All forms of transport, including gunzelly
From Friday (January 1st) it seems a bug got into the Siemens train automatic announcements, probably associated with the timetable changes which took effect on that date. Since then, the trains (unless the driver turns off all of the auto announcements) will remind you to “Mind the gap between the train and the platform” with ... [More]
The PTV Night Network (formerly known as Homesafe) kind of sort of started on New Years Eve, with trains, all trams and the new Night Buses running for the first time. For the rest of the weekend, trains, six tram routes and the Night Buses will run, meaning by the end of Sunday, many routes ... [More]
Chadstone Shopping Centre, perpetually in a battle to maintain its status as Australia’s biggest shopping mall, opened a new bus interchange in August. I finally got around to seeing it just before Christmas. My first impressions… The good: All the buses serving Chadstone go to one spot, which is far less dispersed than the old ... [More]
Given in the past it hasn’t eventuated, I was cynical about the predictions of long delays on the Westgate Bridge this week during roadworks. In 2013, closure of the Domain Tunnel didn’t result in gridlock. It seems drivers were adequately forewarned, and didn’t drive, or found alternative routes, and/or used PT instead. But this time, ... [More]
The experiment continues. This time it’s turned out to be short posts, rather than a ream of news. Southland Station delayed Monday 2015-12-21 — Southland construction pushed back into 2016. Completion is now expected in early 2017. The Opposition said the construction should have been at the same time as the North/Mckinnon/Centre level crossing removals, ... [More]
Monday 2015-12-14 — Delays on numerous Metro lines (Frankston, Cranbourne, Pakenham, Craigieburn, Sunbury, Upfield, Werribee, Williamstown) following late-running weekend rail works. If you watch the Brit rail docos, this is the sort of thing they are constantly stressing about, so it’s unfortunate but perhaps not a surprise that it sometimes happens here. Monday 2015-12-14 — ... [More]
I love a bit of local history, even if it’s fairly recent. For my fellow Bentleigh peeps — as part of the level crossing removal project, the old underpass into the station has been partially uncovered. It looks to have been a similar layout to Mckinnon: steps straight to the street, as well as a ... [More]
I’ve touched on this before, but I keep seeing comments about it, so I think it’s worthy of a blog post of its own. Some say that motorists are the primary beneficiaries of grade separation, and that they should be classed as road projects. Certainly motorists gain, but so do others. Here are seven benefits ... [More]
Consider this an experiment… a post each weekend summing up a few things from the week. Tuesday 2015-12-08 — Flagstaff station to open on weekends from January. The Victorian Government finally confirmed what we already knew. Not before time. Tuesday 2015-12-08 — Ventura Buses has its Christmas bus out and about again, and a competition ... [More]
One of the things they got right about Myki was designing it to be “open architecture”. This of course came at a cost compared with simply buying an off-the-shelf system, but it does mean that it’s modular — different bits can be improved and upgraded over time without replacing the whole system at enormous cost. ... [More]
Each time I travel (which isn’t often enough), I note the things that are different, and the things we can learn from. From my most recent short trip to Sydney, here are some notes — not an exhaustive study, but just some observations. Central Station is a rabbit warren compared to Flinders Street Station, though ... [More]
I’ve written before in passing about the freight train from Hastings that heads up from Frankston at about 5pm each weekday, clogging up every crossing along the line, until the pinnacle: it crawls across Glen Huntly Road at about 5:45pm, right in the middle of rush hour. As you can see from this video (shot ... [More]