All forms of transport, including gunzelly
If there’s anything that gunzels get excited about, it’s a parallel run — two trains running in parallel. It must take an enormous amount of work to organise such a thing: running two heritage trains on two tracks in the same direction (only possible in specific locations), and having them overtake each other repeatedly so ... [More]
There’s hidden meaning in some of Melbourne’s tram and bus route numbers. Below 150 is all trams, for a start. Above is buses. I suspect trams will move to 1 or 2-digit numbers in the next few years, to accomodate the new “a” (altered) and “d” (depot) suffixes in the displays (most of which are ... [More]
Is this Melbourne’s narrowest bike lane? What exactly is the point here? I wonder if it actually offers cyclists any safety if they have to move out into traffic every time there’s a parked car? I’m not sure that it inspires me as a prospective cyclist. Pic from Brewer Road, Bentleigh. I thought Neerim Road ... [More]
What’s the ultimate waste of space in a city centre? Ground level, single level parking. Along with the access space required to get cars in and out, it’s wasted space because apart from perhaps $20-30 per day in revenue, it isn’t used for anything. This post from Gordon Price compares a few cities — the ... [More]
Amidst the outrage about changes to Metro’s Twitter feed, there are claims that it used to include train cancellations. This was not so. They did not tweet individual train cancellations or diversions. These only went out on SMS to subscribers, and on the web site. (Alas Metro have now deleted the evidence of this that ... [More]
(I’m at home today awaiting two tradesmen, so I’ve been a little creative.) Here’s what I can’t figure out: since late-2010, the Frankston line has run every ten minutes between the peaks. In 2011 they tidied this up and made all those trains run direct to Flinders Street, and then through to Newport, with alternating ... [More]
One side of my fridge has my local train and bus timetables on it. It’s very handy, and pretty easy to do. Method one (quicker for trains, a little haphazard for buses and trams) 1. Go to www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au. 2. In the right hand side Station / Stop search, type the name of your station (or ... [More]
The old FBT company car rules resulted in some quite ridiculous outcomes. In fact they still do, because apparently they still apply for existing leases. Basically the rules meant that the further you drive, the less tax you pay. Which means people were strongly encouraged to drive long distances to save money — often driving ... [More]
Apparently there were some delays in getting these decorations up, but now they’re in place, I do think they look rather splendid, don’t you? (Click here to view bigger) Anybody know if this lights up at night? Myki news In today’s news, the Herald Sun reports that from January, Myki cards are to be reduced ... [More]
This is Myki’s “headless mode”. It’s the Myki driver console, but temporarily shifted into a spot out of the way, while tram and bus drivers (in Melbourne) continue to use the Metcard consoles instead. (You can just see the old console at the top of the picture.) It means drivers currently have no interaction with ... [More]
Last week the first of the new Swanston Street tram superstops opened. On Monday I went down at lunchtime to have a look, and came across Lord Mayor Robert Doyle, City of Melbourne planner Rob Adams, and Yarra Trams’ Michel Masson all down there having a look, and talking to the media about it. Robert ... [More]
As feared, the government will go ahead with the 5% plus inflation public transport fare rise in January, for a total of 8.6%. (It’s unclear if they’ll go ahead with the second one that Labor planned, in January 2013.) Metlink has posted the full list of metropolitan fares for 2012, as well as regional fares. ... [More]