What should we call Melbourne Metro's stations?

Concept art for Parkville Station (via MMRA)

The Hun is reporting that PTV/Melbourne Metro Rail Authority will be seeking feedback on what to name Melbourne Metro's five new stations, which have the working names of Arden, Parkville, CBD North, CBD South, and Domain. The Hun (and the various people they quote) have suggested names like "Archer" and "Shinboner" for Arden, "Barassi" for CBD North, "Federation" for CBD South, and "Shrine" for Domain.

Public Transport Users Association - Ballarat Branch

Those of you who've been reading this blog for a long time will know that I'm from the Ballarat region, and I often discuss the issues with public transport in and around Ballarat. (Well, I say "often" - obviously I've been quite slack with my blogging lately). However the sad fact is that none of my ramblings have really gone anywhere. Our bus network is still inadequate. The train to Melbourne is still infrequent and unreliable. The train to Geelong is still nonexistent.

Primer: Gauge

Australia uses mostly 1067mm Narrow Gauge, 1435mm Standard Gauge, and 1600mm Broad Gauge. (Source)

The issue of gauge is quite an important one in Australia, but because of its technical nature it tends to be overlooked by laypeople. The first thing you need to know is some basic terminology.

Primer: Line-on-a-Map Syndrome

A related phenomenon to the Coverage vs Patronage tension is Line-on-a-Map Syndrome. This is what you get when public transport advocates look at a map and say "There's no coverage here! Why don't we invest in some public transport to serve this area!" Or they might say "Hey, there's a freight railway line here, why don't we put a passenger train along there!" Or maybe "Hey, there's still an old railway station here, why don't we bring it back into service!"

PTV's new university shuttles

via Public Transport Victoria

With the University semester starting, PTV have announced a raft of improvements to Melbourne's bus network to better serve University staff and students. Before we look at the specific routes, it's worth touching on why they are necessary.

RRL Roundup Part 2: Buses

In Part 1, I talked about how great the changes to the rail network were. Things are less positive when it comes to the bus network. As I said, there are a lot of changes throughout the network, both in Melbourne and in the cities that RRL trains serve - so I can't comment on all of them. Some of the changes in Geelong or Melton may be great for all I know - although one commenter on Part 1 was unimpressed with the Deer Park bus tweaks. Even some of the other routes within Ballarat may have been changed for the better - not riding them every day, I can't be sure. But the route 10 Buninyong bus in Ballarat has been messed with, seemingly for no good reason, and it has made things unequivocally worse.

RRL Roundup Part 1: Trains

via Public Transport Victoria

On June 21, Geelong-line trains will finally start using the Regional Rail Link tracks, separating them from Werribee-line suburban trains and grouping them together with Ballarat- and Bendigo-line regional trains. Although the infrastructure was finished months ago, the Andrews government decided to push back the opening date until more trains were built - which was entirely reasonable, given how close to capacity V/Line's fleet is.

Slightly less reasonable, however, is the fact that the new timetables for this change were only released on Sunday, three weeks before the opening date - and they mean sweeping changes for a lot of the network. It's not just the trains that run on these lines that will be affected, but the buses in Melbourne and in regional cities that connect with them. It is quite a lot to digest, so I've divided it into two parts for ease of reading. Part 1 on the trains is below; Part 2 on the buses here.