Taking a "smart" bus to the airport.

Yes I did it, I took the Smart Bus to the airport. I am of course talking about route 901 which goes all the way from Frankston to the airport via Dandenong, Ringwood and other places. I did not travel all the way to the airport from Frankston though. Even though the bus actually runs through my suburb (Greensborough) I did not just walk the 1.5km from home to catch it, because even from here it takes a circuitous route through Plenty, South Morang, Epping and Roxburgh Park. I could have, had I wanted to, caught the other Smart Bus route that runs through Greensborough (the 902 which runs from Chelsea to Airport West) to save some time, and changed over at Broadmeadows rail station, but I did not.

Had I the time I most likely would have done the final option above. Not having as much time as I would have liked, instead I drove to Coolaroo station and parked the car and continued by bus to the airport from there. Part of the reason for this is to try and see if it is possible to avoid car park charges for one day trips.

Back at good old Coolaroo station

As I was walking from my car to the stop two more passengers turned up, a pair of Indian students.

While waiting for the bus a very large plume of brown smoke erupted from the housing area across the road, on checking google maps later I am fairly sure it was in a park. Those kids with matches caused a number of fire engines and police cars to go speeding past.

All of a sudden there was a lot of smoke

Then the fire trucks and police cars came.
All within a few minutes of the smoke.

Ten minutes or more passed before a bus arrived at the stop. The bus was either really late or really early as it did not arrive at the timetabled time, and there were no real time info screens at this stop for this direction.

This was the first time I have used my myki on a bus so I was apprehensive as to whether it would work or not. I had no problems although it seemed a little slow to scan on and off. There were probably only 8 or 9 people on the bus including the Indian guys and myself. One of the passengers was clearly going to the airport sitting with a large suitcase in the low floor part of the bus.

On the bus.

From there the trip was rather quick. What slowed us down though was a shortish but time consuming detour taken to serve the Broadmeadows shopping centre. The bus also stopped at the Broadmeadows station. I would rather the bus just stop at the station. From there we headed towards Gladstone Park, where in Mickleham Road we stopped to change over drivers. The new driver also brought his wife along for the ride.

Having just gone through the shopping centre we are
waiting to turn into Broadmeadows station.

By this stage there were fewer people on board, perhaps four or five including myself, the suitcase guy, one or two airport workers, and the drivers wife.

From here the bus turned on to the Tullamarine Freeway and sped towards the airport. We took the first exit which takes traffic to the taxi holding area and freight handling areas of the airport. I use this exit myself when going to watch aircraft from operations road on the western side of the airport as you avoid most of the terminal traffic. The bus went past the long term car park and then proceeded into the freight handling areas of the airport. As we got close to the Tiger Airways Terminal, T4, things literally took an unexpected turn when we did a u-turn and stopped next to a grassy nature strip far from even T4. The guy with the suitcase didn't even realise this was the end of the line, in fact I wasn't even sure if it was, but I got off anyway and headed up the road towards the Tiger water tower.

The stop had no signage that I could see, and certainly no timetable information or realtime info display. In fact if it wasn't for the pair of silver and orange buses, you wouldn't know it was the stop for the major regular public transport access to the airport. I am fairly certain that the buses existence is not even acknowledged at the main terminals. So if you didn't know about it before hand, you wouldn't use it. The whole situation is very poor.

Somewhere in the distance you can see two Smart buses waiting.
Not very inviting...

As I couldn't see where the path ended up on the side of the road the buses stop on I decided to cross the road early before reaching T4. I walked along the freight terminals and after a few minutes I came to T4. This proved to be the right thing to do as there is no pedestrian crossing closer to T4.

T4 itself seemed to be overflowing with many people sitting outside at the outdoor cafe on the concrete in the blazing hot sun (it was new years eve, which as I recall was a quite a hot day in the mid 30's). As per the Airways TV show, there was a Federal Police car parked out the front, with the officers no doubt settling some dispute between passengers and staff.

Beware the Tiger that bites you back...

I decided to take a look in the main terminal before heading back, so continued on the path to T3. I actually went upstairs and through security to the gates. I finally got through the security checkpoint after being held up by the unprepared traveller in front of me dealing with the metal detector.

I just headed straight to the end of the pier to the seats that face the runway and watched all the comings and goings for about twenty minutes. As time was getting on so I began the walk back to the bus stop. Before leaving the terminal I bought a paper (it was a Thursday therefore I needed a Green Guide!) and a drink. I just made it to the stop in time for the next bus and about half an hour later I was back at my car at Coolaroo station.

Overall the journey itself was fine. Bus frequency is pretty good by Melbourne standards and seems a reasonably reliable service. The whole thing is undone by the terminus at the airport. Is in a remote location (as in a good 10 minute walk from the Qantas terminal, as far or further than the nearest bus stop for the long term car park shuttle bus) with no facilities other than the single seat at the stop and little or no signage or other information that I could see.

The disgrace is that the service is not at all acknowledged by the airport directional signage for ground transport options for arriving passengers. The service does get a mention on the airport's website, hoswever it is near the bottom of a long list of airport shuttle style buse. Presumably the reason the route is not acknowledged or provided with a decent or convenient terminus is that the route does not pay an access fee or provide any revenue to the airport operators (and is probably forced on the airport by the Department of Transport)

The location and amenities of the stop has been touched on in articles in the papers over the last few days about ACCC investigations into airport parking. I am hopeful, but doubtful that there is enough in this to get the stop moved to a more convenient location. (I've been writing this review for a while now, since before the articles)

Gratuitous plane pics...

