It’s state election day this Saturday, though many people have already voted: Weâre up to 970,454 votes on Day 9 of early voting â 585,869 was the Day 9 early voting total in 2014. The number of postal votes received has risen to 177,572. Want to see how your Districtâs early voting tally compares to ... [More]
Family business took us to Euroa on Saturday. The station is on the western side of the town centre. The main street goes over the railway line to the south of the station — Wikipedia notes that the the road overpass was built in 1960 during the first round of standardisation. The second round, last ... [More]
While my most pressing home renovation need is the bathroom (planning to do this the next time my sons are away on a trip), I was also thinking: Governments should be doing a lot more on climate change, but what are the major emissions in my home, and how could I decarbonise? The car. I ... [More]
Melbourne’s rail network already has some huge car parks, up to 1000 spaces at some stations, as many as a medium-sized shopping centre. There are more than 40,000 spaces across the Metro network, and thousands more on V/Line. Unlike in some cities, they’re all free. The common complaint is that all station car parks fill ... [More]
My monthly post of ten year old photos… My day job had me working in Collins Street, and occasionally we’d get to go to the upper levels and check out the view. That’s Manchester Lane at the bottom left, and near the top left you can just see the Shrine. Newspaper House dates from a ... [More]
Things have been busy, so I’m a bit behind on blogging things. A few things in brief, then the big news. Wednesday night delays Last night saw major delays affecting the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines between about 4pm and 5:30pm, impacting peak hour. This was due to a track fault at Flinders Street, and it ... [More]
Channel 9 and The Age got hold of a previously unpublished rail plan, or at least the summary maps from it. Age: Leaked rail plan shows few extra services for regional commuters Channel 9: I assume the headline-writer got a little carried away. Metro 2 isn’t really a secret. The stages The staging appears to ... [More]
Just a quick post while I work on something more substantive. I want to talk about Passenger Information Displays (PIDs for short) at Metro stations. For a while, it looked like suburban stations would all be getting two line LED PIDs. They show the scheduled time, destination, minutes to departure, and a summary of the ... [More]
The May 2018 Metro and Yarra Trams passenger load surveys were released last week. Media coverage: Herald Sun (paywall); The Age It’s worth noting that load surveys are measuring what happens when the service is running as planned. It’s not designed to look at crowding during disruptions, it’s designed to guide future investment. Trains Here’s ... [More]
On Wednesday the Coalition announced a pledge to upgrade all the main regional rail lines to 200 km/h, cutting travel times. ABC report: Coalition promises 32-minute trips from Geelong to Melbourne under regional rail upgrade Melbourne is bursting, we must take control of population growth by decentralising growth. The Liberal Nationals 200kmh high speed rail ... [More]
How can it be October already? It’s still September in some timezones, so here’s my regular post of photos from ten years ago, covering September 2008. At Richmond station, I was probably trying to take a photo to help publicise the PTUA’s discount yearly tickets – but couldn’t get the ticket itself quite into ... [More]
The other day I had cause to catch a train from Gardenvale to Balaclava. It’s interesting to compare these two stations. They are both elevated over main roads. Both have shopping centres that have built up around them. Both have connecting street-based public transport. Gardenvale station opened in 1906 as an additional station on the ... [More]
Normally each month I post photos from ten years earlier. I noticed that it’s twenty years since my 1998 trip to Europe. This was the first trip I blogged in excruciating unnecessary detail – and I’m glad I did, as I’ve been rereading the posts, reliving the trip. I’ve taken the opportunity to re-scan some ... [More]
Longtime readers of this blog may recall that back in 2010 an apartment block was being advertised at Caulfield, smack bang between where the Frankston and Dandenong lines diverge. It was never built. Google Street View shows by 2014 the site was still empty, and the advertising sign was covered in graffiti. Around 2016 the ... [More]
Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be. This is especially so for school reunions. My eldest son is pondering whether to even go to his – the people he wants to stay in touch with, he does via Facebook. Fair enough. I however do go to my school reunions. Melbourne High School has an active ... [More]
Despite living in a sports mad city in a sports mad country, I’m not the world’s biggest sports fan. But as a public transport advocate, I embrace big sporting events, because it’s amazing the things they can help get done in transport. This is only natural. Such events are often a showcase, particularly in Melbourne, ... [More]