Melbourne Publiic Transport Infrastructure

[Ian4]

The refurb of Flinders Street should be a given. That place has the potential to be a iconic location. Surely we can do something similar to what happened at the old Spencer Street station. That place is a 1000 times better use of the public space and doesn't give the apperance of being a barren wasteland and also feels safer.

For me Flinders Street is one of the three biggest blights in the city. The other two being the Jolimont Railyards and the block on Flinders Street between King and Spencer Street on the city side.

yeah i agree with refurbishing flinders st. but if you're looking for the biggest eyesore in the city, it's gotto be the old savoy pub on the corner of spencer and bourke sts. its been closed for 15 years and it still stands. next comes the old age newspaper building on the corner of spencer and lonsdale sts... but at least they have knocked down the old power station on the spencer/little bourke/king/lonsdale st block. can you believe that was heritage listed? the only problem though is that the power station is being replaced with 4 apartment towers. lol

as for the jolimont railyards, yes i believe something needs to be done there, but I would prefer the train tracks between flinders and spencer st be put underground... but this will never happen in our lifetime because of the cost and because it's not a priority.

 

[Scoop]

yeah i agree with refurbishing flinders st. but if you're looking for the biggest eyesore in the city, it's gotto be the old savoy pub on the corner of spencer and bourke sts. its been closed for 15 years and it still stands. next comes the old age newspaper building on the corner of spencer and lonsdale sts... but at least they have knocked down the old power station on the spencer/little bourke/king/lonsdale st block. can you believe that was heritage listed? the only problem though is that the power station is being replaced with 4 apartment towers. lol

as for the jolimont railyards, yes i believe something needs to be done there, but I would prefer the train tracks between flinders and spencer st be put underground... but this will never happen in our lifetime because of the cost and because it's not a priority.

The Savoy site is staggering. I wonder who actually owns that site and why no one has done anything on that site.

I actually like the new 3aw building across the road from Southern Cross. Even the AXIA & HBA new buildings look pretty good. That end of Collins St is vastly improved. Sweeps down towards the Myer building and the docklands. That end is ok but some of the Docklands areas need some work.

 

[The Fish]

Had my first illegal pub pot of beer in the Savoy. Used to be packed with commuters. In those days the only other bar was that old one upstairs at the station. Only derros would drink in there.

Another shocking city site is the old city square. It's better than it used to be, but you would think they could do better with that space.

That bit down the Spencer st end of Flinders is really ordinary although there's a good little bar just opened there which has live music - Bertha's Bar.

 

[Ian4]

so what will the libs do? we've heard talk of a feasibility study for a doncaster line. extension to rowville. the airport rail link i think. will they retain the footscray-caulfield tunnel? the sunbury and south morang extentions? electrification of the melton line? the werribee-deer park vline diversion? what about turning the whole network into a metro style system?

 

[poppa x]

Before they do anything, I'd like to see a cost/benefit feasability study of the impact of FREE public transport.

I'd include all the elements,
1) lost revenue versus ......
2) less greenhouse gases as less cars on the road
3) less cars means less imported oil
4) fewer road deaths and major injury means reduced hospital / medical costs
5) diverting resources from rich to poor
6) saving on building new roads
7) more users on public transport probably makes it safer ?
8) more users makes it easier to justify new rail/tram routes
9) makes our city more livable

I know some will say the cost to revenue is too big a hurdle, and they are probably right.
But I'd like it proven one way or the other.

 

[AngryAnt]

Hooray for Poppa!

 

[IanG]

so what will the libs do?

Not much?

 

[Panthera tigris FC]

Hooray for Poppa!

+1

 

[mld]

Whilst sympathetic, I'm not entirely convinced by the idea of free public transport. I think any service offered should have a price signal. That price signal should be significantly lower than it is now, but should still exist.

I actually like a Kennett proposal, that jumping on a train/tram/bus was a dollar every time you did it. Simple and cheap, and you pay more the more you use it.

 

[tigertim]

yeah i agree with refurbishing flinders st. but if you're looking for the biggest eyesore in the city, it's gotto be the old savoy pub on the corner of spencer and bourke sts. its been closed for 15 years and it still stands. next comes the old age newspaper building on the corner of spencer and lonsdale sts... but at least they have knocked down the old power station on the spencer/little bourke/king/lonsdale st block. can you believe that was heritage listed? the only problem though is that the power station is being replaced with 4 apartment towers. lol

as for the jolimont railyards, yes i believe something needs to be done there, but I would prefer the train tracks between flinders and spencer st be put underground... but this will never happen in our lifetime because of the cost and because it's not a priority.

