One of the gaping holes in Melbourne's public transport system is the lack of an all-day every day frequent service on the backbone: the Metro suburban train network. Melbourne is one of the few cities in the world, outside North America, which doesn't have frequent all day trains. Other Australian cities are moving towards this. Perth has now trains every 15 minutes to most stations until
A Metro (MTM) proposal has emerged for big changes to the operation of the City Loop for trains running through the Caulfield and Burnley tunnels. The page below is from a document discussing CBD station capacity implications from the introduction of the High Capacity Metro Trains. I'm told the document is genuine. It reveals that the Caulfield Loop will be required to run anti-clockwise al
The wave of climate protests (the Climate Strike a few weeks ago, and to a lesser extent the Extinction Rebellion last week) are a good reminder that although our current political masters (especially at the Federal level in Australia) are keen to do nothing, pretty soon a large mass of people who want action will be joining the electoral roll and voting. Oh, the politicians may claim they're
This is part two of my ten year old photos from September 2009. At the time, Myki had been launched in regional cities, and was about to start in Melbourne. Ahead of the wider rollout, I got to look around the Myki test centre, which was fascinating. Around the place were lots of test cards and computers and other hardware https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielbowen/48836573347/in/phot
Oops, I managed to miss posting ten year old photos in September. Better late than never, here they are - at least here is part one - I've got a special part two coming up soon. Centre Place, always lovely. I notice the sign about when it's closed to vehicles - it'd be a brave person who tried to drive along it at any time, I reckon. https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielbowen/48835846778
My car has a spot in the central console area thingy that looks like it has been designed to store your mobile phone so you can kind of see the screen while driving, for navigational purposes. At least, the manual doesn't seem to document its purpose, and I can't figure out what else it could be for. A few months ago I had to drive to Balwyn to pick up a batch of stuff to bring home. My naviga
It's well known that the Free Tram Zone worsened CBD tram crowding, but the package of fare reforms implemented in 2015 (planned by the Napthine government, matched by Labor) also capped zone 1+2 fares at zone 1 prices. This removed a long-time bugbear in the fare system: the huge jump from going over the zone boundary. New statistics show the effects. Herald Sun today: Fare change driving
It's a miracle! Back in 2011, the train information on this Smartbus sign at Bentleigh station was switched off. In 2016 during the level crossing removal project, the bus stop and sign were removed, then put back. For a while the sign wasn't working, but then the bus times were switched on. But not the train times. On Monday, for the first time in over 8 years, the train times re-app
I was in Brighton Cemetery on Saturday (long story) and noticed this statue from a distance, so thought I'd have a look. Someone famous? Not really. https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielbowen/48730554563/in/dateposted/ A young man, tragically drowned off Mornington. The statue was made by his workmates. Thanks to Trove, I found quite a detailed report of the accident. FISHING BOAT
This blew my tiny mind. https://www.flickr.com/photos/danielbowen/48716029936/in/dateposted/ Speaking of Metro tunnel station names, the project publicity is increasingly talking about (new) North Melbourne station. It's a shame the old one wasn't renamed to West Melbourne (as per the plan) last year when all the maps were reprinted for the opening of the Mernda extension. Hopefully
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