Express Tram Stops on Victoria St

Victoria St Richmond is a ticking traffic time bomb. With Salta office and residential developments coming online within the next year and the Honeywell site redevelopment being approved, we're going to see a massive increase of cars and demand for tram services down this much loved street. This coupled with Ballieu's wind back of clearway times will make Victoria St a virtual parking lot if something isn't done and SOON.



Serious consideration must now be given to an express stopping pattern for trams during peak hours in the morning and evening. The proposed stops will be Burnley St, Church St, North Richmond Station and Hoddle St. This neatly corresponds to the existing tram map.



In all this express stopping pattern by-passes 6 stops, and by reducing the amount of stops will hopefully improve flow of traffic behind trams.

Planning must now begin for super stops to handle the larger amount of people that will get on an off express stops. Peak and off peak branding must be installed on tram stops along the road and an education campaign advising commuters of this change must go live 6 months before the express stopping patterns are started.

#Myki machines on trams

The rollout of myki machines on trams has yet to begin, but already there is enough information out there to begin analysis on what to expect. Information gleaned from the myki website suggests that it will alow myki money top ups of up to $20 and that it will sell short term myki passes which is the equivalent of 2 hour or daily metcards for tourists. In other words it will not provide any better functionality than metcard. SHAME!

The two big issues I see are the lack of myki pass support, and secondly the lack of support for electronic payment methods.

The lack of myki pass support is a kick in the shins for regular tram commuters who'll inconveniently still have to go to a train stations/tram superstops to get instant myki pass top ups. Either that or purchase them online and wait a minimum 24 hours before the transaction is approved. Presumably the lack of myki pass support is because there is an issue with the storage of large volumes of cash on a tram, which brings us to the next issue, why is there still no support for electronic payment methods?

If myki touch on and touch off information can be relayed back to a central database, there must be a means for communication from the tram to the outside world, and hence a means for electronic payment methods. Are electronic payment methods too slow to function on a tram? Are they too unreliable? Or is it something for the too hard basket?

Melburnians should rightly expect things to improve with myki, except we're once again stuck with the status quo of coin collecting. Perhaps we'll see more tram superstops with full functionality myki topup machines scattered around every route in the future, but at the moment they are only seen in the city.

This blog post is a request that myki reconsiders the myki pass functionality on their tram top up machines to allow, at minimum, purchase of a weekly myki passes, then progressively phase in more days as a solution for increased storage and disposable of money on trams or electronic payments becomes available.

Myki lessons and the way forward

The myki concept in itself is decent, but the project has been plagued with very poor project management and implementation. Myki is a casestudy on how NOT to build a smart card system, compared to "successful" implementations like Octopus and Oyster. So what did the other smart cards do right that we didn't? I'd suggest two things: 1) they weren't overly ambitious from the start 2) they had a quick transition period from their old systems.

Firstly, the Oyster card was first issued to the public with a limited range of features. Myki was overambitious from the start. From offering a myki money system that wasn't fully tested, to beginning with online topups rather than top ups at stations. This was a radical change from the existing metcard system, which in turn required an education campaign. The focus at the start should have clearly been to build a low risk system that worked and that was familiar enough to existing metcard users so they could easily make the transition.

Lesson 1) They should have built a virtual metcard using myki equipment. Offering the exact same tickets as metcard (2hr, daily, weekly, monthly, etc), but using myki touch on and off technology. Myki money, online topups, etc could have been phased in later when fully tested or killed off if the government ran out of money.

Secondly, unlike the Octopus system which forced users to transtition to their new system within the first 3 months, we've had a year of two parallel system running with no end date for metcard in sight. Hence, why there has been a low uptake of the myki system. This is obviously a bad situation to be in.

The dilemna is mainly caused by the poor myki money rollout, where people just don't have confidence that the correct fare will be calculated. How can you force commuters to adopt a system that they're not sure will work? The solution is you don't.

The way forward from this mess is to isolate myki money from the rest of the system, so that it's not integral to the way the system works. As I mentioned previously, exact equivalent metcard fares need to be offered on myki pass (2hr, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly and all the variants). If commuters are not confident in the myki money calculations they can now bypass it by buying prepaid fares on the myki pass system. This therefore negates the need for metcard readers, ticket top up machines, and paves the way for a full rollout of myki topup machines.