The old Age building is occupied Ian.

 

[The_General]

so what will the libs do? we've heard talk of a feasibility study for a doncaster line. extension to rowville. the airport rail link i think. will they retain the footscray-caulfield tunnel? the sunbury and south morang extentions? electrification of the melton line? the werribee-deer park vline diversion? what about turning the whole network into a metro style system?

I work in the transport industry, and I can tell you that Sunbury and Sth Morang had started work under Labour. Works are well underway, and I'd imagine you'll see one of those two projects at least, completed before July-August next year.

The airport rail link won't ever get up. Any government to do that would have to be prepared to go into deficit in a budget, and that's unlikely to happen in our climate. (otherwise private consortiums would need to provide funding).

I think what we'll see in transport, aside from new construction (which there won't be a lot of), is improvements in headway on certain rail corridors. This will enable them to send trains more frequently, and carry more services.

Also, look for a lot of main roads to lose a lane (Eg Springvale road, Bell St, etc), which will be turned into a permanent bus lane. This will help the orbital bus.

 

[brigadiertiger]

you make some good arguments ZG. regional services are terrible. maybe some of our regional PREnders can share some of their issues...

From here I don't think we can complain to much here we have one traiin that goes through to Melbourne 4 buses that connect elsewhere with trains to Melbourne and three buses that go through to Melbourne departing from 5:55am through to 4:50pm. All up is 8 back again a mixture of train then train/bus and bus.

Our local buses run through four different routes and run every hour. We are lucky here. Although there is nothing after 5pm.

 

[cooltiger]

need to extend tram lines too , trams are cool and effective..start with extending the 48 from north Balwyn to Doncaster

 

[evo]

need to extend tram lines too , trams are cool and effective..start with extending the 48 from north Balwyn to Doncaster

Yeah, totally. It is an obvious move, and not too expensive.

Have you seen all the cranes on Doncaster Hill? How are those extra 10-15000 people going to get to work in the city? Hoddle St. is a nightmare as it is .

 

[TigerForce]

need to extend tram lines too , trams are cool and effective..start with extending the 48 from north Balwyn to Doncaster

But slow !!!......I say get rid of those turtle rattlers. Waste of space on the road.

 

[Ian4]

need to extend tram lines too , trams are cool and effective..start with extending the 48 from north Balwyn to Doncaster

i catch the number 96 tram every day and thats the busiest route in melbourne. we need the whole tram route to be serviced by bumblebee trams. but even the bumblebee trams aren't big enough in peak hour.

But slow !!!......I say get rid of those turtle rattlers. Waste of space on the road.

yeah i agree that we need to be careful about extending tram lines. take the no. 86 tram for example (docklands - bundoora). i believe it takes something like 90 minutes from start to end... although i guess the route isn't designed for passenger to take the whole trip.

 

[TigerForce]

i catch the number 96 tram every day and thats the busiest route in melbourne. we need the whole tram route to be serviced by bumblebee trams. but even the bumblebee trams aren't big enough in peak hour.

yeah i agree that we need to be careful about extending tram lines. take the no. 86 tram for example (docklands - bundoora). i believe it takes something like 90 minutes from start to end... although i guess the route isn't designed for passenger to take the whole trip.

Tram 75 takes 60 minutes from City to Burwood, and all trams down St Kilda road take 30 minutes from Flinders street.

Ridiculous.

 

[evo]

Tram 75 takes 60 minutes from City to Burwood,

How long do you reckon it takes to drive that in peak hour?

 

[TigerForce]

How long do you reckon it takes to drive that in peak hour?

Even longer.

I've caught this tram 5 times between 11.00am & 3.00pm outside the lunch hours 12-2 and it still moves terribly slow.

Too many inner suburb stops that should be expressed.

Catching it on a hot day in February this year with the air conditioning breaking down was a torture.

 

[Scoop]

Have you seen all the cranes on Doncaster Hill? How are those extra 10-15000 people going to get to work in the city? Hoddle St. is a nightmare as it is .

Fudge yeah, something has to be done. Donny is trying to be becoming the Eastern Cliffton Hill. Trendy, smaller dwellings, apartments with a upmarket feel. Can see a thousand cafes and up market shops moving in.