The Medicare levy surcharge is, in my opinion, an stupid tax designed to force some people into getting private health insurance, whether they want it or not, by taxing them more than the cost of the premium if they don’t, all in order to subsidise the otherwise unprofitable private health industry. I earn enough to ... [More]
I know I’m not the first person to find this happening, but here’s an example of why you should be particularly wary about the Myki web site. The actual Pass expiry date, which is correctly recorded on the card and displayed on the scanners, is Friday the 14th of May (or to be precise, 3am ... [More]
…between King Street and Spencer Street, way up above eye level. You can see the same spot in Google Streetview, from before the signs went up.
If you buy daily tickets (currently available as Metcard only), the per weekday cost is Zone 1 $6.80, Zone 2 $4.80, Zone 1+2 $10.60. Obviously there’s no reason to do this on a regular basis, since you can save a substantial amount of money by using the bulk fare options. But which one? That is, if you usually travel by ... [More]
I have a love-hate relationship with ties. When I started my working life in 1993, almost all white-collar male workers wore ties. Over the years this has dropped somewhat, and I’d hazard a guess that perhaps around 30% now do so. I still wear a tie. I switched a few years ago to a Windsor ... [More]
One of the neighbours down the street from me has one of those souped-up Commodores. Bright red, low to the ground, and with a rear spoiler (or “bum enhancement” as Marita calls them). Unlike one of those stupid grunty cars, I can’t hear it from inside my house, but still makes a noticeable amount of ... [More]
Yesterday was the 5th of April. It was Easter Monday, a public holiday in Victoria. Most businesses were closed. When it comes to the shops, it looked like a Sunday: most smaller ones closed, most bigger ones open. (Not like Good Friday and Easter Sunday when everything’s closed.) Schools were all closed, but they’re in ... [More]
It was a lovely day for a drive up to Nagambie (and beyond), apart from the cruise control oddly deciding not to work. Sigh. But off the beaten track we encountered a swarm of grasshoppers. The grasshoppers came off second best. Ewww.
The Age: Melbourne trains fail world ‘metro’ test Based on this study: PTUA: Melbourne Metro by name, but not by nature, which looks at the biggest thirty cities in the developed world by population, and which of them have a metro — that is, a high capacity, high frequency (every 10 minutes all day, every ... [More]
Why aren’t there more Smartbuses? Smartbuses work. Smartbus is a fancy marketing name for buses that run more frequently than most other routes, have some bus priority and realtime electronic signs at major stops. The figures in this government press release show the upgrades of routes to Smartbus result in strong patronage growth. I’ve excluded ... [More]
Kinda funny. Why just write “Garage sale” in your poster, when you can instead have an image of another “Garage sale” sign? To really spin people out, they could print this picture and stick it up around the place. The Royal Mint, Melbourne. Established 1872. Producer of all Australian coins between 1927 and 1967. Noted ... [More]
The other week it was noted that we’d gone 100 days of Melbourne’s maximum temperature being over 20 degrees. That was the first time in 150 years of recorded weather observations that it had happened. By my count, we’re now at day 112. The last day of less than 20 degrees was 17.8 on the ... [More]
Sometime in the last 24 hours, my Myki online topups finally got resolved, some 24 days after they got stuck. Last week I used the web site feedback form to point out that the topup from 2/3/2010 had got stuck, and the one from 4/3/2010 was stuck behind it. They unjammed it somehow, and by ... [More]
Isaac noticed the Best Before date on our current jar of Vegemite is MAR10. That makes it Mario Month this month! I think I’ll go play some more New Super Mario Brothers Wii. Then maybe I’ll make a Vegemite sandwich. (Though it doesn’t strictly have to be used by the end of the month; note ... [More]
I’ve written about this before, but just so it’s absolutely clear, I’m going to include a picture[1] with the text: When turning left or right at any intersection (except a roundabout) you must give way to any pedestrians crossing the road you are turning into. — source: VicRoads: Driving in Victoria — Rules and Responsibilities, ... [More]
You want to know why Melbourne’s trains are so crowded? Well, that might be because in the last decade, patronage has gone up 77%, but services have only increased by 17%. And the trams too? Patronage up 36%, services increased 5%. Just for completeness, here’s a graph of all the patronage figures from 1999-2009. Source: ... [More]