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. 

Goodbye Bungaree Loop

Bungaree Station in 1986 (via @railmaps)

The Ballarat line has been shut down for a month from 28 December, as part of the final push to complete the Ballarat Line Upgrade project. This means that the last train to ever run on the Bungaree Loop ran on 27 December, so let's take a look at the history of the line. 

Is road-user charging for EVs a good idea?

Electric vehicles charging (via Joenomias)

Following South Australia's announcement a few weeks ago, Victoria has just announced that it will be the second state in Australia to introduce a road-user charge (RUC) for Electric Vehicles. The stated rationale is to replace fuel excise - EVs don't burn petrol, so this revenue source will disappear as we transition from Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) to EVs. But critics say that this disincentivises EV ownership, and will slow down that transition. So is it a good idea or not? 

Primer: Should you buy an electric car?

Electric vehicle and charger (via Walter Baxter)

Knowing my keen interests in transport and climate change, people sometimes ask me whether they should buy an electric car for environmental reasons. The short answer is "it depends", and the long answer is annoyingly complicated, so to help others who might be wondering the same thing (and to help illustrate a point I want to make in tomorrow's blog post) I thought I'd summarise the key points here. 

Airport Rail and the Geelong Diversion

HCMTs will run to the Airport via the Metro 1 tunnel (via RPV)

The Age and the Herald Sun are reporting that the State and Federal governments have come to an agreement on the Airport Rail project. Let's take a look at what they've agreed to, and what it means for different groups.