In a plan that takes the popular level crossing removal program but flips it on its head, the State Coalition have announced they will grade-separate 55 road intersections around Melbourne if elected in 2018. (Reports: ABC / Age / Herald Sun) Here’s an animation created by the Coalition: And here’s the list of intersections announced ... [More]
I’m not the world’s biggest drinker. So last Thursday night after a chat with a PT industry insider over 2 pints and a pot, I was feeling a bit tipsy as I headed home. Waiting at Flinders Street for a train home, I encountered one of the Spring Street state press gallery’s Finest and Brightest, ... [More]
Just a reminder that as noted last week, there are reduced train (and tram) timetables running from this week until Australia Day. For my fellow Bentleigh people, I’ve marked the weekday cancelled trains for you: Basically for us on the Frankston line, train frequencies are halved at most times of day on weekdays for the ... [More]
I noted this tweet from my local state MP, boasting of improved punctuality on the Frankston line since she and the Coalition came to power in November 2010: Frankston line punctuality in Nov 2010 86% & Aug 2013 93% =7.6% improvement. Vic Coalition delivering 4 #Bentleigh &Frankston line commuters — Elizabeth Miller MP (@EMillerMP) September ... [More]
The state government continues to push the East-West motorway (a plan they barely mentioned in the 2010 election campaign) over major public transport projects. But what do the people want? As it happens there’s a pretty clear message from surveys going back at least five years. (Skip to the end for the latest one.) October ... [More]
Next Tuesday’s state budget is probably the last chance the government has to fund Southland station as promised and have work well underway by the time the next election comes around. Given a string of seats along the Frankston line swung on public transport issues, if it doesn’t get funding, I reckon there’ll be some ... [More]
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]
The last state election swung on public transport — both sides said so — specifically on the perceived lack of action from Labor on fixing the trains, resulting in delays, cancellations and sometimes horrendous overcrowding. The Liberals, especially in the seat of Prahran, should be aware that this is still happening on a regular basis ... [More]
As if disrupted trains weren’t enough, now we have Metro apostrophe crimes. (from Channel 10 news 25/6/2012: Commute derailed) Metro was already having a bad Monday morning peak with the inner part of the Sandringham line suspended due to a maintenance train derailing overnight. Things didn’t improve when at about 7:15 the outer section of ... [More]
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]
Last Wednesday the Ombudsman/Auditor General report into government ICT (Information & Communications Technology) projects was released. Included in the list of projects gone bad that it investigated was our old favourite Myki, with some interesting findings on the timings and costings: The TTA business case dated 27 April 2004 had forecast total expenditure of $741.9 ... [More]
Glen Mount Waverley MP Michael Gidley got into a scrap with some ALP campaign workers on Wednesday outside Parliament Station. On exiting the station, I received a brochure from an individual. I then sought advice from authorised officers at the station on the distribution of this information because I do not believe it is appropriate ... [More]