Categories
transport

Were there more trains 100 years ago? (Part three)

I’m not sure why it’s taken so long to get back to this, but here’s the third post comparing old (1924 and 1974) vs current train timetables. Parts one and two covered the western and northwestern lines. Going clockwise the next lines are the red ones on the rail map: the Mernda and Hurstbridge lines.  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Comparing fares

Here’s a quick comparison of adult PT fares and discounts in Australian capital cities. Peak fare range(on card) Off-peak fare Fare cap weekdays Fare cap weekends Bulk discount Adelaide $3.95 $2.20 $11.00 daily fare (not an automatic cap) $11.00 14 days $63.2028 days $105.00 Brisbane $3.37 – $10.17 20% discount No cap No cap 8  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Are PT services keeping up with population?

The State Budget was last week, and included some good investments in public transport. I haven’t had time to write up everything (so busy!), but I thought I’d quickly show a couple of key indicators. Total public transport service kilometres (in blue; left axis) Public transport service kilometres per person (in red; right axis) Service  ... [More]

Categories
Health transport

PT mask rules around Australia

The continuing use of masks on public transport came up last week when Premier Andrews remarked that they’d be around for some time yet. (For a segment on this topic on ABC Radio Melbourne last Thursday with me, listen here – it starts at roughly at 1:55:40.) So I thought I’d quickly review what the  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Train map: frequency

There’s a good map doing the rounds showing the sections of the Sydney Trains network that run every 10 minutes on weekdays off-peak. Bambul has expanded this into a blog post, which also includes another map of 15 minute frequencies. A couple of people asked if there was a Melbourne version of the 10 minute  ... [More]

Categories
transport

PT patronage in our biggest cities

Obviously, travel demand in cities is in turmoil just at the moment, but leaving the 2020-2022 blip aside for a minute, and looking again at pre-COVID travel in cities… As a follow-up to comparing Melbourne’s public transport patronage to Sydney’s, I thought I’d look at all the big capital cities. The five biggest are also  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Tumbling patronage

Just a quick post today. The State Budget Papers obviously give an overview of the state’s finances, and new funding initiatives. In Victoria, they also provide the only regular, consistent view of metrics for a range of government services, including public transport patronage. (In contrast, other states put this data out far more regularly.) Anyway,  ... [More]

Categories
transport

What Mini Metro can teach us about real life public transport

My friend Andrew put me onto the game Mini Metro – it’s a rather addictive (at least to me) game where you design and run a metro (or tram) system. The game provides station locations, and travel demand patterns, and you have to work out how the lines should connect them. Gradually more and more  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Bike parking: the next generation

This caught my eye: a commuter at Aircraft station: …uses the station five days a week and said she had given up trying to get a park at the station. “Because of the traffic congestion on Point Cook Road and because of the lack of car parking facilities at the station, I choose to walk  ... [More]

Categories
transport

The Myki mobile trial is progressing

Last year the government announced that Myki would be coming to mobile phones. Early testing happened late last year, and last week PTV opened up the trial to up to 4000 participants. The technology allows you to load a “virtual” Myki card onto your Android phone within Google Pay, and use it for travelling on  ... [More]

Categories
driving transport

The desire to drive, and how we must counter it

I am discovering that there’s some powerful psychology going on when you get a new car. Playing into this for me is that my old car was wearing out, and was getting difficult to drive, plus the change from manual to automatic. This means the new car seems like a breeze to drive. The “new  ... [More]

Categories
transport

We need better public transport, not free public transport

From time to time the topic of free public transport comes up, most recently because of changes in Estonia. I think it’s a distraction from far more important issues. I just wanted to address a few points about it. Apologies for the rambling. Would it be a good idea in Melbourne and/or Victoria? I don’t  ... [More]