Lesson 2) The only way to have quick adoption is to force people to upgrade to a RELIABLE system.

Melbourne Bike Share: Replacing helmets with Insurance

Insurance
-State government
-Melbourne City Council
-TAC - Registration of bike riders?
-Personal insurance - RACV offer a product - Must be affordable.

Improving bike share infrastructure
- bike lanes
- restricting bike riders without helmets to bike lanes

Behaviour
-Speed Limits within Bike Share Zone - Melbourne City Limits
-Enforcement - Fines / Demerit points to correct behaviour.
-Defensive bike riding courses

Timeframe (minimum 2 years before renewed helmet laws)
- Continue to develop bike infrastructure
- Helmet promotion campaign in the mean time.
- Debate and introduce new laws providing choice.
- Introduce insurance products
- Can bike share survive 2.5 years with helmet laws?

Bums on Seats - Melbourne Bike Share Challenge

Based on anecdotal evidence the Melbourne Bike Share sheme is struggling, which is a shame, because it's a great initiative. Below are some thoughts on how we can get some extra bums on seats and make the scheme more of a success.

1) Temporary Bike Stations - We know Universities are busy during the week and normally quiet during the weekend. Conversely, places like the MCG or Docklands football stadium are busy on the weekends, but would have a hard time justifying their existence on weekdays. Do bike share stations needed to partitioned into Weekday and Weekend stations to reflect this reality?

A key to getting the bike share scheme to work is getting as many stations out to places people frequent. Justifying a station such as the MCG could be hard based on 7 day patronage figures, but opening stations at the MCG just on the weekends could be a work around for this problem. Excess bikes from Melbourne University could be shifted to the MCG on weekends.

Understanding that Melburnian's travel habits are not rigid, is a key to a dynamic system and one that would maximize utilization.

2) Discounts - It doesn't take a genius to figure out that bike share patronage will be down on a rainy day. This will always be the case, but can some people be enticed to use the system on rainy day by offering discounts? Will a 50% discount be enough to entice people? What about extending the free travel period from 30 minutes to 60 minutes on a rainy day to factor in the wet?

The crux of getting this discount scheme to work is semi "real time" notifications. Push notifications via mobile phones or SMS notifications for subscribers can be sent at 6:30am in the morning. If rain is forecast or detected, a message offering discounts to users and a reminder to bring a helmet should be sent.

Further patrons should be able to register their favourite stations. If a station is underforming, discount notifications can be sent to users to encourage patronage.

3) Loyalty program - I like getting my free cup of coffee after 10 drinks, and i'm sure bike riders would appreciate a free ride after X amount of trips. It's a simple and effective way to encourage repeat patronage.

4) Bike share Buddies - Much like myki mates, the initial reaction from many Melburnians is confusion on how the scheme works. Having volunteers available to explain and demonstrate the features will be a key part of getting bums on seats.

5) Better integration with city wide festivals - Melbourne is a city of festivals. The Food and Wine festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, Melbourne Open House and The Melbourne Internation Comedy Festival to name a few. These festivals use venues scattered around the city, and are excellent candidates to promote the use of bike share. Cross promotion and using the "bring a helmet" slogan would be benefitial for all.

Analysis: The Melbourne Metro Transport Plan

The government has finally realeased details of the Melbourne metro plan, analysis as follows:

An interchange or provision for an interchange should be provided at Lloyd street for connection with the Upfield and Cragieburn lines. This is currently not included in the plan.

The Arden metro should be located adjacent to Abbotsford st and Queensberry st to provide connections with the 57 West Maribynong tram. The Arden metro will likely see high rises spring up in North Melbourne. The government and local councils should work in concert to protect Errol St and heritage buildings in the area.

Consideration should be given to a new tram line servicing Docklands via the Arden metro to fully activate the North Melbourne Area. Connections to multiple tram line is essential to create a "CBD" type concentration.

The placement of the Parkville metro is excellent. It services the hospitals, university and research hubs in the area. Further it has excellent connections to tram lines down Flemington rd and Royal parade.

Consideration should be given to the effects of tram patronage once the Parkville metro opens. Should trams continue to terminate at the university or should a new terminus, perhaps at Docklands be used? It should be noted that this plan doesn't solve or address the Docklands blackspot.

