All forms of transport, including gunzelly
I have a vague feeling I might have posted something like this in the past, but I can’t find it, so here it is again. For those of you who don’t read the Victorian Fares and Ticketing Manual for fun, here are some rules about Metcard ticketing that you may not know about. These rules ... [More]
An article the other day revealed the latest passenger counts on trains show that overcrowding during peak hour has dropped slightly. I don’t have those figures to hand, but I do have these graphs from 2007 handy, and I thought it might be interesting for people to see how the various lines compare. Patronage has ... [More]
When I’m out walking, I actively (but not foolishly, I hope) defend my rights as a pedestrian. If I have an opportunity to walk safely and legally before a car goes, I will take it. The main rules are not difficult to comprehend, but some motorists just don’t seem to understand them. [Page references are ... [More]
I don’t have a post for you this morning, so here’s something I prepared earlier. This morning I had a chat to the people at 3CR about PT issues, and it reminded me of this recording from Joy FM back in April. I think they’d been intending to post the podcast themselves, but haven’t… so ... [More]
So, both Connex and TransdevTSL (operating as Yarra Trams) are being shown into the departure lounge, with MTM (MTR) and Keolis to replace them. I don’t think the former is a surprise, though the latter is. Some are celebrating. I know this for a fact, as yesterday morning at the station I heard one man ... [More]
The big announcement may well come in the next few days: who will take over running Melbourne’s trams and trains from November? Anybody want to put their predictions on the table? Leave a comment! Your choices: Trains: Connex (Veolia, incumbent) or MTM (Hong Kong MTR consortium) or Keolis Trams: Yarra Trams (TransdevTSL, incumbent) or Keolis ... [More]
When I visited Phoenix, Arizona in 1996, it appeared to be the archetypal car-dominated city. I was told pretty much the only PT was buses once an hour. The freeways were packed at rush hour. Nobody walked anywhere. The downtown area was (especially on weekends) so deserted that they had to have signs saying “Welcome ... [More]
The most efficient way of moving people is using their own two feet. Here’s the statistical measure: (Graph from Teufel, D, 1989, ‘Die Zukunft des Autoverkehrs’ (The future of car traffic), Umwelt und Prognose Institut, Heidelberg — and used more recently in PTUA’s Response to Australia’s Future Tax System Consultation Paper. Here’s another representation of ... [More]
UPDATE: See info at bottom of post Why does Australia have problems with multiple rail gauges? In summary, it seems to have gone like this: 1848: Everyone agreed to use standard gauge (4 ft 8.5 in). 1851: The Sydney Railway Company had a chief engineer who preferred broad gauge (5 ft 3 in), and convinced ... [More]
Just over two years after the accident, the verdict in the Kerang disaster case was returned yesterday. The truck driver was acquitted. There’s no question over the fact that he was at the wheel, or what happened after impact. And we know that the crossings lights and bells worked, because the traffic coming the other ... [More]
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]
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]