Virgin Blue Boeing 737-700.
Not going anywhere soon...

A 737-800 pulling into the gate.

Stops right on the mark.

Ready to unload...

Myki is finally here. Well sort of...

Today at 3pm Myki was turned on...

...for trains only!

What the?

Turns out there are issues with getting the mobile equipment on trams and trains talking to the rest of the system. Apparently Ms Kosky is not amused. Excuse me Ms Kosky, but you've had how many years to get this working and now you are shifting the blame to DoT people. They are probably the same people who might have told you it was unrealistic to tell the public that it would work before 2009 was out.

Also supposedly you can get the Myki for free (instead of paying for the card) if you order it online. I tried to get a card with Myki money but the session timed out before I could finish.

The art of riding the cable car

So you are in San Francisco and want to go for a ride on the cable car, but you take one look at the lines at the terminus and decide you don't want to wait around that along. What to do?

The secret is knowing that most of the people who get on here will take a seat and others behind them in the line will pass on a spot on the foot board and wait for the next cable car.

If you think you can hang on, and dont mind hanging out the side, then the answer is to walk to the next stop and jump on the foot board of the next car. While I expect it is different in the middle of vacation time there are usually spots on the foot board available.

But if you do wan t a seat people do get on and off along the route so if you are waiting at an intermediate stop you are likely to find a seat. The conductor will usually shout what's available when the car comes to a stop.

Either way riding the cable cars are fun.

This advice mostly applies to the Powell/Hyde and Powell/Mason lines. When I was in San Francisco the California line was much more lightly loaded, and in a way I found it a more interesting ride.

As for fares, a one way trip on the cable car is $5. However you can buy a muni pass. These are available for 1 day, 3 day, and 7 day periods from Muni ticket booths. Prices range from $6 to $21, and allow travel on any muni operated service, be it muni metro, buses, the F Line and of course the cable car. Interestingly they use a scratch off system like the infamous Met "scratchie" tickets in Melbourne.

Seattle to Vancouver by train

While researching this online, I came across the fact that this route is part of the growing trend back to public transport in America. The full route runs from Eugene south of Portland in Oregon, all the way through Seattle, and over the border to Vancouver. The route has been opened to passenger trains in stages since the early 90's (the tracks are primarily freight tracks owned by Union Pacific and BNSF). Known as Amtrak Cascades, the trains run multiple times daily, mostly between Portland and Seattle, but a few go north/south from this main spine.

To me the most astonishing thing is that the carriages used are articulated tilting trainsets manufactured by Talgo in Spain. Think of the French TGV (or Spanish AVE)and that is pretty much what they look like. The only difference is that instead of the sleek electric locomotives found on trains in Europe, they use a diesel locomotive (an EMD F59PHI) at one end and at a an unpowered locomotive at the other. The unpowered locomotive looks exactly like an EMD F40 locomotive only the "locomotive" parts are missing and it is filled with ballast instead (concrete or something heavy like that), but still allows the train to be driven from that end.

Despite being designed for higher speeds, the trains travel at the regular speeds of North American trains.

I almost forgot, the scenery looks like this! Not that I will be there in winter, but still...

MYKI, Trams, Fares and Ticketing etc

1. MYKI

So it appears that MYKIi is full steam ahead, with the system rolling out across buses in regional cities. One revelation that had not occurred to me, but was revealed over at Melbourne on Melbourne on Transit (and here), is that short term disposable tickets will be smartcards. There is no printing on the ticket issued by the bus driver to tell you what it is or how long it will be valid, it just comes of a pile of identical blank tickets (much like they do today with metcards on buses). I had imagined that the system would be similar to Perth and S.E. Queensland where short term tickets(ranging from 2 hour / single trip and dailys etc) are printed on thermal paper by the ticket machine or bus driver. The reason I thought this was that I noticed that the ticket machines at Perth rail stations are the same as those seen in the MYKI discovery centre at Southern Cross.

Examples of short term cash tickets.
From L to R, Brisbane from vending machine,
Perth from Bus driver and Perth from vending machine.

Thinking about it though retail tickets will probably be pre encoded, and therefore will probably have some sort of text denoting what they are. Vending machine tickets could also have printing applied as they are issued. This leaves just the fact that there is no way to tell how long the ticket is valid without pringing, although tram issues probably could as they would be tagged on as they are issued from the machine. This leaves only the bus issues with no physical indication at all. Doesn't seem very consistent or user friendly to me.

2. Tram Fares and Ticketing

On Sunday I took a tram ride along Bourke St, having driven to the city (I know I'm evil but I had a car and I had to go somewhere else on the way) I didn't have a ticket and so attempted to buy a city saver. As it turned out the machine was just spitting out all coins fed in, so I got a free ride. As I was pondering the fare structure on the sticker above the machine it occurred to me that having trams in both zone 1 and 2 is too complicated when considering that by and large the tram network is in zone 1. I'm not saying that the 3 tram lines (or is it 4?) that extend into zone 2 territory should should be curtailed at the zone boundary, but that tram ticketing would be greatly simplified it if they were treated as a zone 1 service no matter where they are.

I think I just like the simplified idea of having a single fare system for trams. Either buy a daily or a 2 hour, adult or concession, no need to worry about zones. I don't think it would or could happen with the current zone system as it would be unfair on people connecting too/from a bus or train in zone 2 .

