Categories
transport

How many people are affected by rail shutdowns?

Some local residents on the Dandenong line noted this summary of proposed shutdowns in the Environmental Management Strategy (page 11): Shutdowns – longer occupations, typically from 1 to 3 weeks in duration. Six shutdowns are scheduled between January 2017 and July 2018 and are likely to occur in: January 2017; July 2017; October 2017; January  ... [More]

Categories
Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Real-time information arrives on trains

Real-time information became available on Metro trains on Thursday. Can we say hallelujah! Of course it’s been on stations for years, via Passenger Information Displays (known in the biz as PIDs) and the green buttons providing audio. But now departure data can be seen in the PTV app (and others) and PTV Next 5 web  ... [More]

Categories
transport

How accessible is Vicroads HQ for non-car users?

Vicroads are doing some good stuff. While some cynics might think of them as all about cars, over the years they’ve increased their emphasis on smarter use of limited road space resources, and have steadily improved facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport. And I know from talking to contacts there that they’re thinking very  ... [More]

Categories
Bentleigh transport

Small wins: 703 bus to be improved

Apologies for this very much locally focused (and possibly over-long) blog post: The main bus route through Bentleigh (both the suburb and the highly marginal state seat), the east-west 703 along Centre Road, is getting a slight upgrade. It doesn’t seem to have been announced yet, but eagle-eyed timetable watcher Craig Halsall spotted it: on  ... [More]

Categories
Photos from ten years ago Toxic Custard newsletter

Old photos from October 2006

Another in my series of photos from ten years ago. Early October ’06 was our holiday to Hobart. I haven’t been back since, unfortunately, so I have no idea how much has changed and how much hasn’t. I’m guessing Salamanca Market hasn’t changed too much. Lock him up and throw away the key. Hobart’s General  ... [More]

Categories
Toxic Custard newsletter Working life

Advice for job applicants

I’ve been really busy this week, and haven’t had time to prepare another blog post, so here’s some borrowed content for you. This is from a good friend. She works for a company I won’t name, and is in a position where she does a bit of hiring — or at least, filtering through the  ... [More]

Categories
Politics and activism Toxic Custard newsletter

Council elections – if party affiliations aren’t obvious, look for the clues

As already noted, it’s council voting time. In some council areas, including here in Glen Eira, council candidates aren’t overtly aligned with political parties. But a number of candidates have affiliations. You just have to look for clues. Look for photos of candidates with state or federal MPs, ministers and leaders, particularly at events not  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Every station now has PSOs after 6pm – except when they don’t

Sometimes travelling by train at night you’ll see PSOs out on the platforms and station concourses. Sometimes they’re not in sight… they might be in their pod, or elsewhere. Given the high-profile rollout of PSOs onto every station a signature policy of the 2010-2014 Ballieu Coalition government, carried over by the Andrews Labor government, you’d  ... [More]

Categories
transport

The two minute Melbourne public transport intro

I’ve been listening to a lot of transport-related podcasts recently. Almost all of them are from outside Australia. (Here is a list of some from November 2015; I mean to post another list at some stage soon.) Every time I listen to one of the overseas podcasts, I ponder what someone from Melbourne would say  ... [More]

Categories
Toxic Custard newsletter Video games

Back to the arcades?

Every so often I’ll splash out on a new toy for myself. Last year it was a new camera. The year before was a hifi. The year before (just over two years ago in fact) that was an iPad Mini. Those paying attention will know that I had considered adding a multi-room music setup to  ... [More]

Categories
Consumerism Toxic Custard newsletter

Charity and money

Years ago I decided I wanted to donate at least 0.7% of my income towards charity. Over the weekend I was doing my tax, and calculated it: for 2015-16 it’s 1.32%. Cool. About half the annual total is Oxfam. Other regulars include Greenpeace, The Salvos (though I mean to check their latest position on homosexuality,  ... [More]

Categories
News and events

What can council elections teach us about aspect ratio?

One of the things you start noticing a lot more when you have two tertiary-level film and television students in the house is aspect ratio. Local council elections are in October, and posters have started going up for candidates. In some wards you see full-sized billboards, but in ours — so far — the most  ... [More]