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transport

Bing (and others) add Melbourne public transport timetable data

Yesterday it was discovered (by Rod S) that Bing Maps has loaded the Melbourne/Victoria GTFS public transport timetable data, and thus you can now plan PT trips on Bing. Who uses Bing? Almost nobody I suspect — it was found by mistake! It looks pretty good. Most trips I’ve tried provide a good, solid, logical  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Hospital precinct: still no accessible tram services

Melbourne’s expanding fleet of low-floor trams are being allocated to tram routes that lack wheelchair-accessible stops, while accessible tram stops are being built on routes that have no low-floor trams. — The Age: New accessible tram stops not on the level for those most in need in Melbourne Let me present a prime example. This  ... [More]

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transport

What makes cities work: The restaurant tram

I was thinking about what makes good cities work effectively, and it occurred to me that a prime example is the Restaurant Tram. That day we took the Restaurant Tram, we made our way from the train at Southern Cross Station to the pick-up point next to Clarendon Street. The convention centre (Jeff’s Shed) was  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Transport choice

The RACV has again cited choice as a reason to go ahead and build huge road projects, including the East West Link which the Andrews government has a clear mandate to scrap. (Remember, a survey showed only 38% of RACV members support East West Link.) Ah yes, choice. Let me give you an example of  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Metro rail tunnel: The time is right

The metro rail tunnel concept is about ten years old, having first publicly emerged in late-2005. In some quarters, it’s been seen as an unnecessary white elephant — an expensive way of providing for extra passenger capacity in the CBD, when other cheaper ways were available to cope with increased patronage. But time has passed,  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

EWLink zombie is dead, buried, cremated – some thoughts

East West Link is now that it’s dead, buried and cremated (to coin a phrase). Though I’m not sure that’s how you destroy zombies. Some closing thoughts on the project… The $339m payout is less than a single year of the expected $345m annual Availability Payments that would have been paid if it had been  ... [More]

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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]

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Photos from ten years ago Toxic Custard newsletter

Photos and video from April 2005

OK, here we go with another set of photos (and video this time) from ten years ago. In a blog post back in April 2005, I posted this photo of Brighton Beach station: Here it is in the present day: notice the fence along platform 1 for the purposes of securing the sidings, where trains  ... [More]

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transport

Peak hour trains 1939 vs 2006 vs 2015 – line by line

Here’s a quick followup to Tuesday’s post… that had a summary of 1939 vs 2006 vs 2015 timetables in the 5-6pm peak, but here’s the line-by-line breakdown. to 1939 2006 2015 St Kilda 10 Port Melbourne 5 Williamstown 7 3 3 Altona/Laverton 2 See Werribee 3 Werribee 1 4 5 St Albans/Sunbury 2 5 9  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

How many trains in peak compared to the past? And how full are the tracks?

This video is inspired partly by a shot in the House Of Cards titles, and partly by something my dad used to tell me — that you could stand at Richmond station in the evening peak and see trains on every track coming out of the city. He may have been exaggerating a tad, but  ... [More]

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Geek Toxic Custard newsletter

How many WiFi devices are in your home?

I’ve had a few issues with the iiNet Bob2 modem/router in the past week or two, and rang up support on Sunday to get it sorted out. At one stage the nice chap asked how many devices are using the modem. That’s a really good question, and one that I hadn’t previously thought about. The  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

The new Dandenong line plan

Last year the Coalition announced they were going ahead with an unsolicited proposal: to upgrade the Dandenong line. In summary, it included: grade separation of 4 level crossings, 3 stations associated with those rebuilt, planning and early works on 5 more grade separations, high capacity signalling, 25 new trains, a maintenance depot at Pakenham, and  ... [More]