Categories
PTUA transport

State Budget 2025

Some good public transport upgrades in this year’s Budget

Categories
transport

At last, more services

Definitely a step in the right direction, but a huge opportunity missed

Categories
transport

New Myki readers activated

It comes at huge cost, but it’s progress

Categories
General

Democracy day ’25

Happy democracy day! As I walked down to the polling place (chosen strategically for its sausage sizzle and cake stall) I was pondering voting and walkability and easy access. Voting in Australia is a chance to see suburban walkability in action. Most people are within a short walk of a polling place, mostly in local  ... [More]

Categories
transport

You are my Sunshine

Some thoughts on this project, and some other issues

Categories
transport

Myki: new readers coming soon

The first really visible signs of Myki mark II are about to be unleashed. In the next few weeks a few stations will get the new card readers for testing purposes. Later on the readers will spread around the network and be switched on for public use, with the first stage seeing passengers using them  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Bumblebees and CCTV

Why do five Melbourne trams have a bee logo? Because back in 2008 during a patronage surge, the government leased 5 surplus trams from Mulhouse in France. They were shipped over and put into service in their original black and yellow livery, for which they were nicknamed “Bumblebees”. Subsequently the trams were purchased and given  ... [More]

Categories
Culture

My goodness, my Guinness (Book of Records)

Right from the opening slide of a Melbourne landmark, Julian O’Shea’s Comedy Festival show is very, very funny

Categories
Photos from ten years ago

Old photos from Mar/Apr 2015

I missed last month’s ten year old photos post, so here’s bumper crop from March and April 2015. Remember when they tried to brand a residential development at the western end of the CBD with the New York-style “Upper West Side” name? Attending a Southland station consultation (at Southland naturally)… …then getting a photo at  ... [More]

Categories
Health News and events

Five years of COVID

(Not a transport post) I suspect some people would rather forget 2020, but I just wanted to mark that it’s five years since the COVID-19 pandemic really took hold, and lockdowns began in March 2020. Previous blogs have included posts from the midst of lockdown, a summary the events of 2020, and I also wrote  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Weekend trains not keeping up

Long waits and packed trains for Moomba are a reminder that weekend services are not keeping up with travel demand

Categories
transport

Warrnambool line capacity

Shorter trains, but more of them