio traffic news
I know 774’s traffic and train updates are done directly in the studio (I saw it happen when I was in there the other week). Channel 10’s are done from a helicopter — you get to see the lady in it as she talks. What about the other radio stations? Many of them make it ... [More]
Train stuff
1. Contrary to this report in the Geelong Advertiser, the term “bustitution” has been around for years. I don’t know who first coined it. A number of regular services to and from Geelong have been replaced by coaches through April, giving rise to a new term being coined by the Public Transport Users’ Association – ... [More]
Personal mobility
You know what narks me? It’s the argument that we have to build lots more roads because people have to drive so that they have personal mobility. It’s an argument from the road lobby that is basically saying wherever you go, you have to be able to take your car. And it gets traction because ... [More]
Missed opportunity
Yesterday there were demonstrators outside the SX building in Exhibition Street, with brochures, a big banner calling for a Royal Commission. Into what? I’m not sure to be honest; it wasn’t obvious. I didn’t look too closely and I didn’t take a brochure as I had other things on my mind. The Premier John Brumby ... [More]
Optimising the commute
I’m sure anybody who drives a particular trip regularly has in their mind their thoughts on optimising it: which route to take, which lane to be in when, best time to set out, alternate routes available if there’s a major snarl — like there was on Wednesday. What about PT users? Do they think this ... [More]
Frantic day
One of those frantic days. E Day — the Eddington report came out. Age story. In summary: do we really want to blow $20 billion on tunnels, when one (the road tunnel) appears to serve no purpose (hardly anybody drives NE to W) and the other (the rail tunnel) tries to solve a capacity problem ... [More]
Sitting in the dark
I’m not convinced that I’ll participate in Earth Hour. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a terrific idea for raising awareness of climate change and energy issues. But I’m already well aware of those issues, thanks, and I’m working on reducing my emissions every day, not just one hour per year. And besides, I’m ... [More]
The big picture
Oil prices went over US$100/barrel again last week. Caltex expects people to pay more than $3 a litre in the next ten years. Meanwhile the interim Gaurnaut report came out, warning of the need to cut emissions. Recently when petrol nudged $1.50 per litre, I heard Wayne Swan on the radio having a whinge about ... [More]