3. Sunday Saver

On a related issue, I still can't believe they couldn't find a work around for dispensing Sunday savers from ticket machines. Actually IIRC it was never intended if a certain poster to some of the public transport forums is to be believed . On the tram I noticed some people using Sunday Savers and I couldn't help but feel that those buying tickets on the tram (this was on my return along Bourke St on tram that had a working ticket machine) were getting ripped off. The seniors daily button is useless on a Sunday as all seniors can apply and use a free Sunday ticket. Why not program the tram ticket machines to dispense a sunday saver when that button is pressed on a sunday?

Building Bridges Completed

I took this video on the way to work this morning. The train I was on was a bit of a groaner, a good sound effect for the video. With the realignment, all the existing single track between Westgarth and the bridge was replaced. The train I am travelling on is on the new track and bridge. Very smooth, I must say.

The fact that on both of my trips through this section today we crossed another train going in the opposite direction tells me that the nay sayers are wrong. What were/are the nay sayers saying? That this would move the problem to Clifton Hill. However, being a flat junction there will always be delays at Clifton Hill, it's a fact of life, but I think it will be better than before. No more sitting at Westgarth for 5 minutes in the morning, and Epping trains will hopefully flow more freely as a result. We shall see how it goes over the next few weeks as normal loads resume.

Building Bridges Pt 2

Back in December I made a post about the Clifton Hill rail project and the progress to that date. Since then it has come along in leaps and bounds, and in fact if I didn't know better I would say that after this weekend it will be open to trains.

Throughout December finishing touches were made on the bridge, while so far in January all the new track, electrical overhead and signals have been put in place. Two weekends ago a new set of points was installed at Clifton Hill, which allow city bound trains from Westgarth to enter the platform from the new section of track. This weekend it appears that all is left to do is to re-align and connect everything up at the Westgarth end. As a regular traveller on this line I am very impressed with the lack of disruption to regular train services, the only bustitutions occuring over a few late nights and weekends.

As an interested observer of the development of public transport I am amazed at the apparent planning that went into this operation. My opinion is that big projects in this country are always half baked and never realise their full potential. This and the previous Middleboroough Road grade separation of 2007 have somewhat changed this, and give me hope that future improvements to the Victorian rail network (often much needed after years of no funding and little care or maintenance) will be done as professionally. I only hope that our transport planning beaurocrats are able to get more funding to remove the stupid bottlenecks like Clifton Hill as well as implimenting sensible extensions (ie not so much the Eddington tunnels or Tarneit lines).

One thing I will say is that the governments targets for completion (ie the end of 2009 as stated on signs and projects website) are complete rubbish. I beleive they artificially extend the time required so they can make make it look like the project is completed early, when in fact it is on time or only a little early. Judging by the pace of work on this job there was never any question that it would open within the first half of 2009. Then there is the fact that the figure includes landscaping of the public parks and crown land which have been occupied during the construction, which will probably go on for a few months after trains are running.

Clocking Off

It was a real pain and yet so easy to get to work today. I didn't have to worry about buying/validating tickets, and there was hardly anyone around. Thanks for the free ride Mrs Kosky that was a nice present. I felt like I was going to work on a Saturday, as the street where my workplace is was unusually quiet. The only crowds I noticed were at the fish shop, where everyone seemed to be buying prawns.

I only ended up doing about an hour and halfs worth of work, but we were told to charge a full day in our timesheets anyway, no complaints there. At 11:30 we had an informal lunch with chicken and salads, unfortunately it ran out all too quickly and many people who turned up late missed out altogether. Someone came to the rescue and ordered Pizzas.

I spent about half an hour playing a game on the computer after lunch. I was playing Portal: the flash version which is quite a good version of the full PC version of Portal. Eventually I decided enough was enough and I left work for the last time this year, but still filled in a days worth of time in my time sheet. (naughty? No we were instructed to do so. Who am I to argue?)

On the way home I finished off my Christmas shopping at Westfield Doncaster, and found it strangely relaxed. No one was really in a hurry or in much of a frenzy, it was good to see. While there I bought my last present, for my mum. I aslo bought myself a small present. Need for Speed Undercover for the Wii. I also bought 2 six packs of imitation Corona from Safeway, and four limes. The limes were unusually cheap, the ticketed price was 99 cents each, but they turned out at 50 cents each. Looking at my docket, I think the fruit shop I went to must give out random discounts. I was lucky.

From there I got the bus home and have just finished wrapping all the presents for tommorow. I think I will now go and play with the present from myself, before wrapping it up and giving it to myself again tommorow.

Building Bridges

Click to make bigger

Last Saturday I went and had a look at the new rail bridge that is being built over the Merri Creek between Westgarth and Clifton Hill. In the photo above you can see the extent of the new bridge so far. They had just installed the second girder the day before, and at time of writting it is expected the third girder should have been put into place. Behind you can see the brick piers of the existing bridge.

The aim of the project is to duplicate the rail line between Clifton Hill and Westgarth, which means building a new single track bridge next to the existing one. Progress is going well so far, so much so that Government is claiming that it will open 1 year early (I read a quote of Kosky saying this the other day but can''t find an article or press release at the minute). The cynic in me says that they (the government) add generous padding to projects like this on purpose just so they can make such claims to look good. But yes, after nothing happening for the first 8 months of the year work is now speeding along fine.

