Daniel Bowen
SBS is showing UK rail documentary series World’s Busiest Stations – and last night they aired the episode set in Melbourne. Although it’s ostensibly about specific busy stations, the series looks more broadly at the local rail networks. You can watch it on SBS On Demand. It’s well worth a look for a view inside […]
There’s a Wikipedia page “Commuter rail in Australia” which has a quick snapshot of the country’s heavy rail systems. (The term “commuter rail” is problematic. In a North American context it often refers to systems that really cater only for peak commuter/work trips. Australian rail systems sit somewhere between here and metro systems, and are […]
Continuing my series of posts of ten year old photos… Swanston Street has been closed to traffic since the 1990s… not that you’d know it from the number of cars that drive down there sometimes. At least the big tram stops in place nowadays discourage some of them. (Also note the foreground vehicle blocking the […]
Comparing tram speeds along the different sections of route 109.
Comparing different city public transport networks and their COVID-19 responses
Here’s one of my regular posts of photos from ten years ago. Back when nobody had heard of social distancing, on State Budget day 2010, we all crowded around to do the post-budget media scrum, where stakeholders queue up to give comments for the cameras and microphones. That year included the E-class trams, and new […]
The Myki quirk that led to a legitimate free ride
Public transport use down, electricity consumption up, mobile internet down, home internet up. Grocery spending up… then almost back to normal. Some personal metrics in the age of COVID-19.
Getting back on public transport – can people effectively stagger their trips to avoid crowding when off-peak services are infrequent and crowded?
Here’s a snapshot of Melbourne’s public transport patronage over the past five years, by mode. Tram and train are growing. Tram in particular saw strong growth thanks to the Free Tram Zone, but both those modes show increased patronage. The trams now carry over 200 million boardings on just 24 routes. But bus patronage is […]