It’s time for my annual blog post about the mess that is Boxing Day public transport at Chadstone. 2017: Chadstoneโs Boxing Day bus debacle 2018: Boxing Day buses at Chadstone: still big problems It happens every year at Chadstone and the other big shopping centres: hordes of shoppers descend. Demand fills the car parks, which ... [More]
This plan got splashed onto the Age front page on Friday: Tunnel link mulled for Geelong fast trains Of course if you were paying very, very careful attention, this wasn’t a complete surprise. The eventual shift of Geelong trains back to Newport and the Metro 2 tunnel was included in a document leaked in 2018, ... [More]
What a concert. It kicked off at 5pm. You know how at some concerts the support acts are a bit half-rate, fledgling bands still finding their feet? Not a bit of it here. All superb. Marlon Williams. Kate Miller-Heidke. Courtney Barnett. And then headliner, Paul Kelly. The Sidney Myer Music Bowl was packed, and no ... [More]
For the big summer works blitz, the Department of Transport has an online calendar showing which lines are affected on which days. This is good, because it’s much more legible than their usual confusing lists of lines and days. It includes up to mid-February 2020. The January closures were announced on 21st November, so the ... [More]
In the mainstream media, they have word limits. Even online, they have to keep it succinct. Blogs have no such limits, so I apologise not only for revisiting this topic again, but also for rambling on so long. Bustitution looms again over the summer, with large scale rail closures on the Mernda line underway now, ... [More]
Tony Abbott, in a way, was right: “The humblest person is king in his own car.” Tony Abbott, Battlelines I can see his point here. I don’t know about them being humble, but (especially as a pedestrian or a cyclist) you see plenty of people in their cars who think they are royalty. The problem ... [More]
Here’s another of my posts of old photos from ten years ago – this time from November 2009. Let’s start with some art. …and now some art on the train. (I think a few of us with an interest in railways know the Bromage family.) Flinders Street Station’s Elizabeth Street entrance used to close at ... [More]
One of the things people have been wondering is whether the Suburban Rail Loop will be an integral part of the existing suburban Metro network, or a standalone line. Melbourne’s existing rail network has its origins in the 1854 line from Port Melbourne to Flinders Street (since converted to trams), but also particularly in the ... [More]
3:30am alarm. 3:40am shower. 4:00am Left the house for a 4:30am rendezvous. By 4:45 we were in a minibus headed for our embarkation point. Time for a Sunday morning balloon flight – a Christmas present from last year from M. Hot air balloons are very much at the mercy of the weather. Our flight had ... [More]
Why is it that at most traffic lights, the crossings for pedestrians are so narrow? Even in Melbourne’s CBD, where heavy pedestrian numbers are expected, most crossings are far too narrow for the number of people. It appears that technically, anybody crossing outside the lines is in breach of Road Safety Rule regulation 234 (a) ... [More]
Last week the government announced timetable changes, including adjustments to the Cranbourne/Pakenham line. (I’ll just call it the Dandenong line for short. Almost everybody else does.) Of the roughly 265 services per weekday, 93 will be adjusted. A few will be quicker by a minute or two, but most of the 93 will be slower ... [More]
Update – see below At busy times, queues can form at station fare gates, especially when large numbers of people arrive from multiple trains at once. Investment in more gates and faster (Vix) readers has helped – 950 new readers are being installed in 141 stations. But it’s noticeable than some people wait for the ... [More]