Morning radio can be very fast-paced. In the case of yesterday morning’s two-and-a-half minutes on Jon Faine’s programme, about railway security, I’d been dashing around, and only had a couple of minutes between hearing their voicemail and being on-air. Maybe that’s why they call it the “hectic half-hour“. Not sure it excuses me being unable ... [More]
Category: transport
All forms of transport, including gunzelly
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Metcard II: Rise of the Myki
Just as news breaks that the Myki system overcharges when bus drivers change shifts and reboot the bus, we in Melbourne are starting to see something more than mounting points and black and yellow striped boxes for our $1.3 billion. This one is at Footscray station. I’d have to assume at some stage they’ll get ... [More]
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So is it flexible, or not?
I’m sorry, I know I’m being terribly dim here, but these adverts: Can someone explain what it means? I appreciate that a physical printed bus timetable is generally made out of paper, and is therefore flexible. But what with online timetables and journey planners, a lot of people never use a paper timetable anymore. Especially, ... [More]
Dear London Daily News, that photo you’ve used was taken by me for use by the PTUA. I don’t recall providing permission for you to use it, and I don’t see any attribution on it. I wonder if anybody clicked through to look at the detail in the picture and wondered whereabouts Caulfield station is ... [More]
I found the video below on the Walkscore.com blog. Amusing, and quite thought-provoking (if a little preachy). On this topic, I’m not quite sure why, but I had noticed there’s an enormous variety of places of worship in my suburb. Seems whatever your faith, there’s probably a local place for you. Seriously, within about fifteen ... [More]
Level crossings like the one at Glen Huntly slow down trams, cars, pedestrians and trains alike… in fact due to the tram/train crossing (one of four in Melbourne), trains have to slow down to 15 km/h. And the confined pedestrian
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How much has really changed?
I’ve been using Glenhuntly Station for about fifteen years, since when I first moved to the suburb. I still go there even though I live in Bentleigh, on days when I’ve dropped off the kids at school. In that time, about the only thing that’s changed is that there used to be a booking office ... [More]
Pre-state budget, there were strategic leaks of various initiatives. One that got a lot of press is the bike hire scheme. It’s a $5 million dollar scheme to have a bunch of inner-city bike stations where people can hire a bike. Obviously there’s some detail to come out here. Where will they put them? How ... [More]
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Non-identical twins
These two are dizygotic twins. That is, non-identical. They used to be identical. How did it happen? Here’s the potted history. These Comeng trains were built during the 80s. As part of privatisation, the then-two operators M>Train and Connex took half each, and refurbished them (via EDI and Alstom, respectively). Added CCTV, automated announcements and ... [More]
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It’s all part of the spin
The new 903 Smartbus runs from Mordialloc to Altona, every 8-15 minutes in peak hour, 15 minutes off-peak, 30 minutes evenings and weekends. I don’t for a moment believe anybody in their right mind will catch it from end to end, but it feeds into most of the city’s rail lines, connects major shopping centres ... [More]
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On the public record
I think I might have out-done myself this time. Last month I represented the PTUA at a senate hearing into Commonwealth investment in public transport. During questions, the topic of public transport for special events came up, and as I had the night before been to such an event, I drew on that personal experience ... [More]
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Advice ignored
“Particularly during peak period where we know it has been a difficult period, but we’ve had patronage growth in such a short period that no other jurisdiction around Australia has experienced,” [Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky] said. “Indeed, I’m not aware of any other location around the world that has had the levels of patronage ... [More]
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The train with less seats
OK, so I’ve finally seen the modified test train in the flesh. Here’s a short video explaining the changes. Both the video and a Flickr slideshow are over on the PTUA web site. I think it’s okay. In an age where people struggle just to squeeze on board the train, this design encourages people to ... [More]
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Going underground
Andrew notes a certain fascination among some people with the London Underground. For me, it’s the concept of an entire network of railway services where you don’t need a timetable. You just turn up and go. The result is people treating the trains as the default way of getting around for a lot more trips ... [More]
This is how it was told to me. Can’t say I’ve seen anything like this myself. The tram was departing Footscray from the terminus, close to the market. A passenger got on board, with two live chickens from the market. “Mate”, said the tram driver, “you can’t bring live animals on the tram!” “Oh. Okay”, ... [More]
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Advertising transport
Is the culture around public transport changing? Back in 2003 or so, General Motors Canada issued this advert: Creeps and Weirdos. (Pic via Richard Layman) Later they apologised for it. Something closer to the mark (at least for Melbourne’s buses) would have been “Pensioners and school kids”. But that hardly bites in quite the right ... [More]