I love W-class trams. They truly are an icon of the city. In my youth I fondly remember watching the road ahead from the seat just behind (and to the left) of the driver, as we rolled up and down the hills on Balaclava Road. Or hot summers in the seat next to the (open) ... [More]
Herald Sun: Melbourne commuters take free ride with myki card fault About 30 myki users have been affected by a particular fault that has allowed them free travel. Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen has been travelling free for at least a week. Kamco became aware of the problem only when Mr Bowen reported ... [More]
Fantastic: Atomic Tom performing Take me out, live on a NYC subway train using just iPhones. NB. Please don’t try this unless you are actually talented. According to the New York Daily News, the intro text about their instruments being stolen is fictitious. (via Eva Blanda)
Graph: The number of transport-related govt press releases is steadily increasing each week
Please note that as always, the views expressed on my blog are my own, and are not necessarily a PTUA position. The state election’s about six weeks away. The Opposition has been criticised for not having a transport policy, but it’s important to note that Labor hasn’t said much about what they’d do, either. Sure, ... [More]
It’s pretty pathetic when the organisers of a major event at the MCG have to tell thousands of participants that there’s no public transport. With start times of 7.00am, 8.00am and 7.30am respectively, public transport is not an option for Marathon, Half Marathon and 10km competitors. Why? Well despite the MCG being served by Jolimont ... [More]
Tomorrow it’ll be known if Metro has met their monthly punctuality target for the first time. As-of yesterday the daily update on the Metro web site was sitting on 88.7% (last updated 28/9), clear of the 88% cut-off. (That’s 88% of trains less than 5 minutes late.) For the first time in many moons, you ... [More]
You’re going to have to trust me on this because it doesn’t show up well in the picture, but this train seen this morning said “ROME” on the back, instead of “METRO”. Evidently someone had been re-arranging some of the letters By some freak occurrence, last week I found myself travelling on the Upfield line ... [More]
This is where one of Melbourne’s busiest buses terminates. The 630, in the middle of Elsternwick Park, between the skate park* and the golf course, and blocking the westbound bike lane. (Source: Nearmap) The closest shops are a few hundred metres away. It’s 800 metres (as the crow flies) to the nearest railway station, and ... [More]
Earlier this year I wrote a post showing what each type of Melbourne train looks like. Here’s the tram version, in order of appearance. This is a longer post, as there’s more types. This is the W-class tram. They’re something of a Melbourne icon, having been around (in various forms) since the 1930s 1920s, though ... [More]
(I’m playing catch up here; this was from about a month ago.) How has a stupid idea like this giant bus on rails got so much attention? It’s never going to work. What speed could a thing like that run at without coming off its rails? What happens when a car or the “bus” turns ... [More]
Melbourne’s most confusing bus route to be fixed