The recent anti-motorway protests in Melbourne are nothing new. In fact the very same area was subject to protests in the 1970s, when it was proposed to link the Eastern Freeway to the Tullamarine Freeway by way of an aboveground link, by converting Alexandra Parade to a freeway, ploughing through neighbourhoods in Collingwood, Carlton and ... [More]
Continuing my series of old photos from ten years ago… At the house in Carnegie, we had an old slide (which eventually got left there for whoever moved in after us) and a trampoline (which came with us, but in the end when we’d tired of it, got given to relatives who would use it ... [More]
At any station with multiple platforms, especially when they’re not adjacent (eg an island platform), you’re going to need to know which one your train leaves from. At many it’s easy — one platform is going towards the City, one is away. Some stations have three platforms. The third track is often used for peak ... [More]
Over the years there have been various problems with the Myki ticketing system. Some have been self-inflicted, such as the lack of a single use ticket, which was the result of a Coalition decision in 2011. Others are down to poor implementation, such as the slow and inconsistent read times for cards, or the difficulty ... [More]
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Welcome to the year 2015
Welcome to the year 2015. Sounds so futuristic, doesn’t it. A while ago, last century, I wrote a short story called The Year 2031, about a space mission to Venus, published in 19 weekly parts in 1998 as part of my (still going) Toxic Custard weekly email newsletter. Back in 1998, the year 2031 seemed ... [More]
Brisbane and Perth had got their smartcard systems before the Myki system started in Melbourne (just on 5 years ago). Other cities have followed, and now all Australian capital cities have public transport smartcards. Every single one of those other cities has a paper or single use ticket alongside the smartcards. And every single one ... [More]
Five years ago today, the government unexpectedly announced that Myki was valid for travel in Melbourne, from 3pm that day. It followed the rollout in regional centres earlier that year, and the installation of numerous card vending machines and reader devices around Melbourne. The government had foolishly promised it would be switched-on in Melbourne by ... [More]
The Trugo mural in Yarraville. I added this photo to the Wikipedia article on Trugo, which is a sport believed to have been invented by railway workers in the 1920s. this image from Google Streetview, by 2009 the mural had deteriorated a bit. When I went past recently, they seemed to have patched it up, ... [More]
Transdev are seeking survey responses to their planned bus network changes for 2015, and unlike last time, they are properly doing community consultation. But if you are interested, today is the last day you can submit feedback. Last week I went along to the Transdev session in Sandringham, and spoke to reps there about various ... [More]
I noted this new Myki signage on trams, reflecting the free CBD tram zone from January: Once it was a simple message: Top up, touch on, touch off. Now it’s top up, touch on (unless you don’t need to) and touch off (only if you need to). From the PTV FAQ, it’s clear that they ... [More]
Sometimes in the city, it’s a bit like a Where’s Wally book. City of Melbourne figures indicate the average daily population for the CBD and surrounding council area is 844,000. But Christmas shopping is a very busy time of year. City of Melbourne has some very clever pedestrian monitoring systems, which can tell us just ... [More]
Late last night, the Herald Sun unexpectedly published the entire East West Link business case, ahead of its official release today. Some notes from me from a quick flick through: p12 makes various high-level claims, particularly faster trips for motorists — but as we know, this benefit never lasts because traffic increases. p17 flags the ... [More]
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Recent photos
You know I’m busy when the blog posts are few and far between, and contain a lot of photos… There do seem to be a lot sightings of Google Streetview cars recently. Here’s another. This one was resting. Christmas shopping crowds at Southland shopping centre last weekend. It’ll get busier as the month rolls on, ... [More]
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Public transport fares to rise about 5%
It hasn’t been announced yet, but I understand Myki fares are going up about 5% in January. (Zone 1+2 fares will drop to zone 1 level of course, in line with the pledge made by the Coalition and matched by Labor.) This is rise the Coalition government announced in December 2013, which I assume the ... [More]
They say geek is the cool, right? Geek central in Melbourne must be the corner of Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets. Why? Because within a few metres are no less than three pop culture shops: Firstly, there’s the Doctor Who “popup” (eg temporary, until January) shop. Actually it has Sherlock merchandise too, which probably makes ... [More]
One should never read too much into politicians’ rhetoric, but it was rather good to see comments from Premier-elect Daniel Andrews on Monday in free commuter newspaper MX: “Yes, we need better local roads and yes, we do need to invest in that infrastructure, but the transformational infrastructure is a better public transport system. One ... [More]