Public transport geekery

[hnpcc]

I had far too much fun coming in to work this morning. I've been kind of experimenting with routes in to work - it used to be just tram-tram, but since I moved I've tried train-tram, train-train and going home I've tried bus-train, tram-train, bus-bus, train-train.

The simplest and probably quickest route is the train/tram combination... but that's what I do every day. And for me there's always the side need of "what if the train system goes down? what if the tram network goes down?" to have back up plans. This, of course, is where the buses come in.

Mostly I experiment going home, usually because I don't have to get there as quickly. But today I was running early, so when I realised I could probably walk up one block from the train station and catch the bus to work... well, it was an opportunity not to be missed.

The first bus I caught was running very late, and so terminated at Flinders St. The second one, once we got past the congestion around Crown, absolutely fanged it down St Kilda Rd, passing trams as we went. I'm tempted to try this route again, although I might try it from the National Gallery stop rather than Queen St, where I started.

I have to admit it always surprises me when people don't know where the buses outside their work go. I tend to read the Melways to find out. And then, when I need a bit of a change, catch them to see where, exactly, they go. I've jumped on quite a few trams and buses to see what was at the other end of the route.

The transport plan released for Melbourne last week doesn't really cut it for me, except for the proposed Caufield-Footscray train link. Now that, I'm up for. And not just because it would probably get me to work even faster again (part of this experimentation is that it's currently taking me roughly the same time to travel nearly 20km by train as it is 4km by tram. There has to be a quicker route, seriously.) The East-West road tunnel has the smell of someone's long-cherished plan. Not that I can talk. If they gave me control of the budget for Victoria there'd be train lines sprouting within minutes. Well, OK, days. Or weeks. But the line to Monash University would be started as quickly as I could bloody make it.

I do wonder if another part of this jumping on and off forms of transport is just me really, really wanting to go travelling again. Probably.

Comments

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

Can I please give you control of the budget for Victoria?

[hnpcc]

I'd certainly have fun with it! :-)

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

Let's have the old inner and outer circle railways back, while you're at it...

[hnpcc]

Oh trust me, I have the inner, the outer and a new outer (about 20km from the city, going through Monash Uni, Latrobe Uni and Melbourne airport and linking up all the other rail lines) trains planned.

Yes, seriously.

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

I seriously want to put you in charge. We need a web to link all our radiating railway lines.

[hnpcc]

I have possibly spent far too long reading the Melways. And then thinking about this while culturing.

[17catherines.livejournal.com]

It's not possible to spend too much time reading the Melways...

[hnpcc]

Oh and an east-west freight tunnel, and a ring freight tunnel. Cos what stuffs up the Pakenham line like nothing else is bloody freight trains.

[essjayeff.livejournal.com]

Freight trains! Freight trains! Give me lots of Freight trains! Underground....

Seriously - I'm off to work in the Transport office next week for 11 weeks - if I get 10 secs with Lynne in the tea room - well - I'll tell her to come at look at St Georges Road Car park now and see if she seriously thinks pushing all the high street traffic on to it is a good idea - watch the 7th most deadly intersection in Melbournebecome the Deadliest Roundabout in the state in - oh - say under 3 months!


Oh yeh - cause all those *lovely* shops on high st will be much more attractive if you can't drive there - or park out side them - yeh right!

Idiots! Give me trams too - more trams!

(Why I dislike busses - well - they are driven by bus drivers for one thing - everyone has to queue at the front door to get on for another....and they just make more TRAFFIC you idiots! *sigh*

I too want the inner circle train line back - and a line to Monash and Knox (a tram? why?) and Bundoora and Caroline Springs (which we all know is where all the secretaries come from!)

ANd one to Doncaster - have you *seen* the size of the park and ride out there? It;s huge! but wait - the busses all get held up by the stinking traffic! argh!

Off to read my UBD now :-)

[hnpcc]

Ah, but they're replacing the St Georges Roundabout with traffic lights... which will do bugger all except lower the number of tram/car collisions there. It certainly won't improve traffic flow - and if they'd make trams give way to the traffic on the bloody roundabout you wouldn't have the collisions to start with (I swear, the trams just keep going on the 'person-with-the-most-momentum-has-right-of-way' rule.

Why I dislike busses - well - they are driven by bus drivers for one thing - everyone has to queue at the front door to get on for another....and they just make more TRAFFIC you idiots! *sigh*

True - but they carry far more people than most cars and are more efficient. I mean, the same argument about traffic can also be made about trams. Sydney now has ticket-only buses, where the drivers don't sell tickets, and where I think you can get on at both doors in peak hour. They seem to be much faster - I do wonder about the level of fare evasion and ticket inspectors though.

I like trams because you can see where they're going - but damn, they're slow on St Kilda Rd! I know it's because of the sheer volume of them and the numbers of people - another reason why I wouldn't mind the Footscray to Caulfield line going ahead is that it would take out some of the congestion in the trams. Not all of it - train stops are further apart, and there'd be people who come in by tram who'd go out by tram again, but there's a huge number of people who come in by train and switch to the tram at either Melbourne Central or Flinders St who'd probably just change trains if it were closer to them.