I believe the location of the North and South CBD metros are appropriate and pragmatic. They take into account trains that travel through the loop and those that run direct to Flinders st. There will be those that a dissapointed that the new metro doesn't tread new ground. Perhaps with a stop that is not already well serviced, say Lygon St, though it's understandable that costs are kept manageable.

Lastly, I agree with the reasoning in the placement of the Domain metro. It will act to reduce peak loads on trams down St Kilda rd which should be commended.

Doncaster to Rowville North South Subway line

Melbourne should move away from the old radial line into the city model of the past. The Doncaster to city, Rowville to city plan will only serve minor sections of the community, and hence will always find it hard to gain political support. What's needed is a plan that will connect Doncaster, Rowville and other public transport blackspots to existing radial lines, and one that also seeks to decentralize the focus away from the Melbourne CBD into transport hubs in the east and south east. The north-south subway line is plan much larger in scope that seeks to serve communities from the north of Melbourne through to the southeast.

The proposed route, to be determined in consulation with the community, will use the new growth housing developments in Melbourne's north as commuter employee "sinks" to be distributed via the eastern and south eastern suburbs to employment hubs in the South east fringe where there is an abundance factory jobs, distribution centres and hopefully new centres of excellence following construction of this subway.

The route is ambitious in scope in that it seeks to fill crucial public transport blackspots. It will seek to meet latent demand from the Doncaster, Rowvile, Waverley Park regions, to areas where there are an under supply of public transport options such as Chadstone Shopping centre, Knox City Shopping Centre and Monash University Clayton campus. The route shall also accomodate where possible areas which have a public interest, such as hospitals and schools.

Further where the route crosses existing radial lines from the city to the suburbs, for instance the belgrave/lilydale line, commuter transfer hubs shall be developed. This will allow commuters travelling from the east to the south east to bypass Richmond station, vastly reducing travel times and making public transport a more viable option. The north south subway line will be a major distribution backbone linking the major radial lines in the east and south east.

Given the established nature of the eastern and south eastern suburbs, the lack of reserved public transport corridors and the general "not in my backyard" attitude of Melburnians, it is proposed a majority of the North South line be constructed underground in a subway. As the line will be self contained, the track and rolling stock can be built based on the latest technologies, ensuring reliability, safety and cost effective construction/tendering.

The costs will no doubt be signficant, but this is plan that provides the infrastructure for Melbourne to continue grow. It's a plan that helps better distribute jobs. It's plan that will better connect Melbourne and maintain our leading position at the forefront of livability. I commend you to support it.

Lilydale to Richmond via Doncaster

You may have read up about Rob Adam's plan to transform Australia's cities, with Melbourne being his pet project. He proposes growth along Melbourne's transport corridors, down train, tram and bus lines. It's evident from this strategy, that the east will take a significant burden having a lot of the transport infrastructure to promote growth.

This is why due consideration should be given to a new train line in the east. As a good businessman will tell you the absolute key to sustainability of your business is to have a contigency plan. With increased growth, the Belgrave/Lilydale line will be a vital conduit from transport hub Ringwood to the CBD.

The risks of this conduit being broken will have increasingly larger ramfications for the productivity of Melbourne. So, with a bit of forethinking we should act ahead of time, to provide a contigency plan to protect the east's productivity.

A way forward is to provide a new line from the east into the city. Doncaster has been screaming for a train line for decades, and I believe now is the time to act on their request. It is proposed that the Lilydale line be diverted at Ringwood station and travel via Doncaster and the north east to Richmond. Therefore, providing a backup line to the Belgrave line, and also freeing up capacity for extra services for both lines.

Should there be an incident on either lines, diversions from Richmond or Ringwood can provide an alternate conduit, ensuring commuters are can still reach key transport hubs.

A next step to be considered is providing a backbone to this. That is a North-South line connecting train lines from the Hurtsbridge line through to the Frankston. Stay tuned for my next article on this.

Single Zone for Weekend Travel

The Melbourne weekend public transport timetable is appalling. Trains run every 20 minutes at best, trams run every 12 minutes and buses even longer. There is a chicken and egg problem of demand vs supply. People won't take public transport because there are not enough services, and public transport companies won't increase services because of this.