This machine was running up and down the track
with the old bits of rail and putting them in a neat pile.

On Saturday the Epping and Hurstbridge lines were shut down to allow some track work to take place at Clifton Hill and Westgarth. At the Westgarth end they installed a new set of points, while at Clifton Hill they removed the centre track, which ran between the 2 platforms, as it was not used very often. Also they appeared to connect the overhead to the new stanchions, which have been getting installed lately.

New points being installed at the end of the new bridge at Westgarth.

Bits and pieces at Westgarth.

During the shutdown they also took the opportunity to install some news sleepers on the curve leading from Dennis station to Westgarth station.

Workers installing new sleepers.

Dumping the old sleepers into a truck.

While this was happening buses were replacing trains on the Epping line between Epping and Victoria Park, and between Heidelberg and Victoria park on the Hurstbridge line. From my experience the train-bus and bus-train transfers were quite smooth, there was an over abundance of staff at loading points and they even created a temporary bus station at Victoria Park. For the Heidelberg run there was the option of an all stations or an express bus. It is amazing that they can plan for special occasions like this so well, and yet day to day operations are ordinary at best.

New modus opperandi: City Loop

As most people will be aware by now 2 or 3 weeks ago changes were made to the way the Epping/Hurstbridge and Werribee lines use the city loop. In peak times the Werribee line has been removed completely running direct to and from Flinders Street via Spencer Street. At non peak times and on weekends and public holidays it operates as normal.

The Epping and Hurstbridge lines have been altered to run in a clockwise direction during the week, direct to Flinders Street before going around the full loop, and anti clockwise around the loop direct to Parliament on weekends.

I for one am in favour as it makes my life for about half the week much easier. I no longer have to travel to Parliament, change to a Northern loop train to get to Flinders Street and then get my Belgrave/Lilydale train from there. The alternative was to travel the whole way around the loop which could take nearly 20 minutes if you got halted a few times on the viaduct between Southern Cross and Flinders Street. Often changing at Parliament was the difference between catching a train and not...

Now I go direct, sure there is sometimes a bit of a crawl between Jolimont and Flinders Street, but that is to be expected when there are only 2 platforms that my train can use, plus conflicting moves with trains on the Burnley Group going the other way. Actually that last part is probably the most contentious issue, as both the Burnley Group and Clifton Hill groups now vie for one piece of track from opposite directions if platform 14 at Flinders Street is occupied. That part really sucks. In general my connections are much smoother than they used to be.

I don't really like the arrangement on weekends though, as I used to like getting off at Flinders Street on a Saturday morning and walking up through the city to where ever I needed to go. I guess I will learn to live with it. From my understanding it is run this way to keep the outbound track from Flinders Street to Jolimont in working order and to keep train drivers knowledge of this track up to date. On the first weekend of this operation I recall the confused expressions of other people on the train as it went into the city loop.

It all seems to have bedded down rather well now, although I understand the Werribee line pax are still having issues with transfers to loop trains at North Melbourne and Southern Cross.

Council Elections

Like Daniel, I live in one of the few councils (Banyule) that still insists on attendance voting, and again like Daniel I like the whole ritual of voting (I swear I thought of this before I read Daniels post). I like running the gauntlet of the how to vote cards, collecting one from each offering. Then playing the waiting game in line before, having a go at electoral role lotto. Once in the booth I study the how to vote cards to see where allegiances lie, then I generally vote by the order of my own preference. After the voting papers are numbered and checked I slam dunk them into the appropriate boxes and dump the how to vote cards in the bin (I hope they recycle!). I then stride victorously into the cold hard light of day to enjoy the spoils of voting. A sausage in bread, democracy done. It's all part of the ritual.

As for the candidates in my ward. There are 8 candidates in total for Bakewell. Of those 8, only 3 have bothered to send out election material.

Peter Mckenna (Liberal)

The sitting councilor for Bakewell, as such his views are well known. He is pro development but with appropriate checks and ballances. As such he is for the Greensborough town centre project. Generally he seems pretty even handed and not a bad representative to have.


Michael Paul (Labor)

The next most high profile candidate, his views are also well known. He contended the last election and frequently sends out flyers or writes to the local paper complaining about something that the council is doing. He lists one of his aims as completing a local bicycle/walking path, which I would probably use. Again he is for "sensible" development, but seems somewhat against the Greensborough Project*. (specifically the premature closure of the old Greensborough pool)


Leonard Saw (Ind)

I think he has contended most recent elections at all levels of government as an indepenent. The causes he is passionate about are mainly issues affecting veterans and pensioners, which are very relevant to the area, as there are many ex-servicemen/women who live in the area, but as such he never attracts the mainstream vote.

The remaining candidates are unknowns apart from a small blurb in last weeks Leader. Party affiliations include one Green and one Labor.

I know who I am voting for, but I'm not saying here.

* The Greensborough Project which was given the final go ahead not so long ago is a total redevelopment of much of the land in the Greensborough Business District. It involves mostly council owned land, such as the Swimming Pool, car parks and council buildings, and will recreate the public space in Greensborogh, including a town square, new aquatic sports centre, government services offices, plus retail, commecial office space, new cinemas, as well as multi story car parking. Sadly public transport seems to have been forgotten, Greensborough is crying out for a decent bus/rail interchange, because as it is the buses are spread out across 3 termini, only one of which is near the station.

