Categories
transport

Some local PT issues in Bentleigh #SpringSt

The Public Transport Not Traffic campaign held their PT To Parliament event on Thursday morning. Locals were encouraged to invite their local MPs to catch public transport with them into Parliament House, and discuss PT issues with them along the way. My local MP, Elizabeth Miller, was sadly unavailable. So we invited ALP opposition candidate  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh transport

Frankston line: $100m of upgrades coming. What’s included, and what isn’t?

The Frankston line is to get upgrades worth $100 million — signalling changes to allow X’Trapolis trains to run, more shelter at stations, better CCTV, and better passenger information, including about connecting buses and trams. The Premier, Public Transport Minister, local (Coalition) MPs, heads of PTV and Metro and even the Mayor of Glen Eira  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh Home life Melbourne Photos

The week in house maintenance

It was house maintenance week this week. I took a couple of days off to do some de-cluttering and get some people in. Hard rubbish got rid of two old mattresses, three former recycle bins, a big plank of wood, an old fan and two disused old bicycles. Amusingly, between putting stuff out/booking the collection  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh Photos

Live from the BBC (and a few other pics from this week)

Live from the BBC! I’m no big fan of motor vehicles, but that is a fine looking machine. Advert for Myki top-up at 7-11 talks up the fact that it’s instant, without the delay of online top-up. And finally, from a friend’s kids’ party last weekend… this castle had a high quotient of princesses in  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Flyer highlights public transport – are Coalition MPs starting to get worried?

YEARS ago, it might have been strange to think the fortunes of a government could rest on a suburban railway line. That was before the last Victorian election, when the Frankston train line became a potent symbol of the Brumby government’s transport woes: overcrowded carriages, ageing infrastructure, myki cost blowouts. Labor hardheads call it the  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh Consumerism

According to old ads, chemist used to sell stuff called “film” from a company called “Kodak”.

One of the chemists in Bentleigh is renovating, and this old signage has been revealed — soon to be covered up with something new. Apparently they used to sell stuff called “film” from a company called “Kodak”. The windows have also shown up some old ads. Anybody care to estimate how old they might be?  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh Clothes

Want to dress like Sherlock Holmes? The menswear shop in Bentleigh is selling Deer Stalkers

Spotted at Stanley’s Menswear in Centre Road: UK-made Deer Stalker – a snip at $129.95. (Apart from sleuthing, I guess you could also use it for stalking deer.)

Categories
Bentleigh transport

New 40kmh limit on Centre Road: our community is not your highway

The new 40 kmh limit now applies along Centre Road in Bentleigh, 7am to 7pm, every day. This is good news, particularly as earlier this year it appeared the plan was for it not to apply on Sundays — one of the busiest shopping days. It’s official recognition that the street is not just for  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Metro changes to achieve punctuality: good and bad

The Herald Sun reports today that Metro punctuality figures have improved markedly in the last 12 months, including the figure on the Frankston line jumping from 68.4% to 87.1%. Certainly this is due to some changes in the way the trains are run. The question is, are these changes good, or bad? Good: Departing platform  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh News and events

Lest we forget: ANZAC Day 2012

I was passing Bentleigh RSL in early March when I noticed a new sculpture being installed out the front. (The bloke installing looks a tad grumpy…) Nearby on a truck were some more of the figures, ready for installation. The completed sculpture nicely captures representations of all the services. They went with songs to the  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh driving

Lock up your motors

My neighbour Bob had his car broken into this morning. He said he heard noises outside and went out to find a bloke smashing up the steering wheel and console, apparently trying to hotwire it. When the bloke realised Bob was out there he shouted “I’m coming out mate, I’m coming out!” He did so,  ... [More]

Categories
Politics and activism transport

Anti-Baillieu flyers spotted this morning around Bentleigh

These anonymous flyers appear to have popped up overnight (at least I didn’t spot them yesterday) around Bentleigh station. (Note another similar pink one in the background on the small pole opposite.) I might note that since the 2010 timetable was introduced (and the tweaks in 2011), the morning commute is slower, but I for  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh

Anti-pigeon defences

And now for something completely different: anti-pigeon defences. Pigeons can get everywhere, making nests, leaving droppings. These ones seem very interested in the next trains from Caulfield. It’s probably gone mostly unnoticed, but over the past few years, various methods to prevent them roosting have become commonplace. In the case of Caulfield station, they’ve put  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism

eBay ads target retail – and retail building owners let them do it

I wonder if accepting these ads (seen on the walls of retail buildings around Bentleigh) the owners are killing the goose that laid the golden egg? “Brand new items. Huge retail markups and pushy salespeople not included.” “Buy new. Buy eBay. Bye retail.”

Categories
Bentleigh Consumerism

Yes, some mornings, it does feel like I’ve left my brain in Bentleigh

Yes, there are some mornings that it does feel like I’ve left my brain at home in Bentleigh. (The various ads at Richmond have different stations named depending which platform you’re on.) I’m not sure a Dare Iced Coffee really will fix this screen.

Categories
Bentleigh Net

We spotted ourselves on Google Street View

In January 2010 we spotted a Google Streetview car passing the post office in Bentleigh. Google Streetview finally updated its pictures, and it includes imagery from that day. Alas, it wasn’t shooting when the car passed us, but it did once it entered the nearby side street — that’s why you can see it turning.  ... [More]