There needs to be a circuit breaker to tip the balance.

Making the whole public transport a single zone on the weekend will seek to push the demand side of things. Getting more people on the public transport so the operators will take notice.

CHADSTONE PUBLIC TRANSPORT BRAINSTORM

With parking being such a nightmare in chadstone around special events like mothers day, christmas and even on weekends, it's obvious better public transport links need to be explored.

1) Train link. The closest stations to chadstone at the moment are Hughesdale (pakenham), oakleigh (pakenham), holmesglen (glenwaverly). Hughesdale is probably the closest within walking distance (around 1km). The others having bus links to chadstone. The location of these are sufficient enough barriers for people to continue driving to chadstone.

To rectify this barrier there are a few solutions:
1) Build a new station at chadstone shopping centre.
a) One possible solution would be to extend existing lines to Chadstone.
The glen waverley line can divert from east malvern station -> Chadstone -> Holmesglen. OR
The pakenham line can divert from hughesdale station ->Chadstone->oakleigh.

For political reasons, costing should probably be based on a subway rather than overhead lines due to local resident objections.

b) One could divert lines and bypass existing stations.
Pakenham line
Going from carnegie station->chadstone->oakleigh and deleting murumbeena and hughesdale stations. Murumbeena and glenhuntly could then be served by extending the glenhuntly tram down neerim rd.

c) Create a north-south train line connecting hurtsbridge, belgrave/lilydale, alamein, glen waverley, pakenham and frankston lines. Chadstone could be just one stop in this massive investment. This will be the farthest reaching collecting passengers from the east and south east which are likely that people that drive to chadstone the most.

2) Tram links. The most obvious and shortest extension would be to extend the tram line from the city down waverley rd and turn right down chadstone rd with a super stop at chadstone shopping centre.

3) Bus links - A no brainer is to increase the frequency of bus links to train stations.

Doncaster train line must be commercial!

Whilst new land needs to be developed in the west and services provided to those areas, it's also pragmatic for governments to develop existing pockets of land in the "middle suburbs" a reasonable distance away from the city. Suburbs like Doncaster, Knox, and Rowville.



Previous government estimates have priced a train line to Doncaster at $1billion. Pocket change if you ask me, but to make the development of these lines more financially attactive, the stations themselves need to follow the new metro trains paradigm of commericalization. Train stations can no longer be simply entry points to the public transportation system. They need a mix of community services, office space and retail.



Secondly and importantly new train lines should not create extra bottlenecks inside the city loop. New lines should push forward goals of decentralization. The Doncaster line for example should extend to Ringwood (a transport hub in the Melbourne 2030 plan).



Concepts like transfer hubs also need to be promoted. People should no longer expect a one way ride into the city. Stations outside of the loop, such as Richmond (which by the way needs a major revamp) should act as transport transfer hubs. The Doncaster line feeding through Doncaster - Richmond - Ringwood - Doncaster - creating an outer loop and completely bypassing Flinders St and the City Loop.



These are imporatant pragmatic steps forward in making the Doncaster line a reality. No longer should the Doncaster line be consider an "If" but a "when".

Allow Myki tickets to "rollover"

Mobile phone users have long benefited from "rollover" plans where unused credit is rolled over to the next month. This benefits the user,when their usage is lower, for instance when they are on holidays.

With the introduction of myki the time is ripe to introduce this same scheme to public transport users. This initiative is all about expanding the public transport user base from office workers and students, to more casual users, that would otherwise catch a car. Obviously there should be limits on the rollover, similar to what telcos do, say two consecutive months, so casual users have incentives to travel more.

The thought process in this is casual users are hesitant to buy longer term tickets knowing their travel plans are sporadic. Giving them a safety net of 2 months to use their ticket should enourage them to make a longer term commitment to public transport usage. Hence providing a piecemeal step by step transition into becoming a permenant public transport user.

By also enforcing myki "touch" off to participate in this "rollover" initiative, the goverment provides an incentive for Melburnians to learn the touch off system. In the long run, benefiting the system by providing a better understanding of public transport user profiles.

How would you simply for the Belgrave/Lilydale Line?

