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transport

Comparing public transport smartcards around Australia

Brisbane and Perth had got their smartcard systems before the Myki system started in Melbourne (just on 5 years ago). Other cities have followed, and now all Australian capital cities have public transport smartcards. Every single one of those other cities has a paper or single use ticket alongside the smartcards. And every single one  ... [More]

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transport

Today marks five years of #Myki in Melbourne

Five years ago today, the government unexpectedly announced that Myki was valid for travel in Melbourne, from 3pm that day. It followed the rollout in regional centres earlier that year, and the installation of numerous card vending machines and reader devices around Melbourne. The government had foolishly promised it would be switched-on in Melbourne by  ... [More]

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Photos from ten years ago Toxic Custard newsletter

Photos from December 2004

The Trugo mural in Yarraville. I added this photo to the Wikipedia article on Trugo, which is a sport believed to have been invented by railway workers in the 1920s. this image from Google Streetview, by 2009 the mural had deteriorated a bit. When I went past recently, they seemed to have patched it up,  ... [More]

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transport

Transdev bus routes are changing – some proposals good, some bad

Transdev are seeking survey responses to their planned bus network changes for 2015, and unlike last time, they are properly doing community consultation. But if you are interested, today is the last day you can submit feedback. Last week I went along to the Transdev session in Sandringham, and spoke to reps there about various  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

#Myki. It’s as simple as Touch on (unless you don’t have to), and Touch off (only if you need to).

I noted this new Myki signage on trams, reflecting the free CBD tram zone from January: Once it was a simple message: Top up, touch on, touch off. Now it’s top up, touch on (unless you don’t need to) and touch off (only if you need to). From the PTV FAQ, it’s clear that they  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Luckily most people don’t bring their cars to central Melbourne

Sometimes in the city, it’s a bit like a Where’s Wally book. City of Melbourne figures indicate the average daily population for the CBD and surrounding council area is 844,000. But Christmas shopping is a very busy time of year. City of Melbourne has some very clever pedestrian monitoring systems, which can tell us just  ... [More]

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transport

My notes from a quick skim of the #EWLink business case

Late last night, the Herald Sun unexpectedly published the entire East West Link business case, ahead of its official release today. Some notes from me from a quick flick through: p12 makes various high-level claims, particularly faster trips for motorists — but as we know, this benefit never lasts because traffic increases. p17 flags the  ... [More]

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Photos Toxic Custard newsletter

Recent photos

You know I’m busy when the blog posts are few and far between, and contain a lot of photos… There do seem to be a lot sightings of Google Streetview cars recently. Here’s another. This one was resting. Christmas shopping crowds at Southland shopping centre last weekend. It’ll get busier as the month rolls on,  ... [More]

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transport

Public transport fares to rise about 5%

It hasn’t been announced yet, but I understand Myki fares are going up about 5% in January. (Zone 1+2 fares will drop to zone 1 level of course, in line with the pledge made by the Coalition and matched by Labor.) This is rise the Coalition government announced in December 2013, which I assume the  ... [More]

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Culture Doctor Who Melbourne Toxic Custard newsletter

Geek central, Melbourne

They say geek is the cool, right? Geek central in Melbourne must be the corner of Elizabeth and Little Collins Streets. Why? Because within a few metres are no less than three pop culture shops: Firstly, there’s the Doctor Who “popup” (eg temporary, until January) shop. Actually it has Sherlock merchandise too, which probably makes  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Our new Premier on the need for frequent public transport #FrequencyIsFreedom

One should never read too much into politicians’ rhetoric, but it was rather good to see comments from Premier-elect Daniel Andrews on Monday in free commuter newspaper MX: “Yes, we need better local roads and yes, we do need to invest in that infrastructure, but the transformational infrastructure is a better public transport system. One  ... [More]

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Politics and activism Toxic Custard newsletter

Election wrap-up: Counting continues, East West Link, and Pudding!

A few thoughts post-election… Bentleigh As I write this, the seat is still too close to call. Counting is continuing, but it would seem we are destined to remain a marginal seat for the next election — in fact some voters reckoned they were deliberately voting to stay marginal. Elsewhere, some sandbelt (or as I  ... [More]