For anybody with an NFC (Near Field Contact)-compatible phone (such as my new Google Nexus 5), you can use the this little app — Tag Info Lite to read Myki cards. Not that it’ll tell you very much — see below. All the actual useful information appears to be encrypted. Apparently in some parts of ... [More]
Category: transport
All forms of transport, including gunzelly
Regular passengers using Flinders Street Station will have noticed that while the platforms are numbered from 1 to 14, there’s no platform 11. It’s not a Harry Potter scenario with a hidden platform. There used to be a platform 11, the twin of 10, facing the river, and commonly used by St Kilda and Port ... [More]
Veteran road industry figure Max Lay made something of a startling admission last week in an opinion piece in The Age on the proposed East West Link: that the intent of major road projects isn’t to fix congestion: Opponents play the congestion card, arguing that previous projects have not eliminated congestion, forgetting that this was ... [More]
The PTV logo is gradually replacing the Metlink and Viclink logos across the public transport network. It’s just the latest rebranding — remember, some trains and stations have had up to seven different logos in the last 20 years… from the old The Met three-pronged logo, to the newer Met logos, to Hillside/Bayside trains, to ... [More]
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A look inside the new E-class trams
Melbourne’s first new trams in years — and the first Australian-built trams in about twenty years — were officially launched yesterday, after months of testing around the network. The first two “E-class” trams, numbered 6001 and 6002 started service. I managed to catch one for a ride at lunchtime. As you can see from the ... [More]
Speaking of sculpture, there’s a rather splendid new one at the corner of Spencer and Flinders Streets — a full-size replica of a W-class tram. Officially titled “Raising the Rattler Pole – The Last of the Connies”, it was installed last week, and when I went by a day or two later, appeared to be ... [More]
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Your local bus company may have changed
Before you complain to the bus company that your bus is late/cancelled/crowded, you might want to check that they still run the service. In August, a whole bunch of routes (including most Smartbus routes) formerly run by Ventura and Melbourne Bus Link were taken over by Transdev. Other recent changes include Ventura taking over Grenda ... [More]
Travellers Aid do good work helping those who need a little extra assistance getting around. They have a fundraiser on at the moment: Myki card holders, for $2.50 postage and handling, and they invite you to add a donation (which I did). My sister loves the Keep Calm meme, so I got this one for ... [More]
Having spent all that money on GPS in the buses, transmitters and receivers to get the bus locations onto electronic signs, wouldn’t you think they’d think carefully about where those signs were located? Exhibit 1: Lonsdale Street, near Hardware Lane Exhibit 2: Dandenong Station (I’ve circled it in case it’s not obvious) To be fair, ... [More]
Some years ago I wrote about issues with the City of Melbourne policy of allowing motorbikes and scooters to park on footpaths, except in a few locations where it’s specifically banned. The problem is, most of the guidelines seem to be ignored. The guidelines Here are the guidelines (see also: PDF version): DO dismount and ... [More]
…documents obtained by the Greens through freedom of information reveal that the positive results did not include many trains that were affected by the knock-on effect of a cancelled or delayed service. Of the 437 trains surveyed, 113 were excluded. — The Age, Train overcrowding getting worse: Greens Here’s the thing. Load surveys aren’t measuring ... [More]
Works on the new Elizabeth Street tram platform stops are going full steam ahead. This is significant, because with the rollout of the new E-class trams onto route 96, it’s expected some low-floor trams will be available for the first time on Elizabeth Street, at last providing accessible services from the CBD to the Hospital ... [More]