Ballarat to Melbourne in under an hour

The launch of the #59minuteballarat campaign

The Committee for Ballarat has a long-standing campaign called #59minuteballarat. They've been talking about it for several years, formally launched it in September 2017, and did their utmost to secure commitments from politicians in the leadup to the November 2018 election. Although there are other elements, the thrust of the campaign is to make it so that there's a regularly timetabled train from Ballarat to Melbourne in 59 minutes every morning, and another one in the opposite direction every evening.

New accessible bus stops along Main Road

VicTrack recently installed a bunch of new bus shelters along the Main Rd/Geelong Rd corridor in Ballarat, which I think deserve a bit of attention. New shelters and surrounding works have been installed at Callow Street, Elsworth Street, Kinnersley Avenue, Milverton Lane, Glenvale Road, Shire Avenue, Gear Avenue, Elizabeth Street, Barkly Street, and the Midland Highway. All of these were existing stops along the route, but some were just poles in the grass, some had shelters but no paths leading to them, and so on. All needed an upgrade.

Locations of the stops

Connecting Ballarat

How else to get to Eureka Stadium?

In a previous post, I discussed the best place to put a train station serving Eureka Stadium. But building a train station is a big ask - even if it does make sense financially, it will take several years of lobbying and construction before the first train could call there. But matches are already being held, and the traffic and parking problems around the station are real - so what can be done in the meantime?

What's the best place for a Eureka Stadium Station?

Eureka Stadium (via Wikipedia)

Eureka Stadium (aka Mars Stadium) in Wendouree has had a lot of upgrades over the last few years, and they've recently started playing AFL matches there. It's great to see this kind of thing happening in Ballarat, but it's clear that in order to run something like an AFL match you need more than just a good oval and a big grandstand - you need a lot of surrounding infrastructure to get all the punters to the ground before the game, and away afterwards.

Has Ballarat got the right approach to parking?

City of Ballarat's Smarter Parking Plan

The City of Ballarat has recently put forward what they're calling the Smarter Parking Plan to address issues with parking in the CBD and the hospital precinct - and it's been quite controversial, as parking plans always are.

Reviving Bridge Mall

There's been a lot of talk in Ballarat circles lately about how to revitalise Bridge Mall - and (somewhat coincidentally) it's happening around the same time there's been a lot of debate about the effects of various street-shaping projects on Sturt and Mair Streets. Many people are concerned about how desolate Bridge Mall can get, and worried that the same sort of thing could happen on surrounding streets - so it's worth discussing the kinds of things that help or hinder the vitality of a street.

Bridge Mall in 2016