Chadstone’s new bus interchange opened in late-2015. Today I got to sample how well Chadstone’s buses run on what is perhaps the busiest shopping day of the year: Boxing Day. (I wasn’t there to shop. I was there to watch Doctor Who — Hoyts at Chadstone had $12 tickets, and more of them available, than ... [More]
Thursday’s awful incident brings back memories of January’s attack, and authorities are rightly saying that it will be investigated from all angles. One issue is road infrastructure that allows a vehicle to reach high speed in a constrained, pedestrian-dense area like Flinders Street. The speed limit is 40. But apart from the placement of tram ... [More]
Melbourne’s fares rise above CPI again
As expected, fare rises have been announced to take place on January 1st. It’s a rise of 4.7% — which is CPI+2.5%. (At least, 4.7% is the claim. Some fares, such as a Zone 1 two-hour fare, are rising by more: $4.10 to $4.30 is almost 4.9%, thanks to the price being rounded to the ... [More]
Here’s another in my series of ten year old photos, this time from December 2007. Rain at Flinders Street Station. This shot captured a particular problem with the drainage which saw water gushing down past the door of this Hitachi train. Hopefully that issue is long since fixed, or at least being resolved in the ... [More]
(To just see transport-related blog posts, you can use this link — which is also on the top navigation menu) For years I’ve resisted air-conditioning at home. Partly it was the cost, partly it was that I really wanted to pursue passive cooling as much as I could — measures that used little or no ... [More]
For the past five days — from 8:30pm last Thursday, to last night (Tuesday) — the Belgrave, Lilydale, Alamein and Glen Waverley lines were replaced by buses between the city and Camberwell/Darling. The new signalling for Richmond to Burnley is all commissioned and ready for service. pic.twitter.com/pvRKouOkak — Vicsig (@vicsig) December 5, 2017 Thankfully it’s ... [More]
You may have noticed that some intersection markings, including pedestrian crossings, are changing. Solid white lines are becoming dashed white lines. Ditto turning lines at intersections. This change brings Victorian practice into line with the Australian standard. NSW (and probably other states) used to have solid lines too, but sometime in the last few decades ... [More]
Bentleigh station isn’t finished
Now that we’ve finished talking about names of yet-to-be-built stations, let’s talk about some recently built ones. Last Saturday a steam train ran to celebrate a year (and a bit) since the new Bentleigh/McKinnon/Ormond stations re-opened, following level crossing removals. K153 leads a Steamrail special into McKinnon pic.twitter.com/6XISB3b2t1 â Metro Man (@The_Rail_Life) November 25, 2017 ... [More]
So the Metro tunnel station names will be, from south to north… Anzac (working name Domain) — located more-or-less underneath the Shrine of Remembrance, of course. (The Shrine Trustees didn’t want the word Shrine used, by the way. I wonder how they feel about Anzac. Given the usual tight control over the name, I assume ... [More]
8 minutes to Southland
After many years of waiting, Southland station finally opened this morning, with an official ribbon cutting, attended by Minister for Public Transport Jacinta Allan, MP for Bentleigh Nick Staikos, MP for Mordialloc Tim Richardson, and PTV head Jeroen Weimar. Southland station is now officially opened, with trains stopping there from early this morning. pic.twitter.com/f6gUU0Oz4I — ... [More]
Bentleigh area peeps: the steam train is back tomorrow (Saturday 25th November)! Steam trains this Saturday: Caulfield, Ormond, Mckinnon, Bentleigh, Moorabbin. đ pic.twitter.com/fHTqBE4RrE — Daniel Bowen (@danielbowen) November 22, 2017 Meanwhile, here’s another of my sets of ten year old photos, this time from November 2007. The month started with a quick trip to Adelaide. ... [More]
Is it time to buy a Yearly Myki fare?
Generally every January, public transport fares in Victoria go up. This year it’s expected to be a 4.3% rise — this is CPI of 1.8% 2.8% (for the year to September), plus a 2.5% 1.5% rise that was first announced by the Coalition in December 2013, to be implemented in January 2015-2018, and dutifully followed ... [More]