The northern road "solutions" had me banging my head in despair while laughing hysterically. I mean seriously - Murray Rd, Moreland Rd and Darebin Rds are major East-West routes. You can't actually fit much more traffic on Bell St, and they're kidding themselves if they think they can. And don't get me started on High St above Murray Rd in Preston - there is no good reason for that strip to be a 40kph zone. It's an industrial area, there's bugger all pedestrian traffic - it's like whoever set it up just drew lines on a map without actually looking at anything.

And then you have "obey the yellow" which is (a) the stupidest slogan ever and (b) completely impossible in half the places they've put it. You are more likely to delay a tram waiting for the traffic to let you in to change lanes than you are by just continuing along. It's bullshit. I don't disagree with having clearways for trams, but not when the tram is on a shared lane in a two lane road!

and a line to Monash and Knox (a tram? why?)

Because it's "cheaper". It's also slower and no one in their right minds will commute into the city via it (see also: Bundoora) but it will still carry local shoppers and commuters. The government (and by 'government' I mean this one, the last one, and the last 30 years worth of them) has an aversion to spending money on upgrading public transport and expanding lines - the infrastructure needs upgrading badly, especially in the loop. I would hate to live on the Sandringham line - I've caught the train out to Prahran from Flinders St in the morning, and they are crammed in like sardines. And presumably this is after everyone who wanted to travel through the loop got off at Richmond. *sigh*

My best option would be to take the cars off the state politicians and force them to use their gold cards until the system improves.

[essjayeff.livejournal.com]

Don't hold your breath - not until 2009 - and you know that means 2010....by which time about a100 cyclists will be no more and I'm very likely to have shot some idiot who runs straight through while I am trying to turn into Clarke st.

I like trams because you can see where you are going too - and it's more attractive than train lines (not that I can get on a train at Merri anyway). And you can see the shops and plan your outings :-)

Well yes busses are better than cars -but they aren't better than trains and trams in combination.

Tram to know why? was of course a rhetorical question. I can't help thinking that if they split the bloody routes back up again ( the 112 used to be an 11 and ran from Preston to town and back to Preston, not down the St Kilda) then they could better manage the flow of trams so they could actually move people efficiently, not run on time., which is all they are designed to do now.

I walked along St Kilda road to Domain as I couldn't stand the trams. Those new ones have such a low centre of balance that they just through everyone around.

Not sure how I feel about the Obey the Yellow stuff - but I know I hate sitting at Brunswick St / Alexandra parade lights for 4 - 5 changes cause of the idiots trying to turn right.

I start an 11 week contract as an admin assistance in Transport on Monday .... I'll see what I can do


(of course all references to *idiots* was directed at Governments etc not our posters :-)

[hnpcc]

Not sure how I feel about the Obey the Yellow stuff - but I know I hate sitting at Brunswick St / Alexandra parade lights for 4 - 5 changes cause of the idiots trying to turn right.

A lot of that comes down to better traffic management. The light changes are too short at that intersection (IMHO). Right turning arrows are tram-friendly, particularly if they actually last long enough to make a difference.

I don't mind the longer through routes - I think it's slightly better to have trams going through the CBD and out again rather than backing up everything by turning around. Swanston St used to be a complete nightmare before they put in the Melbourne Uni turnaround and extended all the tram routes from the south/east to there.

Yay on 11 week contract (um, less now) hope it's all going well!

Transport Geek Websites

[mrsbrown.livejournal.com]

I love www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au I use the Journey Planner all the time

Have you also looked at adding a bicycle into your transport mix? There's a great map of bicycle routes on the Vicroads website (http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/BicyclesPedestrians/WhereToRide/InteractiveBicycleMapsOfVic.htm)

And heaps more stuff about bicycle commuting at www.bv.com.au

Re: Transport Geek Websites

[hnpcc]

I used to bike on and off when I lived closer in. The train though, there's no way I'm even going to think about trying to put a bike on the train. It'd be nice (and a hell of a lot faster) to be able to bike the last 4km[1], but realistically - if I can't get a seat getting on to the train, then it's too crowded to put a bike on.

When the daylight comes back[2] I may well look at getting up earlier and attempting to bike - I'm actually not that far from the Yarra trail, and with more light I'd probably go that route (not a fan of biking on roads if I can avoid them. Particularly not in peak hour. Used to bike down Lygon St in peak hour, but I seem to have gotten older and more injured since then). Right now, what with the dark and stuff... not going to happen. It's dark when I leave, dark when I get home and I'm all too aware of how difficult bikes can be to see at night, even with the lights, the reflectors and all the safety gear and "dedicated" bike lanes.

I've been thinking for a while, it'd be great to have a Bikeways map of Melbourne, with the quality of Melways but coded according to ease of bike use. Particularly one you could download and zoom in and out similar to what they've done on the site, but on, say a PDA or mobile or something. As someone who managed to lose the Moonee Ponds, Merri Creek and Yarra bike trails at various points, I'd really appreciate it! Also just for things like "Avoid this end of Moreland Rd, it's narrow, it sucks and if you go about 25m north there's a parallel running side street that is absolutely great."

[1] I just realised it takes the postdoc 15 minutes more to walk from here into the city than it does to tram it. Sheesh. I can bike faster than that!
[2] Bring on the solstice already. I blame my Scottish genes for this fear of the dark...