Some Suggestions for Better Network Maps

I’d planned to write a post on Melbourne network maps a couple of weeks ago, but didn’t quite get around to it. I’d actually been thinking seriously about the issue for a few months prior, ever since a friend lent me Maxwell J. Roberts’ great book Underground Maps After Beck, which documents the history of [...]

Melbourne Tram Network Grand Plan

Firstly, apologies for my absence from the blog over the past week - it’s getting close to exams and I managed to get several assignments due within a few days of one another. But I did get Adobe Illustrator a couple of days ago and I’ve been experimenting with it to create a new [...]

Tipping Points in Public Transport Modal Share?

I was reading through an old post on Peter Parker’s excellent blog about service frequency and its capacity to change travel behaviour; and it got me thinking about the marginal modal share return to increases in service provision. Here, quality is fairly broadly defined - I’m basically looking at a combination of frequency, ease of [...]

Extending the Epping line to South Morang/Mernda and Aurora

Let’s face it - last week’s state budget was bad for public transport. Very little money was spent, and worryingly, some of the money spent was wasted. I’m talking about the $10 million that’s been earmarked for ‘design and development works’ for the South Morang rail extension. This is an absurd amount of money to [...]

The north-south rail line - what about the trams?

A couple of weeks ago I had a look at the prospects for a north-south rail line in central Melbourne. There’s no doubt that such a line would have a substantial impact on travel patterns. Aside from the induced demand implications (which would no doubt be substantial), there would be significant adjustment in the role [...]

Just fixed an error in some old calculations

Due to an embarrassing mathematical error, the figures in my post about tram operating costs were a bit out. It’s all fixed now (I hope!) and the new marginal figures are $0.84 million/km per annum for track maintenance and $0.61 million/km per annum for tram leasing.

All night public transport and road safety

Firstly, apologies for not having updated in the last couple of weeks - I’ve developed a pretty serious West Wing addiction that’s been consuming most of my time.
More importantly, I read on the weekend that restricting first year drivers to carrying one passenger is back on the cards in the form of an RACV submission [...]

How on earth did Alan Moran get a PhD in “public transport economics”?

My good friend Matt sent me an opinion piece that appeared in The Age a couple of days back; written by none other than Alan Moran - Director of the “Deregulation Unit” at the right wing Institute of Public Affairs. Moran apparently has a PhD in public transport economics, yet seems to think that [...]

Private companies investing in public transport infrastructure

Lynne Kosky said a couple of days ago that the government was looking at “creative” ways to finance public transport, including long term contracts, in which the private sector would pay for infrastructure. The implication is that this would reduce the public sector funding share.
The thing is, we heard all this sort of stuff about [...]

Back of the envelope calculations - Melbourne trains vs Melbourne trams vs Berlin

I’ve been looking at the patronage figures and network size for the Melbourne train and tram systems. Metropolitan rail in Melbourne covers 372km carries 178.6 million passengers per year (slightly higher than the 170 million I previously believed it to be). Trams in Melbourne cover 245km and carry just over 150 million passengers per year. [...]