wonk v3.0

Gridlock mayhem brings a city to a standstill for hours ( The Age / Stephen Moynihan and Selma Milovanovic )

From the article: “Melburnians’ reliance on cars became apparent yesterday morning when the accidents caused severe delays on the Monash, while alternative routes suggested to ease the congestion also remained clogged for hours.”

Yet more evidence of the transport problems in and around Melbourne. Supposedly the combined delays of all commuters cost the state millions of dollars in lost productivity. I have no idea how they calculate those sorts of figures..

F1 fever grips drivers (News.com.au)

From the article: “In the latest incident, police say they intercepted a 23-year-old man from Belgrave, in Melbourne’s east, who drove at 168kph in a 100kph zone on the Monash Freeway at Glen Waverley shortly before 8am (AEST) today.” .. “A few minutes earlier, another man aged 33, from east suburban Blackburn, was caught allegedly driving his Mazda coupe at 173kph in a 100kph zone on the Eastern Freeway at Kew.” .. “Earlier today, a 20-year-old man driving a BMW led police on a 109km chase at speeds of up to 250kph in regional Victoria.”

There is no excuse for travelling this fast on public roads. People who are caught at those speeds should have their cars crushed and be banned from driving for life. The risk they pose to public safety is simply unacceptable.

Plan to axe cars from city centre ( The Age / Liz Minchin )

From the article: “CARS will be driven out of the city in favour of public transport and bicycles under a radical new council strategy that abandons plans for a multibillion-dollar cross-city tunnel and suggests slashing speed limits in the CBD.”

The proposal includes reducing the city speed limit from 50 to 40km/hr, introducing tram/bus only lanes, and offering discounted public transport tickets to CBD shoppers. The plan really needs the assistance of the state government to improve public transport to the city, especially the train network. This seems like a good idea, but I can’t see much of it being implemented in the short to medium term.

Suburban train passenger limits breached (The Age / Dan Silkstone)

According to the article overcrowding on some Melbourne train line has reached the point where Connex are in breech of their operating agreement. The agreement requires that there be a maximum of 798 passengers per six carriage train, but passenger figures indicate an average above this figure, even up to 950 passengers per train on the Sydenham line.

The government seems to be working hard to introduce additional parking fees and congestion charges for people taking their car to work to encourage more public transport use. They seem to be ignoring the fact that in many areas the public transport system simply can’t cope with more passengers. Perhaps the government should be focusing on fixing the public transport system before trying to discourage people from using their cars.

Melbourne grinding to a halt (The Age / Dan Silkstone)

The Age today is carrying a set of stories related to the public transport woes Melbourne is currently suffering from. The government has commissioned a report titled “Most Liveable and Best Connected?” which confirms what commuters already know - the current system doesn’t work. Also revealed is the fact that the privatisation of the system has not delivered any improvements to commuters and may actually be costing the public more money than if it was still government run.

Personally I would love to be able to take public transport to work, but for double the travel time at almost the same cost as driving I don’t consider it to be a reasonable option.

Transport lobby shows roads rage (The Age / Lorna Edwards)

From the article: “Railway lines to Doncaster and Rowville and an extension of tram lines to Knox and Doncaster would ease the city’s growing traffic congestion more than huge road projects, public transport advocates said yesterday.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said “The Committee for Melbourne appears to have fallen for the myth that more roads relieve traffic congestion. They don’t,””

The Age are also carrying an article about The Connex Whinger, a frustrated train network user who believes Connex’s published punctuality figures are not entirely accurate.

Plan to overhaul city’s transport network (The Age / Dan Silkstone)

The article describes a plan by a lobby group wishing to extend the road network and road-based public transport. There is no mention of tram or train network improvements.

A reasonable man, pushed far too far (The Age / Jim Schembri)

A humorous tale about Ernie, a man who has had enough of the ticketing shenanigans of Melbourne’s public transport ticketing system.

Driven to despair (The Age / David Morley)

From the article: “There’s an old saying that there are two things you can’t tell an Australian bloke. One, that he’s no good in bed; and two, that he can’t drive well. While we’ll draw the line at any assessment of prowess in the boudoir, we’ve some bad news on the latter front.

According to the survey, one in five drivers believed that aggression made them better drivers. Forty-five per cent admitted to making illegal U-turns and right-hand turns when they thought it was safe to do so.”

I’ve only been driving in Melbourne for a few years and I’m amazed at the lack of regard for the road rules that most drivers display. It seems to be impossible to make even a short trip without witnessing drivers:

* Tailgating.
* Speeding.
* Changing lanes without signalling.
* Failing to stop at stop signs.

The motivation for the above seems to be to get from point A to point B quicker, even at the expense of other road users safety. While speeding is regularly targeted by the police I have rarely seen any of the other road rules being enforced. Perhaps if they were people would think twice before choosing to drive like a maniac.