Categories
Toxic Custard newsletter walking

Here’s an idea: Pedestrian Clearways

For the proposals in City of Melbourne’s discussion papers to be described as “radical” and “ridiculous” just shows how far we haven’t come in transport planning in this state. Perhaps it’s no surprise given that in the forthcoming election, if choosing a major party, we vote for either the mob who wants to build two  ... [More]

Categories
Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Post delivery by tram

For some time – since well before the introduction of the Free Tram Zone – I’ve seen uniformed Australia Post employees with small delivery carts on board trams in central Melbourne. At first I wondered if this was a good use of space on a tram, given how crowded they can get. But I think  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne Toxic Custard newsletter

Corrs Lane, Melbourne’s narrowest public laneway?

Corrs lane is a handy shortcut between Little Bourke Street and Lonsdale Street, just east of Russell Street. At the northern (Lonsdale Street) end, it’s so narrow that you could easily walk past it without noticing. It’s all a bit… I dunno, Platform 9 3/4. I noticed yesterday snapping pics that there seems to be  ... [More]

Categories
Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Traffic light programming is why your CBD tram trip is start, stop, start

It’s not uncommon to see trams stopped at traffic lights along Bourke Street, sometimes in queues, at locations where there is no stop. If you’ve wondered why your tram journey is start-stop, it won’t surprise you to learn that the lights are all over the place. With the handy-dandy stopwatch function on my mobile phone,  ... [More]

Categories
Toxic Custard newsletter transport

You shall not pass

I know it’s been around for a while, but I was quite struck the other day by these traffic lights on the corner of La Trobe and Swanston Streets, facing southbound traffic coming down Swanston. The left and right arrows are for motor vehicles (which can go left or right, but not straight ahead). The  ... [More]

Categories
Retrospectives transport

How long did it take to get into central Melbourne from your suburb… circa 1925

This is very cool. Similar to tools Jarrett Walker often talks about that show how far you can get in X minutes on public transport, here’s a map prepared around 1925 or so (I’m guessing) by the Melbourne Town Planning Commission showing how long it takes to get into central Melbourne from various suburbs by  ... [More]

Categories
Photos from ten years ago

Photos from March 2004

Continuing my series of ten year old photos… The serene setting of Caulfield South Primary School, where my kids went. Like many schools of that era, the original main building is lovely, and conceals the portable classrooms out the back. The old Elizabeth Street tram stop on Collins Street, westbound. It’s not hard to see  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne Photos

City fog, Monday

It was present over much of the metropolitan area, but here are some pictures of the fog around the city on Monday. William Street: Little William Street: Bourke Street: (Contrast this last one to a similar pic from autumn last year)

Categories
Morons on the road

#RoadMorons Award Of The Week goes to…

…this person, who ignored the convention to keep left of the white line in Flinders Lane, and came up against this tram coming around the corner. The tram actually had a fair pace making the turn — luckily it stopped in time to prevent a collision. The motorist backed out of the lane, and hopefully  ... [More]

Categories
transport

William Street — too much space for cars?

Heading south along William Street in morning peak hour, fighting for space on the street, are pedestrians (predominantly coming out of Flagstaff station), trams, cyclists and motorists. How many of each? Tram route 55 gets a tram about every 4 minutes in peak hour. The May 2012 PTV load survey said that each tram carries  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne

Public space vs private property in central Melbourne

It’s interesting to see that around the CBD, a subtle line is often marked on the pavement, where (I’m assuming) the publicly-owned pavement ends and the privately-owned property begins. Quite a few buildings include this kind of open space, particularly at the front, and I would assume the boundary would have legal significance. In some  ... [More]

Categories
Melbourne Photos

Melbourne, from Mornington

See it bigger I thought it was not bad for a handheld point-and-shoot camera.