About
My name is Phin, I’m an economics student with an interest in transport policy. I started this blog partly because of my frustration that public transport projects are constantly stonewalled due to blatantly unrealistic cost estimates. This blog also aims to provide some respite to insomniacs.
cheers
Great graphics!
Does this blog have an RSS feed?
Hi Phin,
Sorry to leave this as a comment here but I don’t see an email link for you anywhere!
I’m wondering whether you’d be interested in becoming part of a group blog about transport in Melbourne generally. You have a great voice and I think you’d be perfect for this.
If you’re interested, my email’s attached to this comment!
Hey Phin,
Great blog..I am very impressed!
See you in class
dude i really like the blog and i have a few general comments that may be of interest.
i reckon these focuses are the blogs strengths:
1. melbourne focus
2. large scale project focus.
this means that ideas are driven by considering melbourne’s geography and the technical limitations of our systems. it also seems to give big ticket items that pollies can sign up to. These give shape to a vision for the future that it is possible to get behind.
I venture the following possible sources of additional fresh ideas.
1. One obvious (although well exploited) route might be international comparisons.
2. I think looking more at why people take PT is a major potential source of inspiration: (This piece shocked me out of drawing extra bus lines on maps of canberra while i was living there! http://www.vtpi.org/quality.pdf )
3. Equally, considering the counterpoint :
a) why (for what kinds of trips, or for what other reasons) do people buy their first car? ( having a car must be the main (inverse) correlate with expenditure on PT)
b)or even more excitingly, why would someone move from having a car to not having one? (if you consider cars have a lifetime of 20 years, 5 per cent of the population could be in a position to become dedicated PT users per annum!)
c)when do people who have a car leave it behind?
you’ve kept me up late at night… inspiring! i look forward to seeing whatever is posted next.
Jason
Many thanks for the suggestions Jason - all very good ideas. Riccardo (railhobbies.blogspot.com) is currently doing a fantastic training track series which has some really good international comparisons.
I think the other points are fascinating, and I’m hoping to look at them in more detail soon. I’ve started off this theme with my latest post on tipping points in modal share, and hopefully I’ll be able to look more closely at where the tipping point occurs some time over the next couple of weeks.
By the way, thanks for the VTPI link - it has some great information, especially on the elasticity of demand with respect to service.
cheers,
Phin
You’re a role model and inspiration to us all Phin.
A *truly* great man.
You have opened my eyes to the world of public transport and no words yet contrived could ever hope to convey the extent of my most sincere gratitude.
Hey Phin,
Couldn’t find an email to contact you on your blog, but I think you have one fantastic blog happening here. I have only just started blogging and my latest post is about time-travel with Connex (just a small article). Could I mention your blog (link to it) on my blog?
Regards,
Swapnil
Thanks Swapnil, no problems at all linking to my blog - in fact I welcome it! Feel free to post your blog address here when you get the post done. Also, I’ve just added a contact page for people who need to email me.
cheers