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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Traffic light programming is why your CBD tram trip is start, stop, start

It’s not uncommon to see trams stopped at traffic lights along Bourke Street, sometimes in queues, at locations where there is no stop. If you’ve wondered why your tram journey is start-stop, it won’t surprise you to learn that the lights are all over the place. With the handy-dandy stopwatch function on my mobile phone,  ... [More]

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Film Toxic Custard newsletter TV

Doctor Who breaks new ground for television

It would seem Doctor Who is breaking new ground in some interesting ways. They’ve engineered a “world tour” which involves the show’s stars jetting around the world for live appearances in 6 cities around the globe over about a week. It’s just about finished now… I’d imagine they’d be suffering horribly from jetlag by the  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Waste of money: New automatic signs for platforms where few trains stop

Those LED automated signs on station platforms are known in the biz as Passenger Information Displays, or PIDs. In recent months they’ve been installed at a lot of stations along the Frankston line. They’re handy because they provide you with realtime departure information, without having to press the Green Button, which often doesn’t work or  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

You shall not pass

I know it’s been around for a while, but I was quite struck the other day by these traffic lights on the corner of La Trobe and Swanston Streets, facing southbound traffic coming down Swanston. The left and right arrows are for motor vehicles (which can go left or right, but not straight ahead). The  ... [More]

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transport

Giving with one hand, taking with the other: 2014-15 #Myki fare reform

I’ve already written previously about the fare changes happening (some announced in December, others announced in March), but it’s probably worth considering them all together. Exact 2-hour fares — from 10/8/2014 From yesterday, 2-hour fares are exactly two hours. Although it was originally flagged in December, this has crept up, quietly announced on Friday by  ... [More]

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Melbourne Photos from ten years ago Toxic Custard newsletter

Photos from August 2004

Continuing my series of ten year old photos… This month there’s a few domestic pics thrown into the mix. This is the view out onto St Kilda Road from the National Gallery of Victoria, one rainy afternoon. Quite arty, isn’t it. The photo I mean, not just the gallery. The pedestrian bridge over the Yarra,  ... [More]

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transport

Melbourne buses: many less frequent than 25 years ago

The Public Transport Not Traffic campaign organised a story in this week’s local paper, via campaigners Tony, Danita and Oscar setting up a fake bus stop to call for better bus services. Among the quotes in the story from locals is this one from me: “Bentleigh has less frequent buses than it did 25 years  ... [More]

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Bentleigh Melbourne Toxic Custard newsletter

Not your usual hailstorm

That seemed to be a bit more than your usual hailstorm. The sound on the video is quite distorted… obviously the poor phone couldn’t handle it.

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Others’ bum heat on PT seats. Good, or bad?

Tackling the big issues today… Two different winter PT philosophies: That awkward moment when you sit on a seat that someone just got off and you feel their left-over bum heat on your bum — Mo on Twitter …compared to… Two people got off the train at Clifton Hill so I grabbed their seats… Benefit  ... [More]

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Health Toxic Custard newsletter

CHs: Here’s what I know

As time goes on, I learn more about the cluster headaches that hit me from time to time. They’re different for each person, obviously, but here’s what I know this time around, from my experiences and from my ongoing Googling research — and I must say, the online resources available have been steadily improving. The  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Regional Rail Link tour part 2 braindump

About a year ago, a group of us from the PTUA went on a tour of the Regional Rail Link, a massive 50 kilometre-long rail project providing new tracks from Southern Cross, via Footscray and Sunshine, then along a new corridor through Melbourne’s new outer-western suburbs to West Werribee. The project will provide extra track  ... [More]

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transport

#EWLink: What is it? What is it For? Why it won’t die easily? – Sophie Sturup on mega projects

I and others have been known to call the East-West Link tunnel a zombie project — you can fight it off (as was done in the 70s) but it will never truly die. Last year at the launch for the Trains Not Tollroads campaign, Dr Sophie Sturup gave a great speech on mega projects. She  ... [More]