A few weeks ago I looked at problems with Metro’s paper timetables. Now, can we talk about how hopeless the PTV web site timetables are? Most of the rest of the web site works quite well, but the timetables, a key part, really are horribly unusable. If you’ve got the patience, see how many steps ... [More]
PTV released their passenger load surveys for trams and suburban trains, with results from May 2017. They used to do these twice annually, now it’s only once a year. These surveys are used to measure crowding on Melbourne’s trains and trams in peak hour. As usual, cancellations and major delays are excluded. Why? Because the ... [More]
The other week I noted the current state of level crossing removals across Melbourne, and that Glen Huntly Road / Glenhuntly Station [1] isn’t on the list. This used to be my home station, and with about a million boardings per year [2], it’s the busiest on the Frankston line south of Caulfield, apart from ... [More]
A post in an occasional series wrapping up a few brief transporty things from the last week or two. The new train design This might be the least crowded train I’ve ever caught. That’s because it’s a pretend train, a mock-up of a carriage and a half, somewhere in a warehouse in outer-suburban Melbourne. I ... [More]
Southland Shopping Centre introduces paid parking on Monday 16th October. But before you reach for the pitchforks, it only applies if shoppers stay more than three hours. You get the first three hours for free, with an extra hour if you’re going to a movie. Beyond that, it’s basically $3 per additional hour. It uses ... [More]
Three years ago in 2014 I attempted to summarise level crossing removals, based on the old 2008 ALCAM list, which is (still) the last public safety evaluation of level crossings in Victoria. Things have moved on a lot since then. Labor was voted in with a policy of grade separating 50 level crossings in 8 ... [More]
It’s amazing to think that had circumstances been different, the western world might have developed its road transport around electric engines rather than fossil fuels. That’s one of the key points made by “A Most Deliberate Swindle“, by Mick Hamer – the tale of the London Electrobus company, which pioneered the use of electric buses ... [More]
Here’s yet another of my blog posts of photos from ten years ago: September 2007. Around this time there was a somewhat sarcastic Metlink fare evasion campaign, which pointed out that fare evaders’ trips were subsidised by everybody else, and that fare evaders should therefore offer to buy dinner or mow the lawn of a ... [More]
One thing you notice on many of the world’s big metro systems is that people don’t check the timetable… because there is no timetable to check. Or if there is one, nobody bothers. It’s becoming the same way around some parts of Melbourne. Trams — most people use TramTracker displays at stops or on their ... [More]
It’s no huge surprise that the State Government has announced incumbent operators MTM and KDR will continue to operate Metro Trains and Yarra Trams respectively. The current contracts started in 2009, and expire in late-2017. These new contracts will run through to 2024, with an option for another 3 years to 2027. Despite an RTBU ... [More]
My holiday blog is currently up to Brussels. In this (lengthy) post I’ve looked at the many types of rail transport in Belgium, and I try and ponder lessons for Melbourne. Belgian use of rail ranges from trams — street-based and on separate alignments as in Melbourne, but also underground “pre-metro” routes — the Metro, ... [More]
Just posted on the holiday blog: Brussels — where I meet my new baby cousin in a tram museum (of course!)?? The state government are running a competition for naming the new stations to be built as part of the metro rail tunnel. It’s a good idea to get suggestions. Some of the working names ... [More]