Blog: Nice ad placement; was that Part Of The Plan? And what’s the effect of the new timetables?
Category: transport
All forms of transport, including gunzelly
The government may be embarassed by crowded trains and Myki, but what they should be embarassed about is the sheer number of people who never use public transport because it simply isn’t a viable option for them for any of the trips they make. So many areas in Melbourne have no PT other than local ... [More]
As reported in The Age, the US Health Effects Institute recently published a report on the effects of living near busy roads. Its conclusion was that: …there is sufficient evidence that exposures to traffic-related air pollution cause asthma exacerbation in children and suggestive evidence that they might cause other health effects. …the zones most impacted ... [More]
I’m probably reading too much into this, but here’s a PT stereotype: Lego’s Duplo bus. It appears that in the view of whoever designed this set, only old people and kids ride the bus. Okay, okay, we all know that in some cases this is probably very realistic. Many services simply aren’t good enough to ... [More]
Categories
Bentleigh station looking grey
Metro must have been buying a lot of grey paint. All of the graffiti on the retaining wall opposite platform one at Bentleigh has been painted over, as have the sides of the platforms. There’s been a similar frenzy of painting grey on the walls in the cuttings around South Yarra. I wonder if people ... [More]
Categories
Poor advert placement?
Not sure this advert placement is a good idea: Not that the exhaust actually comes out of that grill, of course. And one should not overstate the pollution caused by buses. Measuring just the CO2 emissions, a diesel bus emits about 1800 grams per kilometre. By comparison a diesel Landrover emits 295 grams per kilometre. ... [More]
Categories
Myki touch-off on trams scrapped
Herald Sun: EXCLUSIVE: THOUSANDS of city commuters will be hit with big fare increases to pave the way for the myki smartcard. … The decision to dump city saver fares will mean most myki tram users only have to swipe the card once – when they enter a tram. Hallelujah! Touch-off on trams was never ... [More]
Categories
Retro trains
Melbourne’s Comeng trains date back to the early 1980s, about the same time us Gen-Xers were cutting our video game teeth with Donkey Kong and Space Invaders. (Original unmodified pic) There’s certainly other things of the 80s around the place on the train network, for instance this sign on a now unused gate at Caulfield ... [More]
Categories
Cinderella and the ghost station
I did a double-take last night when a Cranbourne train was announced as running “express from Dandenong to Merinda Park”, not just on the automatic announcement, but also on the screen. There is no station between Dandenong and Merinda Park. There eventually will be, at Lynbrook, but construction hasn’t even begun yet. In fact tenders ... [More]
Categories
New Dandenong/Frankston timetables
The new timetables started yesterday, but this morning is the first big test of the peak hour changes. As I’ve already noted, while most lines get a tweak, the Caulfield lines get a big shake-up, especially Frankston. As the number of trains running has increased, more have had to bypass the four CBD loop tunnels. ... [More]
Categories
The bike share scheme
Melbourne’s bike share scheme is meant to start today, and the bike stations have been going in. I found this one at Federation Square, evidently almost ready to go, the only thing missing is the bikes: Curiously, just across the road outside St Paul’s Cathedral is another one. I wonder what the bogans who often ... [More]
One of the selling points of Myki is that ‘Myki Money’ will charge you the best daily fare, if you touch-on and touch-off on every trip. It turns out not to be always true. There’s at least one specific set of circumstances where it doesn’t. The PTUA got asked a while back about travel around ... [More]