With the very welcome revamp of the Night Bus network last year, I wondered how the train to bus connections are now that most bus routes are 24-hour versions of regular routes, rather than the previous arrangement of confusing special routes that virtually nobody used. Here’s a quick look at a couple of my local ... [More]
Happy new year! We’re all used to the standard size buses (pictured above). Bigger buses either go to double deck, requiring higher bridge clearances, or longer articulated buses, needing longer bus bays and larger turning circles. Spotted recently on the Western Freeway near Melton: a smaller FlexiRide bus. The aspect ratio on this pic is ... [More]
I wrote most of this post late last year, so obviously circumstances have changed a tad, but my assumption is it’s all temporary – eventually things will get back to something approaching “normal”. Maybe not quite what it was last year, but the pattern of increasing travel demand will come back. Works on the northern ... [More]
Here’s a snapshot of Melbourne’s public transport patronage over the past five years, by mode. Tram and train are growing. Tram in particular saw strong growth thanks to the Free Tram Zone, but both those modes show increased patronage. The trams now carry over 200 million boardings on just 24 routes. But bus patronage is ... [More]
It’s time for my annual blog post about the mess that is Boxing Day public transport at Chadstone. 2017: Chadstone’s Boxing Day bus debacle 2018: Boxing Day buses at Chadstone: still big problems It happens every year at Chadstone and the other big shopping centres: hordes of shoppers descend. Demand fills the car parks, which ... [More]
You might recall I had put in a request to Vicroads to resolve a 13 year old problem with a local bus zone. The bus zone hours hadn’t been updated since last decade. In 2006 the operating hours of bus route 701 were extended so it runs until after 9pm in the evening, and Sunday ... [More]
Sometimes I notice tiny things, and wonder what they’re about. Have you noticed that some bus stops have a small colourful stripy bit of tape? Intriguingly, many of them seem to match the colours of the logo of the bus operator for that route – even if the buses themselves are now all in the ... [More]
The Age’s Timna Jacks got hold of some bus punctuality figures via FOI, and published this story last week, which is worth a read: Late every second trip: Life on the delayed 232 bus The data provides a glimpse of something not normally in the public eye. Regular bus users know that some routes suffer ... [More]