Adelaide - Day 2

(backdated to the day it happened)

End o' the line at Grange

Day 2 saw me rise relatively early. After wondering where the people were on Sunday I soon discovered that in fact there are people in Adelaide, they just don't all go to the city on Sunday. After breakfast at a nearby cafe I made my way to the railway station for a day of travel on public transport. $8.00 bought me an all day ticket for travel anywhere in Adelaide by bus, train, or tram.

During the day I made the following trips:

-Grange by train
-Terrace to Terrace on tram
-North East Busway
-Tonsley and Brighton (Norlunga Line) by Train

Tram at South Terrace
(damn I cut off the pantograph...)

On the O-Bahn, the driver doesn't need to steer while
on the busway track.

End o' the line at Tonsley.

The main concourse of Adelaide Station

After I got back from Tonsley and Brighton I decided to go for a walk by the River Torrens (SA ligo here). Being late afternoon there was a lot of activity, rowers rowing, people feeding the swans, joggers, cyclists etc. It was just good to sit down and watch the river for a while.

Adelaide's Festival Theatre

Swans and Cygnets on the River Torrens

River Torrens and part of the Adelaide skyline
The Hyatt hotel and convention centre to be exact

Nice green parks surround the Torrens near the
university and Botanic Gardens.

On the way back to the hotel I decided to have a look in the casino. I see no joy in playing pokie machines, but on this occasion I decided I would spend $1 and see what would happen. Choosing a 1 cent machine I played slowly, loosing cent after cent 1 by 1, until I had 50 cents worth of credit left. I then bet the lot and won $1.50 worth of credit. Taking that as a sign I immediately cashed out my 2 x $1 coins. Ben 1 - Casino 0.

After relaxing in my hotel room for an hour or so I got the tram down to Glenelg. Having intended to be there at sunset, the tram ride took a smidgen longer than I had anticipated and by the time I got there it was after 8pm. The tram ride itself was very smooth and the new trams were quite comfortable. Adelaide residents should be proud of the work that has been done to bring the tram up to modern standards. I hope the rest of their plans for the tram system come to fruition.

Glenelg is a bit like Manly in Sydney, and a bit (lot) less crowded. It is still very nice. There are quite a few hotels and apartments along the beach there and I think it would be a good place to stay when visiting Adelaide. I walked out to the end of the jetty where there were a number of people fishing. Catch of the day appeared to be crabs which they were catching in nets baited with fish carcases. There must have been a plague of crabs as they seemed to be baiting them and just throwing them in before pulling them out again with a crab or two inside. There were a couple of people half heartedly jigging for squid, but that seemed more like an exercise to do while waiting to pull out the next crab net.

Glenelg Mosley Square

Glenelg Pier

By the time I was on the tram back to the city it was well and truly dark, so I could not see out the window. All I know is that we stopped at only a few stops an the way back compared to every stop on the way there. My hotel bed was very inviting after long day spent out and about in the city.

Perth Notes

I wrote this over a month ago but never actually posted it. I might post some of the more interesting photos latter. We left for Perth and on the 29th of September and came back on the 1st of September, a really quick trip. What follows is my account of the trip...

It was a quick trip: we left on Friday and returned on Monday. The purpose was for a few mates and me to see Collingwood play Fremantle on Friday night. If you follow the footy you'll know what happened and know that that was the lowlight of the trip. The rest of the trip was fantastic.

One thing you notice is the amount money over there. A fairly basic house, perhaps a bit run down, goes for over $500,000. Most of the main footpaths are paved with brick pavers, and there is much new development. The area surrounding the Subiaco railway station reminded me of a utopian city.

The public transport system (Transperth) is clean, fast, safe and frequent. There is an overwhelming presence of transit police and revenue protection staff, and yet they are friendly, courteous and non threatening. I don't think we waited more than about 10 minutes for a train ever, and when they did come they were clean. The only signs of vandalism were scratched windows.

The public transport ticketing system is an interesting one. They have a smartcard system that works. We didn't use those though and just bought cash tickets. From what I can tell the ticket machines are the same ones that will be installed here when the Myki system finally gets underway. The fares themselves were fairly reasonable, $3.50 bought a 2 zone ticket that was valid for 2 hours, that is what we used to get to Fremantle.

On Saturday we caught the train to Fremantle and visited the Fremantle Gaol and the Little Creatures Brewery. We did two tours of the gaol, a basic one, and the great escapes tour. We learned a bit about prison conditions through the years and various riots and escapes, and basic prison life. It was an interesting way to spend the afternoon.

Little Creatures Brewery is fantastic, if not a bit pricey. Basically it's a beer hall in the middle of a brewery with pipes and vats and things all around the seating area. Being a Saturday afternoon it was packed too. It's not dark in dingy, very open and light, right on the foreshore of the Indian Ocean. I recommend a visit when in Fremantle. This was the most "Melbourne" thing I saw over there, apparently they have a place in Brunswick Street Fitzroy.

One of my friends suggested we find a Sizzler restaurant for dinner. And so we did. We took a train to the northern suburbs and walked about 1-2 KM through deserted streets until walking into the entertainment hub of Innaloo. Yes I ate at a place called Innaloo. We lined up for about 15 minutes before being seated and began to raid the salad bar. Brought back old memories, except this time I was able to have some self discipline unlike my visits to Sizzler as a kid.

