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transport

Something went wrong

If you try and browse the PTV web site over the long weekend for a timetable, you might see this: “Something went wrong, please try refreshing the page”. There are two problems here. Firstly, the error is wildly misleading. You can try to keep refreshing the page right through the long weekend. It won’t work  ... [More]

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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]

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transport

Melbourne’s most confusing train timetable

Between Richmond and Ringwood there are a staggering 13 stopping patterns within a 6 hour period each weekday.

Categories
transport

Train timetables and mathematics

Using Standard Deviation to measure the gaps between trains

Categories
transport

New train timetables confirmed for January

Remember a few months ago when I wrote about the next big train timetable change? That was originally expected in December, but got postponed due to delays completing works on the Ballarat line. Today the State Government has announced the change will happen on 31st January, and naturally being an official release (instead of info  ... [More]

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transport

December train timetable shake-up

Remember the talk, almost a year ago now, of a shake-up to train timetables, prompted by the introduction of the new trains? These changes are now expected to take effect in mid-December, following on from minor adjustments made in July. Along the way, there have been some tweaks to the plan, but from what I’m  ... [More]

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transport

How much would trains every ten minutes cost?

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.  ... [More]

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transport

Big changes proposed for the City Loop

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  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Bus stop stripes

Sometimes I notice tiny things, and wonder what they’re about. Have you noticed that some bus stops have a small colourful stripy bit of tape? Intriguingly, many of them seem to match the colours of the logo of the bus operator for that route – even if the buses themselves are now all in the  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Why the Frankston line should come out of the Loop until 2025

I’m sorry to go all Neville Shunt on you and drone on about railway timetables again, but I’m going to do it anyway. In an ideal metro system, that is a rail network designed to maximise capacity and frequency, one of the key things is to separate the busiest lines so they don’t share tracks.  ... [More]

Categories
transport

Metro’s paper timetables mess

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that fewer people use paper train timetables than used to. The proliferation of departure information via the official web sites, Google Maps and the official Journey Planner, as well as the official app (with its real time information) and many other apps, means people  ... [More]

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The week in transport Toxic Custard newsletter

New timetables on 27th August, as Southland Station nears completion

New public transport timetables kick in on August 27th. Last week (or maybe it was the week before), PTV released details, including full timetables for the routes affected: Metro: More trains at peak times V/Line: More choice with more services Altona Loop users rejoice! (A bit) There will be no more Altona Loop shuttles. Weekday  ... [More]