Coming into Flinders Street… “Train arriving platform 13, this train is not taking passengers.” The guy standing in the doorway pipes up. “I hate platform 13.” “Why, ‘cos it’s deep underground in the middle of nowhere?” “No” he shuddered, “I just don’t like the number 13.”
Category: transport
All forms of transport, including gunzelly
This picture taken inside Flinders Street Station yesterday reveals what we train users should have guessed all along… That Connex is aligned with the Dark Side.
If you were listening to the radio on Tuesday afternoon after the state budget was announced, you may have noticed that it wasn’t me doing the media for PTUA… I’ve bowed out as my real work is getting too busy to be able to do media effectively. Chris did the budget comment, and did a ... [More]
It may be costing $700 million, and it may be causing untold confusion and inconvenience while it’s being built, and the new name might be silly… but damn, that rolly roof is impressive. Click here to see it bigger (and unencumbered by the blog navigation) (Yeah, there’s a slight glitch in the picture where a ... [More]
Categories
Speeding fines
I treat speeding fines as a purely optional tax. I know some people seem to see them us unavoidable (notably one guy I knew who worked in car insurance), but really, nobody has to speed. Nothing’s compelling you to press down harder on that accelerator. Those people zooming past me or tailgating might remember that ... [More]
On Tuesday night Melbourne City Council approved a plan (by the narrowest of margins) to build four new tram superstops along Collins Street. Fine, very good, wheelchair accessible, more pleasant to wait in and use than safety zones. But they also plan to close three stops: at Queen, King and Russell Streets. We’ve had a ... [More]
Don’t throw away your February Met ticket: Connex will have to offer compensation for the first time ever to all Connex Melbourne train customers who hold a monthly or longer ticket from February. They got caught by a mere 0.01%, with 91.99% arriving within 5 minutes of their scheduled time, just barely under their 92% ... [More]
Today the Kyoto protocol comes into effect, at least in the countries that have signed up to it. Of which ours isn’t one, so unlike most industrialised countries, we (along with the US and China) can blissfully keep pumping CO2 into the air, with no legal consequences. A lot of the contributions to emissions come ... [More]
Categories
Magical Mystery Tour
A somewhat circuitous commute this morning. 9:05. Get to Glenhuntly station. Note large crowd on platform — never a good sign that late in the morning. 9:10. Connex lady is leaving for the day, but mumbles something about problems. Green button for latest info refuses to talk to me. I hang about at the front ... [More]
It started with an observation from one or both of my offspring: “I’ve never been on a sprinter train!” So I thought ah, one more week of holidays for me, I’ll take them on the train down to Geelong. They’re well-versed with travel on the suburban trains (it’s all part of my “Dad’s taxi”-avoidance scheme ... [More]
Mural, Canterbury Street, Yarraville. (Hands up who remembers the red rattler trains?)