Categories
General

Herne the Hunter

Target’s window decorations are presumably meant to be about Christmas… …but for me they just remind me of Herne The Hunter in Robin of Sherwood.

Categories
transport

Your local bus company may have changed

Before you complain to the bus company that your bus is late/cancelled/crowded, you might want to check that they still run the service. In August, a whole bunch of routes (including most Smartbus routes) formerly run by Ventura and Melbourne Bus Link were taken over by Transdev. Other recent changes include Ventura taking over Grenda  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Keep Calm And Catch Public Transport – #Myki holders from Travellers Aid

Travellers Aid do good work helping those who need a little extra assistance getting around. They have a fundraiser on at the moment: Myki card holders, for $2.50 postage and handling, and they invite you to add a donation (which I did). My sister loves the Keep Calm meme, so I got this one for  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Smartbus signs – wouldn’t it be good if you could see them from the bus stop?

Having spent all that money on GPS in the buses, transmitters and receivers to get the bus locations onto electronic signs, wouldn’t you think they’d think carefully about where those signs were located? Exhibit 1: Lonsdale Street, near Hardware Lane Exhibit 2: Dandenong Station (I’ve circled it in case it’s not obvious) To be fair,  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne transport

Motorcycle/scooter parking on footpaths – In a crowded city centre, this doesn’t make sense.

Some years ago I wrote about issues with the City of Melbourne policy of allowing motorbikes and scooters to park on footpaths, except in a few locations where it’s specifically banned. The problem is, most of the guidelines seem to be ignored. The guidelines Here are the guidelines (see also: PDF version): DO dismount and  ... [More]

Categories
transport

It’s logical for PTV load surveys to exclude cancelled services

…documents obtained by the Greens through freedom of information reveal that the positive results did not include many trains that were affected by the knock-on effect of a cancelled or delayed service. Of the 437 trains surveyed, 113 were excluded. — The Age, Train overcrowding getting worse: Greens Here’s the thing. Load surveys aren’t measuring  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne

A day at the races

Perhaps a day at the races with the right skills and knowledge could be quite profitable, but for me (first time in over a decade), it certainly wasn’t a money maker — it was about the company. Quite a glorious day, relaxing, standing in the sunshine, chatting to the blokes I was with, pondering horses  ... [More]

Categories
Europe 1998 🇬🇧🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇧🇪🇳🇱

Video from my trip to Europe in 1998

15 years ago I got back from my first trip to Europe. Here, finally, are the video highlights. Daniel’s 1998 Europe trip highlights from Daniel Bowen on Vimeo. Includes England (south-east, London, and York), Scotland (Edinburgh, Inverness, Plockton), Brussels, Bruges, Amsterdam. Worth noting… The blog posts written at the time are available here: Europe 1998.  ... [More]

Categories
Morons on the road transport

Elizabeth Street tram works / #RoadMorons invade the Bourke Street Mall

Works on the new Elizabeth Street tram platform stops are going full steam ahead. This is significant, because with the rollout of the new E-class trams onto route 96, it’s expected some low-floor trams will be available for the first time on Elizabeth Street, at last providing accessible services from the CBD to the Hospital  ... [More]

Categories
Culture

Sunday art: Dog poetry / Street art

Dog poetry I wandered, lonely as a dog With my peeps to Footscray Hill, Amongst the grass, dirt and city views, And just the occasional golden daffodil. Street art Probably overlooked by most, this is inside a road sign on Centre Road.

Categories
Photos from ten years ago

Photos from ten years ago – October 2003

Here is another in my series of old photos from when I first got a digital camera. M>Train (which came after Bayside trains, and before Connex) had a rather nice livery and logo. Here’s a Comeng train heading towards the city on the outer stretches of the Upfield line. Myself and Peter, another PTUA bod,  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Allowing Myki touch-on with zero balance could mostly solve the no single use ticket problem

From the (hopefully) easy to change, but quite beneficial department: What if they ditched the rule that to touch-on a Myki (without an active Pass on it) you need at least 1 cent, and made it zero instead? Why would they allow touch-on with $0.00? Well… Pros Myki cards would become a de facto single  ... [More]