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. 

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? 

New bus interchange and services for Ballarat

Construction on the bus interchange (midground) and staff car park (foreground)

Last Friday, PTV announced that as of 19 December, Ballarat buses would start using the new bus interchange at the railway station, and that Ballarat's bus routes would start running a bunch of additional services. So what does this mean for the travelling public? 

Detailed designs for Bridge Mall

Illustrative concept plan for reopening Bridge Mall (via City of Ballarat)

Design firm Hassell has put forward detailed designs for reopening Bridge Mall and redesigning Grenville Street, which will be considered by Ballarat Council this Wednesday. So what's in store? 

The legacy of Ballarat's tramways

The shape of Ballarat's tram network in 1971

On Sunday 19 September 1971, 50 years ago today, the last ever revenue service on Ballarat's tramways ran from Lydiard Street to Sebastopol. The mayors of Sebastopol and Ballarat ceremoniously piloted it back to the depot, and the transition of Ballarat's public transport network to motor buses was complete, with the tramways entering their preservation era. But the legacy of the tramways echoed through Ballarat for many years after, and can still be heard today. 

Getting off at Rockbank: should we go all the way to Melton?

Infrastructure Victoria's vision for rail extensions (source)

Recommendation 74 of Infrastructure Victoria's 30-year strategy was to "Extend rail services in Melbourne's western and northern growth areas" - specifically, they recommend extending electrified Metro trains to Wyndham Vale, Rockbank, and Beveridge. Why Rockbank and not Melton? Good question. 

Designs for the new Bridge Mall

Renders for the new Bridge Mall design (via CoB)

The City of Ballarat's chosen design firm, Hassell, has come back with a preferred design option for the Bridge Mall. It's going before Council for approval tonight, so let's take a look. 

New Ballarat bus timetables

A bus heading down Sturt Street

With very substantial changes to the timetables on the Ballarat rail line introduced at the end of January, the Department of Transport has revamped the timetables for the Ballarat bus network, and launched them last weekend. Let's take a look at what this means. 

Why Dutch Bikes are Better (and why I bought one)

A little bit of #LazyPosting on the blog this week. 

What are the State's cycling priorities for Ballarat?

The State's Strategic Cycling Corridors for Ballarat (via DoT)

The Victorian Department of Transport has recently updated its Strategic Cycling Corridors - a statewide framework of cycling "arterial" routes that are designed to provide a network of safe, direct paths for people of all ages and abilities to get from A to B by bike. There's obviously a lot of key priorities in Melbourne, but there are also routes in regional cities like Ballarat - so let's take a close look at these, and how they compare to the local council's plans. 

Are Trackless Trams the solution to our problems?

The CRRC Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit system, aka Trackless Tram (via N509Z)

Plenty of lobby groups and government bodies have floated the idea of installing "trackless trams" in cities around the world, but at the time of writing, the original 6.5km test track in Zhuzhou has only been succeeded by one line in revenue service, a 17.7km line in Yibin. This presents a huge problem - with basically no real-world examples to look at, people can make huge claims about how great (and especially how cheap) this technology is, and it's hard to sort fact from fiction. 

But the Federal Minister for Cities and Urban Infrastructure, Alan Tudge, announced a while back that the government would fund a business case for a trackless tram in Perth; and it's something that various lobby groups like to float for places closer to home like Geelong and Ballarat from time to time as well. So I'm going to do my best to cut through the hype, and see how they really stack up. 

Can buses attract more passengers?

There is a persistent view among some politicians, policy-makers and members of the general public, that people won't use buses unless they absolutely have to. There is a not-insignificant (though shrinking) chunk of the population who think public transport as a whole is only for people who can't afford to drive a car, and that anyone who has the option of driving would be mad to do anything else. But there's a much larger group who see it as perfectly valid to take a train or a tram - and who may regularly do so themselves - but who would never take a bus if they could avoid it, and assume everyone else thinks the same way. I think this is worth examining, because it has a lot of implications for the policy - and the politics - that drives our transport systems. 

New timetables for the Ballarat Line

With the Ballarat Line Upgrade project in its final push this month, we'll be getting upgraded services once the line reopens. We've known for a while the basic structure of the upgrades - every 20 minutes in the peak, and every 40 minutes off-peak - but as of Thursday night the full timetables have been released, so let's take a detailed look at what they mean for Ballaratians.