On Sunday the plan was to go to Cottesloe beach and join the famous (it only registered vuguely for me) Sunday session at the pub. I think we were a bit early, but we got see a capoeira demonstration and had fish and chips for lunch. Back in Perth we walked from the Mount Lawley train station to our hostel (instead of walking from the city) and hung around there before returning to Mount Lawley for dinner. We went to the Flying Scottsman hotel for their $10 Pizza and Pint night. The freshly made pizzas were great and the pints were crisp and cold. Sitting near us were Muph or Plutonic from the hip hop duo Muph & Plutonic.

Monday we flew back. At check in we were told that the in flight entertainment wasn't working. Two of my mates managed to score a $10 newsagent voucher as compensation. Somehow they managed to play a movie anyway, which was good, a shame it was Indiana Jones which I had already seen. On this flight I managed to fly on a type of aircraft I've never been on before, the Airbus A330. This aircraft, an A330-200 registration VH-EBJ "Margaret River" was only delivered in May so it still had that new plane feel about it.

That's it really

Mki farce

News today is that myki has been delayed yet again. Honestly I don't know why the government has persisted with myki for so long, but with all the hardware that has been installed on stations trams and buses recently we must be near the point of no return. Really we should have followed NSW lead and dumped the smart card system altogether. Kosky doesn't seem interested, so here is my suggestion.

I don't claim to understand the technicalities of the software problem, but it would seem to be related to the new features rather than the basics. Surely an interim measure can be made to get the hardware working as a direct replacement for the current Metcard hardware, which as the article states has been allowed to run down over the last few years. Just get the hardware selling and validating tickets the same way as the Metcard does now. As far as I can tell the hardware is all but ready to go, why not use it now rather than let it just sit there unused for 3-4 years?!

When the bugs have been sorted out issue a software update to introduce the new functionality.

Rail to Doncaster

In The Age today is an opinion piece written by Graeme Davison. He rightly asserts that the Doncaster rail line should have been built 40 years ago when the area began to be heavily developed, but is against the building of a line because of the issues involved with tunnelling and the fact it would travel along the Eastern Freeway away from where the potential passengers live:

Yet, for more than half its length, a Doncaster railway would run through the Yarra Bend National Park and across the parkland and golf courses of the Yarra River flats. Golfers and bushwalkers might welcome it, but it would generate next to no commuter traffic. At North Balwyn (Burke Road), passengers would alight about half a kilometre from the nearest houses, while on the north side of Bulleen station, students from Marcellin College are about the only prospective customers. The line would cross Doncaster Road about 1.5 kilometres from the main transport and shopping hub, Shoppingtown. You would either have to tunnel several kilometres under Shoppingtown to East Doncaster, extend the Doncaster tramway to Shoppingtown or rely on feeder buses to reach a station on Doncaster Road.

Davison claims that the railway would travel mostly through parkland and would not create patronage. He seems to conveniently forget that the freeway runs through there too, and does not gain much in the way of traffic from those areas either.

Davison also asserts that you would need to tunnel for kilometres under Doncaster Shoppingtown to East Doncaster. I don't know where he has been for the last 40 years, but a vast amount of tunnelling has always been on the agenda in the Doncaster area. This is not a new thing, and in fact it will help bring the line closer to where the people are, something he uses against the building of the line in the same paragraph.

Davison goes on to claim that:

Transport research shows the reluctance of commuters to put up with bad connections. Any break in transport mode — say, from bus to train — creates frustration, especially if the scheduled service doesn't come. If the Doncaster rail requires a network of feeder buses, the passengers might as well stay aboard the existing express bus services and ride down the freeway along a dedicated lane all the way to the city. Maybe that's why the Eddington report hasn't opted for a Doncaster railway but for a major upgrade of the existing DART (Doncaster Area Rapid Transit) bus service. You may be asking: but don't buses run on polluting and fast-depleting oil? Yes, but although trains run on clean and abundant electricity, that power is generated from the most polluting of all fossil fuels, brown coal. It's only when trains and trams are full that they come out ahead of cars. Railways and trams wear a halo of environmental respectability that is only half-deserved.

To that I say that if the rail frequency and feeder bus frequency are sufficiently high then issues of missed connections will not be a problem. If the rail frequencies on this line were near metro levels (and I would expect the Doncaster line to be part of a segregated network than an extension of the current system) of a train every 5 minutes in peak and every 10 minutes in off peak. Have the feeder buses run every 10 minutes on main roads intersecting the rail line throughout the day, which means the longest connection in the peak would be about 5 minutes and at most 10 minutes off peak. Overall this would equate to an average waiting time for the whole journey of 7.5 minutes peak and 10 minutes off peak. If the connections are good (and by current Melbourne standards these are very good), people will use them.

He does make a good point with the fact that we get our electricity from brown coal. Cleaner and more sustainable energy sources are something that we need to work on. However that does not diminish the fact that all forms of public transport whether powered by electricity generated by burning brown coal, or by burning diesel fuel in a combustion engine, are more efficient at moving large amounts of people than cars are.

This paragraph confuses me though:

The Melbourne 2030 plan was based on the shaky assumption that increasing residential densities around the main public transport system would improve the viability of public transport. But even when density increased, residents often continued to drive their cars. Now there is a swing in the other direction, towards the equally erroneous belief that if you provide the transport, the residential patterns will change and the passengers will come. The Doncaster railway dream is a perfect illustration of that belief.