Andrew Lezala is right. Train timetables are too complicated. We have express trains running direct between Box hill and Richmond. Some stopping at Camberwell and Glenferrie. Some stopping at Surrey hills, Camberwell and Glenferrie. No wonder it's confusing for patrons and controllers!

I think the simplest solution is to have two services only. One express service stopping at premium stations only, and one stopping all stations, running a nominal 5 minutes apart (less during peak periods).

So if you miss a train you know the next one will be at most 10 minutes away, 5 minutes if you're willing to stop all stations.

Do we need high rises in the suburbs?

So have you heard about the planned 38 level mixed use residential and office tower in Box Hill? I don't know about you but I think this will stick out like a sore thumb. Developers should be seeking incrememental height change rather than an immediate eye catching showcase. The scary thing though, this building has been pulled out of normal planning considerations and fast tracked through the planning minister's department for approval.

Brumby, Madden and the Labor party are ripping apart normal planning considerations in the name of jobs. As Melburnians we have to ask if this acceptable or not? Do we want mega high rises inconsistent with the existing landscape and without infrastructure to support them? To me this is certainly on the nose. We don't need planning on the run, otherwise we'd turn into sydney. A trip down sydney's anzac parade can show you how ugly a city can turn without proper planning. Something has to be done about this cozy relationship between developers and Labor. Especially in Sydney and Melbourne. Otherwise, the stink of corruption, masquerading as job stimulus is likely to rear its ugly head.

So what can be done? The most effective action is to let the political parties know their limits. Could a protest vote in the eastern suburbs send a message to Labor?

Secondly, there has been precedents overseas of residents taking action against mega rises. For example in Beijing, residents threatened legal action against Siemens for their proposed mega tower outside of the Beijing CBD. Sophisticated light and shadow simulations were used to determine a detrimental shadowing effect on neighbouring buildings. Neighbouring buildings could claim increased lighting bills, a detrimental effect on solar hot water and solar photovoltaic systems.

Let's not take our surburbs and way of life for granted. This is not about stopping development, rather stopping inappropriate non-holistic development. Buildings need to be integrated with their surroundings. Just as the global financial crisis highlighted the need to rein in those in the finance industry, similarly developers need to be reined in.

Melbourne needs unique trams

Melbourne needs unique looking trams, yes, but the W class trams aren't the solution. As a world class city, trams are one of our cities unique selling points. However, with more and more cities world wide adopting them, can they continue to be a differentiator in the future? A unique design language for our trams need to be adopted.

I propose unique front and rear ends, specified specifically for our city. It has to be something designed by us, and not corporate. Sorry Yarra trams, screw you!! Let's get Melbourne's best industrial designers together and come up with something good. Could it be based on the much loved W-class? Maybe...

Myki - why it's needed

Forget the incompetence of Kosky, DOT and KAMCO. Myki when it's finally working as proposed should be a good system. Like every other Melburnian I have my 2 cents on this issue. I think the system is needed, the old metcard although functional, won't be able to deliver a system that's repsonsive to Melbourne's needs into the future.

The main thing going for myki, and the whole point of it is tracking. The reason why they want us to sign in and sign off, is so they can find out where we're going, how many of us are using it, and where to put resources.

The system also paves the way for new innovate fare structures and a possiblity of direct refunds if there is consistant underperformance on the network (no more filling out useless forms!).

So let's get on with it. Test it live, and fix the problems as we go. That's the only way.

Should all Melbourne Premium Stations have ATMs?

A few years back, I remember reading an article in a Beijing newspaper at the outrage of the lack of ATM facilities in their new subway system, and can't help but find a similar problem here in Melbourne. Apart from Flinders St, which stupidly awarded ANZ sole rights, why aren't there more ATM's in conveninent locations for us to use them?

The lack of commercialization of our train stations is surprising given the massive foot traffic that passes through the system every day. Is this a department of transport issue, or is it an issue with the train operators? Or is it a security issue? Surely its not a commercial issue.

Either way a solution must be found. Is there any other things our train stations lack? What should the new operators MTM be looking at to improve our system?

City vs Suburbs - Is the new undercity loop win/win?

• 100 million underground station at Parkville.
• 14 extra trains an hour to western and northern suburbs.
• Links from inner city to the west to Stkilda rd district.

