The Herald Sun reports the government is planning big changes to Melbourne public transport fares: The radical changes, being unveiled today ahead of the State Budget, would cap maximum daily fares at the Zone 1 rate across Melbourneโs entire tram, rail and bus network. And CBD and Docklands trams would be free under the changes, ... [More]
Category: transport
All forms of transport, including gunzelly
The Steamrail Open Day a couple of weeks ago was good fun, though in some ways very similar to the previous one in 2012… But I’ll post some pics anyway. This is a Tait train (“Red rattler”) — dating back to the 1910s, and very common when I was growing up, but phased-out in the ... [More]
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PTV’s plan for a frequent network
We could have a vastly more usable PT network; PTV has a plan. It just needs funding.
I was thinking the government ads about transport upgrades back in 2009-10 (Labor) are pretty similar to 2014 (Coalition). How would it be if I got them both and dubbed the audio of one over the video of another? The 2010 version is mostly about trains; the 2014 one has been chopped a tad to ... [More]
One of the issues in public transport is “dead running“. This blog post cites a local example, but it’s a widespread issue. At various times of day, trams trains and buses move out of service between their runs and their depots or stabling. This is dead running. Sometimes this is taken to extremes. Most route ... [More]
To the surprise of many, the state government yesterday announced a major $2 billion upgrade of the Dandenong/Pakenham/Cranbourne lines — they’re saying it’ll be enough to boost capacity by about 30%. The government’s press release is here, or you can watch a video: What’s included? 25 new high-capacity “next-generation” trains. They’ve been talking about this ... [More]
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Safety around trams
This short safety video was produced for the new “GoldLinq” light rail system on the Gold Coast, which opens this year… but the tips in it are just as relevant for Melbourne. Of course for our local ads, we’ve got skateboarding rhinos. PS. In light of two newspaper polls over the weekend (they’re like trams/buses, ... [More]
OK, so you’ve seen a big problem, and since you carry a very capable camera in your phone everywhere you go, you’ve decided you want to get footage of it so the world can find out about it. Great! This really helps activists, and can get problems fixed. When you’re filming or snapping photos, here ... [More]
There seems to be a little confusion over the various names of the Metro rail tunnel — for instance the name Metro One pops up regularly, especially out of the City Of Melbourne. The confusion is not surprising, as the name and design of the tunnel has changed a bit over the years. Origins The ... [More]
From next Saturday, 1st of March, smoking will be banned from the entirety of all railway stations and tram platform stops. The new arrangements will extend the existing smoke-free zones, which currently only include covered areas of railway platforms and inside covered tram and bus shelters. โExtending smoke-free areas is good news for public transport ... [More]
There’s been some speculation about who is running the SpringStSource Twitter account and web site. The web domain name is registered through WhoIsGuard, a Panama-based service specifically for hiding details of people who want to remain anonymous. It’s not hard to see whoever is behind it is well and truly on the side of the ... [More]
The Public Transport Not Traffic campaign held their PT To Parliament event on Thursday morning. Locals were encouraged to invite their local MPs to catch public transport with them into Parliament House, and discuss PT issues with them along the way. My local MP, Elizabeth Miller, was sadly unavailable. So we invited ALP opposition candidate ... [More]
A while back I had a read through the PTV rail network plan looking to summarise their view on the rollout of high capacity (in-cab) signalling. Sorry this post has been so long in coming. This short (three minute) video explains it nicely, but one analogy is that the current system is like driving around ... [More]
Interesting article: PSOs do little for train passenger confidence: Data from a survey conducted by the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency shows in 2012-13, 24.2 per cent of Victorians reported feeling safe or very safe on public transport at night. This was a small increase on the previous year, in which 23.7 per cent ... [More]
The 601 Monash University express shuttle service runs every four minutes during semester time weekdays. It provides a high-frequency, rapid connection from the station to the university campus. Thanks to good publicity from the University, it has a high level of awareness among students and staff, and is used for tens of thousands of trips ... [More]
In the face of Labor’s proposal for 24-hour trains and trams at weekends, the State Coalition has been talking up its credentials in public transport. This tweet from Acting Public Transport Minister David Hodgett for example: Only the Coalition can be trusted to deliver better public transport for Victoria: 1,078 extra metro trains &3,870 extra ... [More]