If anything Davison appears to be having a punt each way in this paragraph. What little development that has occurred under the auspices of Melbourne 2030 has been stymied by contrary government policies and local interests. I would argue that because of this densities have not increased that much in the Melbourne 2030 transit cities. The reason the few new residents continued to drive is exactly as he states, the public transport improvements were not forthcoming, and while they are slowly happening are not happening fast enough. The government is to blame for not having enough will to back up it's own strategies. If anything you only need to look to Perth for examples of where this sort of strategy has been implemented successfully with the Northern Suburbs rail line. In comparison a rail line to Doncaster should be child's play.

In his final paragraph Davison is spot on by stating that public transport needs to be constructed at the time of development, and should have been the case at Doncaster. He is also right that the there needs to be a rail service along Wellington Rd to Monash University and Rowville where there is also a high demand for such services, but there is demand in Doncaster as well.

The non Eddinton report post.

I was going to write a post on the Eddington Report but I have read so much about it I'm not sure what I think of it any more. Well, I think I'm against it, I'm just not sure why. Actually yes I do... (see what I mean)

I've read so many opinions on what needs to be done, I'm not sure what is original thought and what is not, I suspect I read most of this elsewhere. I'm just repackaging it. One of the best alternate proposals I've read so far is at Phin's blog, part one deals with the western side of the network while the future part two deals with the eastern side. So far so good, but from what I can see he is not totally dismissing the north-south tunnel , but sending it elsewhere.

What is my view on the Eddington report?

First of all I see public transport components of the report as nothing but a cover to get the road tunnel linking the Eastern Freeway and Citylink/Westgate Freeway/Western Ring Road approved. I imagine that as time goes along the public transport components will get scaled back piece by piece, just quietly drop off the agenda one by one until we are left with only minor changes to public transport. All the while the road project will bubble along nicely until completion. I hope that is not the case however and that the sensible suggestions go ahead (ie everything but the insane line from Werribee to Deer Park).

While thinking over the past few weeks I've come around to the view that we do need a sort of "clearways" project for Melbourne, the first steps of which are due to happen in the November timetable change with removal of Werribee trains from the loop in the peaks and the fixing of the direction of the Clifton Hill loop. I would like to see the Werribee line permanently out of the loop and the reaming loops to permanently travel in the same direction like the Clifton hill loop so that there are always two lines running in opposite directions. I suggest:

Clockwise- Clifton Hill and Burnley
Anti-clockwise - Northern and Caulfield

Most of the work needed to iron things out involve smaller, un-sexy projects that need doing to improve the flow of trains, these include things like building more flyovers at junctions, grade separation, re-signalling, extra platforms, new crossovers, straightening out junctions and old diversions of no longer existent infrastructure, as well as altering operational practices such as changing drivers at outer suburban termini instead of at Flinders Street, and cutting the dwell time at Flinders Street to that of a normal station. Then there is the complete rebuilding of major junctions and interchanges such as Caulfield and North Melbourne, which are more long term projects.

A cheap and cheerful short term fix is the addition of extra grab handles and bars to existing rollingstock. That would be most welcome. Other changes could be fitting lateral flip up seating at each end of each car to provide more standing room, such as that found at the driving ends of Siemens motor cars. I may be selfish, but I like having somewhere comfy to sit on the train, so I think this is a good compromise.

Longer term I think there should be a two tier service on all lines with inner suburban all stations trains and outer suburban expresses. This however relies on sorting out the other stuff first. Coupled with this I think through routing the outer suburban expresses through Flinders Street to the opposite side of the city (anyone remember the proposed "Flyer Trains" at the time of privatisation) would be a good move.

Regional non-fast rail - Part 2

VLocity unit 15 has completed platform duties,
is closing the doors and is nearly ready to go.

VL 15 heads off around the bend, next station Heathcote Junction.

Track machines in the Standard gauge siding at the Melbourne end of Wallan loop.

This photo was taken at the Hobsons Bay Model Railway Club's Exhibition of Australian Model Railways that is held over the Easter weekend each year. Shown is an N scale model railway layout based on Wallan back when it was a more substantial station (compare now (sort of) and then). In the front are the broad gauge running lines, then the large broad gauge yard, while at the rear is the standard gauge line with two trains crossing in the loop. The track machines in the photo above this one are parked in a small siding that is not depicted, that runs off the start of the loop, and would be parked just behind where the blue and red locomotives are (these are NR class locomotives in Indian Pacific and The Ghan colour schemes BTW). Most crossing loops on the north east standard gauge have at least one such siding for the storage of track machines or broken down locomotives and rolling stock. This layout is owned by the Victorian N Scale Collective.

Regional non-fast rail - Part 1

Went for a drive today up to Bradford and back home again via Wallan. I decided to stop in at the stations of both these towns and was rewarded at each by a train within 10 minutes of arrival. It was interesting to note that V/Line is using the latest VLocity railcars on this line at weekends despite the fact that this line was not part of the regional fast rail project. During the week it is a mix of older Sprinter railmotors (railcars) and locomotive hauled carriages. Anyway at Broadford I took some photos of this Melbourne bound train, it appeared to have a full seated load which surely is a good sign.

VLocity 1131-1231 approaching Broadford station while on
route from Seymour to Melbourne Southern Cross.

