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Melbourne transport

Every suburb needs…

Every suburb needs a combined noodle shop and bus stop. Another view from Google Streetview

Categories
PTUA transport

Myki trams and buses: day one

A journo mentioned a certain MP this morning was quoting some transport-related sections my blog — presumably the favourable ones, such as the post that talked about the Myki transition plan. While my posts here do not necessarily represent PTUA policy, I suppose this blog is part of the mix of being an advocate —  ... [More]

Categories
Culture transport

Lego PT stereotypes

I’m probably reading too much into this, but here’s a PT stereotype: Lego’s Duplo bus. It appears that in the view of whoever designed this set, only old people and kids ride the bus. Okay, okay, we all know that in some cases this is probably very realistic. Many services simply aren’t good enough to  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Poor advert placement?

Not sure this advert placement is a good idea: Not that the exhaust actually comes out of that grill, of course. And one should not overstate the pollution caused by buses. Measuring just the CO2 emissions, a diesel bus emits about 1800 grams per kilometre. By comparison a diesel Landrover emits 295 grams per kilometre.  ... [More]

Categories
PTUA transport

Making connections

I don’t think it’s any great secret that Melbourne’s buses aren’t very well co-ordinated to the trains — with two exceptions that is, the Trainlink buses at Epping and Cranbourne, which are timed to meet every train. This is a major problem because so many trips simply can’t be made on PT without using a  ... [More]

Categories
Politics and activism transport

The State Budget in summary

Stakeholder and interest group commentary on the State Budget usually happens out the back of Parliament. And when it starts raining, everybody huddles under the shelter near the back door. Here’s my State Budget summary — well, the PT bits: Four new stations on existing lines to be built — Caroline Springs (V/Line), Williams Landing,  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Monash transport FAIL

Monash students going back decades will tell you of the poor connection from Huntingdale Station (the closest for people coming from the city direction) to the Clayton campus. Even after they added an extra bus route in 2006, most connections aren’t timed well outside peak hours, and during peak hours you get delays from long  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Why aren’t there more Smartbuses?

Why aren’t there more Smartbuses? Smartbuses work. Smartbus is a fancy marketing name for buses that run more frequently than most other routes, have some bus priority and realtime electronic signs at major stops. The figures in this government press release show the upgrades of routes to Smartbus result in strong patronage growth. I’ve excluded  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Frequency vs no transfer

I was pondering the airport “shuttle” services. Take the Frankston/Peninsula one. It picks up in Moorabbin about once an hour on weekdays. It gets to the airport 80-90 minutes later, charging $28 for an adult. Across the street from the bus stop is Moorabbin station. The train runs every 15 minutes on weekdays, takes 27-34  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Updates: still confusing, and getting worse

Secret tramways business The secret route numbers are getting worse on Collins Street. It looks like a 47 is a shortened 109, to Kew Depot, presumably via Victoria Street. A 29? Not sure, maybe a shortened 48. Does that mean it goes via Bridge Road? Not sure. And if the 29 and the 47 both  ... [More]