What’s so special about King Street, in Melbourne’s Central Business District? Well, it’s the only main street in the Hoddle Grid which has absolutely no scheduled public transport running along it. So you might think, given the rhetoric is to help people get onto PT, especially for trips into the CBD, that they’d avoid giving ... [More]
The Metlink Revenue Protection Plan published by The Age on Saturday had some interesting points. Some notes I made while looking through it (some of which were not included in the article): Page 12 seems to accept that in most cases, more staff will reduce most types of evasion. Can’t argue with that — most ... [More]
Seems some people can’t see the trees for the forest. A HIGH school has banned bicycles because it has no bike shed and it doesn’t want to encourage students who refuse to wear helmets. Hume Central Secondary College’s policy has puzzled health and cycling groups amid growing concern about childhood obesity. … In the same ... [More]
Metro Trains boss Andrew Lezala remarked on Tuesday at the Parliamentary Select Committee on Train Services that he hoped to see rail patronage double by 2020. “Our overall plan is to double patronage on the railway during the life of the franchise, which requires a major increase in the system’s capacity.” I think there’s two ... [More]
For a while now, VicRoads has been working on a plan to allocate different priorities to different roads around Melbourne. Rather than the free-for-all we sometimes see now, some roads would be setup to emphasise pedestrian priority, some bus, some tram, and some would be “preferred traffic routes” and lesser “other traffic routes”. I suspect ... [More]
Some of the letters in the papers (particularly the local paper) are obviously from cranks, but many are worthwhile, and this one in this week’s Moorabbin Glen Eira Leader just perfectly enunciates what I suspect a lot of people are thinking: Libs need to state policies IN RESPONSE to the letter by the Liberal candidate ... [More]
My aunt and cousin are visiting from interstate. Over dinner last night they were telling me that the most confusing thing about Metcard is the requirement to validate it straight after buying it at a railway station machine. I saw a businessman (evidently an occasional user) make that mistake yesterday morning. He realised after walking ... [More]
During the school holidays, the kids and I will often leave the car at home head out to not just attractions in the CBD, but also to parts of the city we might not normally get to. Partly for the joy of exploration, but also partly because Jeremy is keen on hunting down secondhand video ... [More]
Sydney’s introducing a new public transport fare system called “MyZone”, from April. At first I pretty much believed the name and the colourful graphics on the web site, which implied that it’s a Melbourne-like multi-modal zone fare system, working on every train, bus, tram and ferry. But it isn’t. It’s mostly still paying by distance ... [More]
COMMUTERS are ignoring Government advice and are using myki cards on trams as well as trains. … (Jean Ker Walsh said) ”Myki equipment on trams is turned on for use by testers and system auditors,” she said. ”Everyone else on the tram should have a valid Metcard.” — The Age, Caution urged for travellers who ... [More]
See also: 2015 update Just so we’re clear here about which type of train is which, here’s a quick guide… Firstly, this is the train that’s in the news today: the Siemens. Their brakes have problems. (Update 2012: The brake problems have apparently been fixed.) Whereas this is the Comeng. Their air-conditioners tend to konk ... [More]
The current Flinders Street Station is 100 years old today. There’s a newish book on the history of Flinders Street Station called Beyond the Facade by Jenny Davies. Recently I was walking through the Degraves Street subway and noticed a display for the book. Then something in one of the windows caught my eye; amongst ... [More]
Work has moved me to the west end of the city, and apart from needing to figure out where there’s a decent newsagency and ATM, I’m also figuring out the transport links. Flagstaff station is the closest. Easy. Well, until they go ahead with that plan to move Frankston trains out of the loop, which ... [More]
People, people, people, you may be celebrating the fact that Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky has resigned. But it’s not that simple. Just as the replacement of Connex with Metro hasn’t miraculously fixed the trains, neither will everything magically be okay with a new minister at the helm. She was spot-on last week when she ... [More]
So here’s what I’ve found while trying out Myki in the last week or two. On the day it was announced it was being switched-on for trains, I ordered cards for my kids. (I should note that I still recommend the general public do not use it, unless they’re looking for trouble. Me? I am ... [More]
Many of Melbourne’s train seats look like this: Look closely. Those are not all just random shapes designed to hide the dirt. Anything look familiar?