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transport

My smartcard collection – I’ll report on Opal soon!

Here is my collection of Australian public transport smartcards. The ones I’m missing are Adelaide, Canberra and Tasmania — all of which have been introduced since my last visits there. Notably Perth’s SmartRider is the only card that is blank on the back, which is why the card number (which I’ve blacked-out) is on the  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Quicker to wait for the hourly bus, or walk?

Last weekend I tried an experiment, for a PTUA video… In the highly marginal electorate of Bentleigh, having just missed the bus, is it quicker to wait for the next service, or walk to Southland? Given walking speeds and a five kilometre distance, perhaps the answer (at least for reasonably fit, able-bodied people) is obvious…  ... [More]

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transport

The Frankston line X’trapolis – are you impressed?

You’d think from the tweets from Coalition MPs this morning that the arrival of the first X’trapolis train in service on the Frankston line was a miraculous huge leap forward for train travellers — a rocket-powered, laser-guided teleportation device that can get you to your destination in seconds. Great to travel in the new X'Trapolis  ... [More]

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transport

#Myki: touch-on, touch-off, touch-on, touch-off

Here’s an interesting issue with Myki which has always been around to an extent, but which has got worse with the switch to exact two-hour fares. The problem The Myki software uses the two hour expiry of a fare as the time after which it assumes the next touch of your card is also a  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Traffic light programming is why your CBD tram trip is start, stop, start

It’s not uncommon to see trams stopped at traffic lights along Bourke Street, sometimes in queues, at locations where there is no stop. If you’ve wondered why your tram journey is start-stop, it won’t surprise you to learn that the lights are all over the place. With the handy-dandy stopwatch function on my mobile phone,  ... [More]

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transport

Melbourne buses: many less frequent than 25 years ago

The Public Transport Not Traffic campaign organised a story in this week’s local paper, via campaigners Tony, Danita and Oscar setting up a fake bus stop to call for better bus services. Among the quotes in the story from locals is this one from me: “Bentleigh has less frequent buses than it did 25 years  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Others’ bum heat on PT seats. Good, or bad?

Tackling the big issues today… Two different winter PT philosophies: That awkward moment when you sit on a seat that someone just got off and you feel their left-over bum heat on your bum — Mo on Twitter …compared to… Two people got off the train at Clifton Hill so I grabbed their seats… Benefit  ... [More]

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transport

Rebranding number 6 (in 20 years): Can we stick with “PTV” for a while please?

Do I win a prize? Following on from my photos a couple of years ago of a train, tram and bus in one shot, I’ve managed to get another (at the same location) of the three of them in the PTV livery. Common livery is not the most important thing in a public transport network,  ... [More]

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transport

Some big public transport changes coming on July 27th

The July 27th public transport network changes are pretty big. Some of the information is a bit vague, so here are some points I’ve gleaned from looking around, as well as chatting to Transdev, who run a lot of the bus routes that are changing. V/Line The big thing in rail is V/Line trains from  ... [More]

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transport

Transport news: Extra services in July / Rally tomorrow / 2 hour fares

Some bits of transport news worth noting today: July: new services The Herald Sun has the scoop on public transport service upgrades from late-July: Work commute eased as new train, tram, bus services announced (a very narrowly focussed headline given the upgrades benefit a lot more than 9-5 workers). Details are still a little sketchy,  ... [More]

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Toxic Custard newsletter transport

Plea to stay safe – from a Melbourne train driver

This was posted on Facebook by a Melbourne train driver last week. It’s well worth a read. Given he says “please share this” (and other copies doing the rounds are screen dumps, making it difficult to read, especially for those with vision issues), I’m posting the text in full here: I try to keep my  ... [More]

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transport

House-hunters: Still seeking zone 1 for cheaper fares? Don’t bother

I was chatting on Friday to a colleague who has just bought a house with her husband. They ended up in an area they are familiar with and like, and as a bonus, she said, it’s in zone 1. I was the same when I bought my house back in 2005 — it wasn’t necessarily  ... [More]