All forms of transport, including gunzelly
In the past year or two, the Cranbourne/Pakenham rail line has seen numerous upgrades to prepare for the High Capacity Metro Trains to start this year. Some of the upgrades are to power systems. I’m not normally one to write blog posts about new items of infrastructure, but have you seen these bad boys installed ... [More]
Last Monday’s meltdown soured the return of trains after upgrades on the Dandenong and Frankston lines – which included works for the Metro tunnel, and also power upgrades and extensions to some platforms. So, how long is a railway station platform? Generally, as long as the trains that serve it, plus a bit for spare. ... [More]
I’ve been on a break at home, having a rest and trying to get stuff done around the house. Alas, this is now at an end, and while I guess I’ve had a rest, I certainly haven’t got all the stuff I planned done. And people telling me “nobody ever does” isn’t helping. My break ... [More]
The other day I went and took a look around the new Frankston station, upgraded last year by the Level Crossing Removal Authority alongside the nearby Skye Road level crossing removal, and in parallel with Vicroads upgrades to Young Street. In a similar manner to Southern Cross, there’s been an extensive renovation and replacement of ... [More]
Last year I wrote about Chadstone’s Boxing Day bus debacle: delays, heavy demand, traffic jams, queues, and not a single additional bus deployed. So, how was it this year? Spoiler: Almost the same. Here’s some video, or read on. So I wanted to head to Chadstone to look for a bargain. It’d be crazy to ... [More]
One final blog before Christmas. PTV published this data some time ago, covering Melbourne’s train/tram/bus patronage from 1947 to 2011, but I’ve added the most recent figures using numbers from the Budget Papers. The data starts just after WW2, with the highest number of trips shown being 587 million in 1948-49. There was a big ... [More]
State government annual reports season ended up hitting late this year due to the election. It’s usually in September, but this year everything got tabled in Parliament late on Wednesday. I usually like to browse through the V/Line and PTV reports for interesting factoids… Here are some things I noticed during a quick skim. V/Line ... [More]
The Age’s Timna Jacks got hold of some bus punctuality figures via FOI, and published this story last week, which is worth a read: Late every second trip: Life on the delayed 232 bus The data provides a glimpse of something not normally in the public eye. Regular bus users know that some routes suffer ... [More]
As expected, public transport fares in Victoria go up from 1st January. This time it’s a CPI rise of 2.2% – thankfully not as high as the last four which were CPI+2.5% (budgeted by the Coalition in 2014, delivered by Labor). This takes the standard zone 1 or 1+2 daily fare to $8.80, and the ... [More]
Desire lines are where authorities intend for people to go one way, but people (especially pedestrians) quite logically ignore them and go a different way. Often they indicate poor design. Here are some quick examples from my neck of the woods. You have to wonder whose bright idea this was. Try and divert the pedestrians ... [More]
It’s perhaps a minor thing, but… Back in November 2017 the metro tunnel station names were announced, including a new station called North Melbourne, with the current station to be renamed to West Melbourne. (See update at bottom of article. This plan was cancelled in early 2020.) I don’t have a problem with that. It’s ... [More]
Many people have written about the state election result. I thought I’d add my two-cents worth… noting that as of Wednesday night, some seats are still in doubt. The Coalition crime fear campaign didn’t resonate. The stats don’t match the rhetoric, and while the accounts from actual victims could be harrowing, Melbourne is not a ... [More]