New Shepparton Line timetables

The Shepparton Line will be upgraded to 9 return trains every weekday, starting on 23 August, and the timetables have recently been published online. Unfortunately they leave a lot to be desired. 

New stations in Melbourne's west

Concept design of a new Tottenham Station (Big Build)

A bunch of stations in Melbourne's west are set to be rebuilt for various reasons, and they've recently released draft designs. So a quick runthrough of the designs and what kind of feedback I think they need.

V/Line's COVID recovery

V/Line VLocity trains at Southern Cross Station

V/Line's 2024-25 annual report has recently been tabled, so I wanted to take a look at their passenger numbers, how they're faring in the post-COVID world, and the long-term context of passenger growth. 

What's the Ballarat bus review looking at?

The Ballarat Bus Network is up for review (via DTP)

This year's Victorian budget included funds for a review of Ballarat's bus network, and I gave some high-level thoughts on what I think they should do in a previous post. 

Now the initial public consultation has started, so I want to dive into the ideas they're putting forward and the questions they're asking.

High Speed Rail, or just high-er speed?

N700A Shinkansen in Kyoto

There's a long-standing debate amongst public transport advocates in Australia over whether we should be pushing for a brand new High Speed Rail link between Melbourne and Sydney, or for upgrades to the existing line. There are pros and cons to both approaches, and I've always struggled to come to a firm conclusion - but I think I've finally made up my mind. 

Finally, a review of Ballarat's bus network

This year's Victorian budget included some funds for a review of Ballarat's bus network. This is something the people of Ballarat have been campaigning for since the network was last changed, in 2016-17, and was a core focus of my advocacy back when I was Convener of the Ballarat Branch of the PTUA. It's been a real uphill battle to get this review, so now we've finally got it, what do we want it to do? 

Is walkable urbanism just for our capital cities?

The idea of the 15-minute city (or neighbourhood) is an important one for reducing carbon emissions, and for making livable, vibrant cities - cities where you can meet most of your daily needs within 15 minutes walk or bike ride from your house, and destinations further away are connected by quality public transport. Unfortunately, it has attracted some conspiracy theories, so the term "15 minute city" itself might be falling out of favour - but the idea is a good one. 

More services for western Victoria

This weekend will see upgrades on trains and buses across a lot of western Victoria, so a quick look at what they'll mean. 

The Ballarat Line evening crunch

The Ballarat line has seen quite a bit of investment in recent years - building the infrastructure to increase capacity, and running more services to take advantage of that capacity. But there are still big holes in the timetable that I want to highlight, and which should be relatively cheap and easy to fix. 

The future of Ballarat's bike network

The City of Ballarat adopted their 2017-25 Cycling Strategy many years back, and - through all the setbacks and budget limitations - has been working towards that plan ever since. There is still a ways to go, but it's almost due for a refresh. And with council elections in October, now seems like a good time for me to put my 2c in about what the next strategy should look like. 

More Ballarat cycling projects

Proposed design of Macarthur Street (via CoB)

The City of Ballarat has been announcing new cycling projects faster than I can keep up with them, which is a very good problem to have! Today I want to talk very briefly about a project that's already closed for consultation, and in a bit more detail about one you can still give feedback on. 

The New Vehicle Efficiency Standards

A word cloud from the previous FES consultation

Yesterday the federal government has released an Impact Analysis paper on its proposed New Vehicle Efficiency Standards, and is seeking public feedback on it. I spent most of 2023 campaigning for this, so I thought I'd do a quick analysis of what they've put forward. 

New designs for Little Bridge Street

Concept art of the Little Bridge project (via CoB)

As part of its wider revamp of the Bridge Mall area, the City of Ballarat has released some new designs for Little Bridge Street, including the bus interchange. Let's take a look, starting with the stuff I think is a bit more contentious. 

The proposed Glenelg Highway bike path

It's been a while since posts - I've been busy with a new job - but I wanted to talk in a bit of detail about a new proposed shared use path along the Glenelg Highway in Sebastopol and Delacombe. The City of Ballarat is currently seeking feedback, so I wanted to talk through some of the opportunities this presents and encourage others to feed into this process. 

Proposed Glenelg Hwy path stages (via City of Ballarat)

Draft Ballarat Net Zero Emissions Plan

The City of Ballarat's Draft Net Zero Emissions Plan (via CoB)

The City of Ballarat has passed a motion to come up with a plan for the whole municipality to reach net zero emissions by 2030. This is an incredibly ambitious goal, and it's fantastic to see this level of ambition from the council. They've released a draft plan - so how'd they do? 

The politics of SRL

Concept art of an SRL train (via Big Build)

In Part 1, we looked at what the Parliamentary Budget Office actually says about the costs of building SRL, and why the media narrative has gotten this wrong. In Part 2 I want to talk more broadly about the politics and messaging of SRL. 

Mythbusting the costs of SRL

The Suburban Rail Loop (via PBO)

There's been a lot of political movement on SRL lately, so I thought it was worth a follow-up to my post from last year, to go through some of the myths and misconceptions that have arisen around the project. Today in Part 1 I want to explain why most of the media reporting on the PBO costings is dead wrong, and in Part 2 I'll talk about the political realities of campaiging on a project like this. 

Travel Diaries: Adelaide

After two years of going basically nowhere, I recently took an interstate trip to Adelaide for a friend's wedding - so a few thoughts on the transport and urbanism I encountered on the trip. 

Repowering Victoria's Railways

How can we eliminate rail's carbon emissions? (via Network Rail)

Previously we've discussed the Reduce, Replace, Repower framework for cleaning up the transport sector, and spoken in general terms about how best to Repower our vehicles - from cars to buses to planes. Today let's take a closer look at how to Repower and decarbonise Victoria's railways. 

Clean Transport 101: Repower

In previous posts we've seen that our priorities should be to Reduce, then Replace, then Repower; and we've gone through some guidelines for how to do the first two. So how should we Repower?