On paper there seems to be something for everyone here. It's a nice showcase project for Brumby to bring to the next election, given public transport could potentially be a achilles heel issue for him.

The question people from the suburbs, particuarly those in the outer suburbs should ask, is this really good value for money for them? There are those that argue that the inner city is already well serviced by many modes of transport. They have trams, trains and buses that run frequently compared to the suburbs which have only buses which run every 30 minutes or so.

Of course, with a growing population, many will argue that there is always room to expand capacity, and that's what Brumby is doing with this project. There are benefits of having a denser and more populated inner city, which will bring a new vibrancy and buzz to town. Then again, will there be more violence and crime?

What about those that argue for a decentralization of Melbourne? Development of so called transport hubs in the "middle suburbs". So people can work more locally, rather than take the hike into or across town? Are these too hard, or importantly less visible for a premier preparing for an election?

Unfortunately this project is likely to reinforce the "Tale of two cities". A great inner city, and CBD, and those "wasteland" suburbs. How long can these wasteland suburbs be swept under the rug before rearing their ugly head in terms of cbd and innercity violence?

So what do you think? Is it time for some political leadership, in order to tackle outer suburban infrastructure?

Doncaster to Burwood tram proposal

Doncaster residents may have to give up on their dreams of a train line to the city, and settle for a tram line to Box Hill, where they can catch an express into town. This will bring Doncaster out of isolation for many Melbourne commuters that don't want to navigate the slow bus system.

The proposed tram line would start at Westfield Doncaster shopping centre, and run down tram rd/Station st to Deakin Burwood campus.

It is hoped that this would encourage further medium density development along the new transport corridor. Aswell as this, cement Box Hill's place as a major transport hub.

How to make Melbourne trains more livable..part 1

Why are Melbourne trains so generic? They get us from point A to B, sure, but that's about it. Like our homes, and workplaces, we spend much of our lives in trains, so it stands to reason that we should try to make these "spaces" more livable.

In livable, I mean mood enhancing cues and general usability. Suggesting that there should be more services, space to breath, is a given. It's my hope that these mood cues, can make the long commute home, or the sardine squeeze a little bit more bearable.

In my first brainstorm, I suggest 3 factors that can enhance our experience. They are lighting, colours, and standing support.

The current lighting regime consists of cool white fluro lights, on at all times of the day. What are the benefits and problems with this? A cool white light in the morning, can help us become more alert, it's useful for reading and enchances general visability. So far so good.... Until we reach the end of the day. How do we feel by the end of the day? A little bit tired? Those that want a little shuteye, would find it extremely hard to sleep with a cool white light. Suggestion 1. Have a set of warm white lights to offset cool white lights. These will turn on during sunset, to match the outside mood. Lights, will preferably dim, to relax us after a long days work.

Technology of trains also needs to keep up with this livability enhancement. Should we fall asleep, a system using GPS and our mobile phones should alert us upon us approaching a station. Much like an outlook alert, we should be able to set the alert for x stops ahead, or perhaps time the alert to x minutes before reaching the platform. A much need enhancement regardless, of the possiblity of falling asleep.

Aswell as the use of lighting to set our moods, we can also use colours for the same effect. The generic white used in our current cabins scream monotony. Suggestion 2: Use colours and artwork to break the monotony. With the right interior designers, and budding young artists, the train interior can be a canvas to inspire creativity. Do we need to go to a gallery to inspire ourselves? Or can it be with us everyday? The key to making this work, is freshness, so these interior canvasses must be updated regularly. Let's make it happen melbourne.

As being able to get a seat is becoming more and more a luxury during peak hours, measures that can make standing more bearable must be explored. Suggestion 3: Have designated leaning zones with cushioning. This suggestion, controversially includes taking a stand on livability and yes means taking away seats to give more space to those that are sitting. Lets banish those cramped 3 seater configurations forever!!

What I suggest is to do away with the 2 and 3 seater configurations and simply have 1 row of comfortably sized seats along both sides of the train. The centre shall contain a row of cushioned leaning zones made of extremely comfortable material (think croc shoes, and latex pillows). So if we sit, we should be able to sit comfortably, if we stand we should also be able to stand comfortably.

The days of the cattle class and thoughtless, bland design can come to an end if we choose to think rather than accept the status quo. Let's get some ideas out there, and improve this system!