More car things

[hnpcc]

I got my car back after two days driving on a lean. It was the master cylinder apparently. I really need to learn more car parts and terms rather than the obvious ones like "boot", "bonnet", "door", "steering wheel", "idiot light", "clutch" and "brake" that I already know. Now it's going beautifully which is really nice.

In unrelated news the State Government released their 30 year plan for Melbourne last week. What was missing? My bloody train line to Monash dammit! (Although they are replacing the train line to Whittlesea, which I think is a good move). I think I will have to start agitating somehow. Not sure whom or when but I'm sure there's enough people out there who think it would be a good idea and then we could go and harrass the transport ministers. Apart from anything else it could be fun. :-)

Unfortunately though I'm beginning to think it's a "not in my lifetime" proposal. The former train line to Whittlesea was closed in the early 60s. This is an entirely new train line involving lots of building and underground bits and - essentially - cost. But it would be so good! And useful! Especially if you combine it with a ring trainline running around the city connecting up the trains... yes, I have public transport plans. I don't quite spend my days poring over Melways working out where to put the new trains, trams and buses (I'm still writing this bloody assignment for starters) but I do have a few moments of "we could extend the East Malvern tram all the way to Jells Park!" every now and then.

Interestingly, the day after the State Government's report RMIT released a report basically saying that they didn't think public transport usage would increase in the next 30 years without the system being given a massive cash injection and being totally improved. So maybe there is hope. And all us sad transport geeks can dream.

While the Minister for Public Transport is given a car to get to work nothing will change. In fact while all State Pollies are given cars nothing will change. I say make them use those Gold Public Transport Passes! Force them to attend late sittings by tram, train or bus! (Good luck, the buses finish by about 9pm mostly). And then we'll see how bloody quickly the system gets funded...

Oh yeah, in case anyone from the Victorian State Government happens to be reading this, I also want a dedicated bike lane down the middle of Wellington Rd to Monash University. Like the one on St Georges Rd. Please?

Comments

[owlrigh.livejournal.com]

I sit around thinking about public transport every so often. I wish they'd have a connecting train line from Beenleigh to Ipswich, since to get there at the moment means one hops on the Beenleigh line to get to the city and then go back down; over two hours of travel for something which would take half hour by car. Most annoying. There's not even a bus service as far as I can tell! Rrr.

[fishlifter.livejournal.com]

But isn't your public transport now operated by Connex and National Express (or was it Stagecoach?) for profit? We've seen how bad this can get... Well, I hope we've seen how bad it can get. I'd hate to think that British public transport could actually get even worse than it is now.

But we do at least have some politicians getting enthusiastic about light rail schemes. We've had trams in Croydon for two or three years now, and they're extremely useful.

[hnpcc]

Ah Connex. Got to love em. Can't kill them. Perpetrators of the stupidest ad campaign... well, not ever, but certainly one of the most irritating ads I've seen recently anyway. I'm sure I've ranted about this before, but the gist of it was they changed the name of their section of the trains from "Hillside" to Connex. OK, brand naming, I understand this concept. They got Harry Connick Junior making some stupid connection between his name and the brand name. OK, stupid and mildly irritating but copable.

But then they had the line: "Why Hillside? Melbourne has no hills!"

Which has been irritating me to unreasonable levels ever since. Melbourne has an entire friggin mountain range. Melbourne is like Rome, stuck on, in and around 7 different hill series. Whoever wrote this ad has obviously never been out of St Kilda (or more likely Sydney). Melbourne CBD has hills (either side of where the creek bed was). Where I live doesn't, but go 2km in any direction and you will find quite steep hills.

Sorry, I've already ranted about this so I'll shut up now. :-)

National Express has actually been quite good in Melb btw. (Watches UK residents fall to the ground in shock). Whoever's in charge of the bus division has actually improved the bus routes, introduced express buses, introduced cheaper national only ticketing and as a result the transport from some of the outer eastern suburbs (notably Templestowe and Warrandyte) into the CBD has really improved. I don't mind National buses - apart from anything else they're quite dinky looking. Especially the small ones, which look like they come out of Noddy.

I'm not sure who owns what was Bayside trains and is now M>. (And you thought "Bayside" and "Hillside" were stupid names. M>. Hm.) I think Connex also has a stake in one of the tram groups, but I can't remember who owns the group that goes past me.

I didn't want public transport to be privatised. It hasn't made things any better overall. The companies aren't making profits and are now being bailed out by the government. Buy the bloody things back I say. Recentralise. It's a network, godammit! *sigh* Accept that it is unlikely that you will make a profit on it until you start taxing roads at their actual cost and/or petrol goes through the roof. Most of the bus companies provide the absolute bare minimum requirements and are suprised that they don't get more patronage.

On the up side they are changing all the signage back to a standard design - apparently the tourists were having trouble working out that all the trains go off one ticket and just because you came out at a "Connex" station didn't mean that you couldn't use a "Bayside" station to catch your train from the CBD home again...

[fishlifter.livejournal.com]

Waaaaa! National Express has a Good Twin which emigrated to Australia! Waaaaa!