This section of track between Craigieburn and Seymour is notable in that it is the last remaining section of double line block safe working in Victoria (if not in Australia). What this means is that the line is divided into sections or blocks. In total there are 5* blocks, these being:

• Craigieburn - Donnybrook*
  
• Donnybrook - Wallan
• Wallan - Kilmore East
• Kilmore East - Broadford
• Broadford - Seymour

* Until the extension of suburban trains to Craigieburn last year there was a block between Broadmeadows and Somerton and another between Somerton and Donnybrook. When the suburban extension to Craigieburn opened the block instruments from Somerton were moved to Craigieburn.

At each station mentioned above there are machines known as Winter's Block Instruments (Winter being the inventor), one for each section of each line. These allow the signaller to communicate with the signaller at the next or previous station using bell codes and indicator needles to negotiate the progress of a train along the line. The signals are sent along the telegraph wires or other communications lines beside the railway. The system is explained in much better detail at Vicsig.

VLocity 1131-1231 loading/unloading passengers at Broadford.

Anyway the point is that the infrastructure required for Double Line Block can be seen in the photo above. There is the signal box on the right which houses the signaller, signal levers and block instruments. Further down the line you can see the down starting signal in front of the train, which allows a train into the next block. On the right of the other line is the down home signal which accepts trains in to the station. These arrangements are reversed at the other end of the station (somewhat visible in the first photo). These are both lower quadrant semaphore signals. There is also a crossover which at a guess is only used in case of emergency under special instructions from the signaller and train control (Centrol) in Melbourne.

I should also mention Double Line Block allows stations to be "switched in" and "switched out" as needed. So for busy times all the stations can be switched in to allow a maximum number of trains through, while at quieter times some of the stations can be "switched out" . Today was one of those quieter times, and I believe it was operating as a single block from Craigieburn to Seymour.

VLocity 1131-1231 disappearing towards Melbourne.

In this final photo you can clearly see the standard gauge line from Melbourne to Albury to the left of the double track broad gauge line. This line has recently been re-laid with concrete sleepers for it's length and longer passing loops known as passing lanes are under construction. The concrete sleepers allow for higher speeds, particularly on curves, and have a longer life span that wooden sleepers (not to mention that we are running out of good quality red gum that is needed for environmental reasons to remain as trees). The existing passing loops are about 2 km at most, which defines the maximum length of the trains that can run on this line (to I believe about 1.8 km), and require many trains to be "put away" or stopped in the loops in order to cross (rail term for trains passing each other in opposite directions) a train in the opposing direction or be overtaken by a faster train . The new passing lanes in contrast will be many kilometres in length (perhaps 5 to 10 I'm not sure on the specifics) which will allow trains to simply pass each other while moving, which make for even faster travel times. All this work is being undertaken by the ARTC (Australian Rail Track Corporation) a federally funded corporation which manages the interstate standard gauge rail network.

Sydney for a day

A few weeks ago when I was home sick from work (bad sun burn) I heard an ad on the radio for charity mystery flights for the Good Friday appeal. So after asking mum if she wanted to go I rang up and booked. 3 hours latter I checked my email and found out we were going to Sydney. Mystery solved.

View of Sydney across the harbour from Watsons Bay.

Last Sunday was the day and we had a good one. Before we left we decided to go to Watsons Bay for Doyles Fish and chips, but we also managed to squeeze in a train ride across the Sydney Harbour Bridge and a ferry ride to Darling harbour via Balmain and Birchgrove.

Cliffs at The Gap

At Watson's bay I showed mum "The Gap" and the view across the Sydney Heads. Mum said she had no idea there would be so many people here, thinking we would be the only one's on the ferry. As to the fish and chips, I think they are some of the best fish and chips I've ever had, and one of the reasons I was keen to go back.

Watsons Bay Ferry

I dunno how but all our public transport connections worked pretty well, the longest we had to wait all day was about 20 minutes for our Watsons bay Ferry from Circular Quay. It was quite expensive though, but still good value. I was prepared for $16 day tripper ticket, but a return gate pass for the airport station alone cost me $14. Mum being a pensioner got away with the $10 pensioner special (normally costs $2.50 without the airport included).

Luna Park in Sydney

One other observation was the verdant green grass everywhere, something not seen in Melbourne (except the Fitzroy Gardens which come close). It's amazing what a bit(lot) of rain does.

I don't need to tell you what's in this photo.

It was a big day for different modes of transport, in all we caught 4 trains, 3 ferries and 2 planes, and drove 1 car. Speaking of planes, I just can't express how much better Qantas is than Virgin Blue. In most cases it's marginally more expensive, but that is made up for in better aircraft, better comfort, better service (had a really nice Japanese flight attendant on the way up, she went out of her way to make small talk with the passengers) and better food. Fly QANTAS.

On the way home

On the train one day

This is a comment I made on one of High Riser's posts, and thought that it is worthy of it's own post.

One day on a train I sat down on the middle seat of group of three, someone was already at the window seat. Instantly I decided I was a bit cramped so I moved across to the aisle seat for more leg room. It was then that the person at the window spoke up and said, "it's OK I won't bite". I looked up, and he was an African man. I then realised that a few of the people in the surrounding seats were looking at me. I remember feeling quite embarrassed.

The comment was made in good humour, and I don't think he actually took offence at me moving seats. My action certainly wasn't made because of his skin colour, but I doubt a white or Asian person would make a comment such as this. I still think about this incident frequently when I'm on public transport. It is quite funny looking back at it.

I guess the point is that everything comes down to intent and perception. You're never going to get both to agree 100% of the time.