The multi-lingual rhino poster
I quite like these ads:
From what I’ve heard, the campaign was originally quite successful, but started to wear off after a few months, so I guess they need to keep revamping it to continue to get the message across.
Is this tram route map the wrong way round?
While I applaud Yarra Trams’ efforts to put more information on-board trams, this map threw me for a moment.
I’m used to seeing east (Box Hill) on the right, and west (Port Melbourne) on the left. This had it the other way around.
And before you say it: it wasn’t designed to match the actual orientation of the tram and the outside world, because there were copies of this map on both sides of the tram, so one was the right way around, and the other wasn’t.
Perhaps I need to just stop being such a map.square.
PS. I suspect the real reason for it being like this is they wanted the major route to be at the top.
Spotted at a tram stop in Bourke Street: icicles (fake)
Fake icicles on this tram stop, to advertise Mount Buller. I wonder if anybody except me even noticed.
Tram Cams – do passengers need to DIY?
A few minutes ago in Flinders Lane:
It was only on a whim I decided to film as I alighted the tram. The car driver was apologetic, but this ignorance of the law around giving way to passengers has gone on far too long. It’s a serious issue — just last week a girl was injured in Camberwell.
Years ago the government was talking about trialling tram cams, to catch motorists failing to give way. Nothing came of it. With video cameras now ubiquitous in mobile phones, perhaps it’s time passengers started filming it for themselves.
(The last time something like this happened.)
And a special reminder: Be careful when you alight from trams.
DMA992, even if you drive a Mercedes, you have to stop for tram passengers
Even if you drive a Mercedes, you have to stop for tram passengers.
You must stop level with the rear of a tram at a tram stop until the doors close and passengers have cleared the road, you may then proceed but must not exceed 10km/h while passing the tram.
– VicRoads
Time: about 9:10pm, last night.
Location: Chapel Street, South Yarra, corner of Toorak Road, southbound on tram route 79 — along with the adjacent eastbound route 8 stop, one of the few stops I can think of where tram passengers have to negotiate two lanes of traffic to get to the kerb.
I wouldn’t say I or anybody else was in mortal danger here. But the potential is there. It’s hard to say if the Mercedes driver didn’t know the rules, or wilfully ignored them.
It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that it’s simply easier to forget to stop when you’re not in the lane immediate adjacent to the tram — not that that’s a valid excuse — especially as the presence of all those people crossing the road to board should have prompted her.
One can only hope that stops like this are on the priority list for upgrades to platform stops which would remove this threat.
(Why did I have the camera running? Well something like this wasn’t too hard to predict; a few minutes beforehand, I tweeted: On a 79. Will shortly risk Death By Careless Motorist by alighting at Toorak Road, where IIRC there’s two lanes of traffic plus tram’s lane.)
The view out the front window
When I was a kid, I liked to kneel on the front seat of the (W-class) tram, looking out the front, and watching the driver, trying to figure out how it all worked.
I reckon the front still gives you the best views.
Back in the day I recall a control to apply the power, another to brake, with a big wheel as the backup brake (akin to a handbrake I suppose — I was once on a tram whose main brake had failed, and we rolled slowly up Carlisle Street, with the wheel being used to bring us to a halt at every stop).
Many trams didn’t have doors, but those that did had an extra lever to open and close them. These days there are various other newer controls in the cab.
Does Yarra Trams think we’re all nine feet tall?
Some people do need reminding that you should let people off before barging on yourself, so it makes sense to put some reminders on the trams.
Unfortunately they’re so high up that few people are likely to even notice them.
From the looks of it they’ve been placed to be adjacent the internal “rhino” stickers encouraging people to take care when alighting. Perhaps that’s to reduce the clutter on the doors, and maximise visibility when looking out, but it does mean a lot of people won’t spot them.
Happily, on the low-floor trams they’re lower down, and can be seen (particularly when boarding at a platform stop).
What do you think of the Easy Access tram stop in Macarthur Street?
This is the new “Easy Access” tram stop in Macarthur Street.
It’s not the first of its type — there’s been one in Albert Park for some years. But it’s the first on a moderately busy street, and it’s claimed it could be the new model for providing accessible tram stops around Melbourne.
I think it’s got some advantages over platform stops, eg cost, and the layout is more suited to narrow roads — which may help accelerate the roll-out of badly-needed accessible tram stops, which benefit everybody, not just those with mobility difficulties, heavy luggage and parents with prams, through faster boarding.
But I also see a problem in that motorists who ignorantly or wilfully fail to stop for tram passengers still present a danger.
What do you think?
