Categories
Politics and activism PTUA transport

Metro apostrophe crimes! (and will the next state election again swing on PT?)

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]

Categories
Politics and activism transport

Anti-Baillieu flyers spotted this morning around Bentleigh

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]

Categories
transport

The Ombudsman’s report on Myki (and other IT projects)

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]

Categories
Politics and activism transport

Labor’s controversial transport brochure dissected

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]

Categories
Politics and activism transport

The 2011 state budget

One would hope that the budget following an election would fulfil the promises made during that election, although it would not be beyond the bounds of reasonableness to spread them out over the term of government. Somewhat surprisingly, at least to me, the Baillieu government has largely fulfilled all of its promises with its first  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh Politics and activism transport

The Fkn line and the state election result

A number of seats in the November state election were won and lost because of public transport — and the Frankston line in particular. Statistics continue to show that the line is the worst for punctuality in Melbourne, with a 12 month average of just 69.6% of trains on-time within five minutes. Perhaps it’s fitting  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Armed guards at stations

The debate around armed Protective Service Officers on stations is heating up. The Police Association, the Rail, Tram and Bus Union and the Public Transport Users Association want a high-level meeting to develop the best way of tackling crime and safety problems. … Support for the armed guard plan is evaporating. … There now appears  ... [More]

Categories
Politics and activism transport

Spinning faster

Graph: The number of transport-related govt press releases is steadily increasing each week