When is a No Through Road sometimes not a No Through Road? When you’re not driving. It’s common to see this signage around the place, but it’s misleading because it often only applies to vehicle access. There are a lot of cases where pedestrian and cyclist access is provided at the end of the street, ... [More]
I was wondering if there was any data on how public transport patronage around Australia had fallen COVID-19 took hold, and how it has recovered in different cities. It turns out most jurisdictions provide month-by-month or even week-by-week patronage data. Here’s how 2020 patronage compares as a percentage of 2019 patronage: Some observations: All these ... [More]
Is it the end of the month already? Here’s another of my monthly posts of photos from ten years ago… and this time they’re pretty much all transport-related. As usual, click the photos to see them larger in Flickr. The top of Swanston Street – the Barak Building is yet to be constructed, and the ... [More]
Remember the talk, almost a year ago now, of a shake-up to train timetables, prompted by the introduction of the new trains? These changes are now expected to take effect in mid-December, following on from minor adjustments made in July. Along the way, there have been some tweaks to the plan, but from what I’m ... [More]
This is a follow-up on my post about the roadmap out of COVID. Now I’m pondering the longer term: after COVID has gone. Assuming a successful vaccine comes in at some point, and things like masks and physical distancing are no longer required, will we all go back to how it was before? There’s been ... [More]
Here’s something I learnt yesterday: There’s a small town called Eucla, WA, near the SA border. Population: 53. Get this: It has its own timezone, which is halfway between Perth and Adelaide time. The timezone abbreviation is ACWST, though it’s usually called Eucla Time. It’s shared with a handful of other nearby small towns. It’s ... [More]
The Victorian Government has released its roadmap out of COVID-19 restrictions. I’ve been pondering what this means for travel demand and public transport in Melbourne, and activity in the CBD, which largely drives PT patronage. The steps in the roadmap (*which are mostly subject to case numbers) start from Sunday night. 1st Step (14th September) ... [More]
It’s the end of the month again, so time to post more ten year old photos. I evidently went for a walk across the Latrobe Street bridge north of Southern Cross station, snapping these photos of V/Line stabling and facilities. As noted last month, Metro was using platform staff with despatch paddles on some CBD ... [More]
Last week Gareth Dennis posted this superb and hilarious thread of British PMs as locomotives. It’s very funny, even if (like me) you’re not much of a Brit trainspotter. A friend asked me to do an Australian version. Initially I said I wasn’t sure if there were enough Australian trains to match the multitude of ... [More]
When I last wrote about COVID-19, it was just before we went into Level 4 restrictions in Melbourne. Level 4 has been harder. While I’m not affected in a financial sense, the further closure of businesses is causing stress for people. There are now severe limits on leaving the house: once per day per household ... [More]
Here’s a quick tram video for you. It’s only a couple of minutes long. There’s no sound. It was recorded last month on a Sunday afternoon on St Kilda Road and Brighton Road. (There are a few edits – check the dashcam timestamp if you can’t spot the cuts.) What we’re seeing here is how ... [More]
This is one of those posts like I used to do, with life events and observations. Little or no transport content here, so if that’s what you’re here for, you can skip this post. We moved into my current house back in 2005. It was what I could afford at the time. I prioritised position ... [More]
The people who have to travel during curfew are ensuring our hospitals can care for the sick, and that our food supplies aren’t disrupted.
I tweeted these thoughts out earlier, and thought I’d post them here too. Some thoughts on Melbourne’s COVID crisis, just over halfway through the 6-week lockdown (likely to be extended) The daily numbers are an essential quick summary view of how it’s going, but sometimes agonising. There’s collective relief when they drop, but anguish and ... [More]
It’s the end of the month, so time for another in my long-running series of old photos from ten years ago. The afternoon sun hits a Comeng train at the old Bentleigh station. This was about 8 months after Metro had taken over from Connex. Note the old colours on the train, with logos covered ... [More]
At long last the shops built as part of the new Bentleigh station (my local) have been leased. Somewhat to my surprise, in the middle of an economy-busting pandemic, they’re being fitted out now. One of them will be a medical centre. Following a conversation on Twitter about it, I was curious to see if ... [More]