Insanity 19

Some images from last Friday's Dandenong line shutdown:


Grenda's #48 (Volvo B10M mk II/Volgren) at Oakleigh.


Grenda's #292 (Scania N310UA/Volgren CR228L) at Dandenong.


Grenda's #11 (MAN NL202/Volgren CR221L) at Springvale.


Nuline #57 (Volvo B10M mk III/Volgren) at Springvale.


Grenda's #244 (Volvo B10M mk I/Volgren) at Oakleigh.


Grenda's #18 (Volvo B10M mk II/Volgren) at Oakleigh.


Moorabbin #530 (MAN SL202/Volgren) at Oakleigh.

Insanity 18

Some images from the new camera. :)

And yay, I'm 24 now. :)


National #742 (Mercedes Benz O405NH/Custom Coaches CB60) at Westfield Doncaster, 03/01/2012


Invicta #831 (Scania K230UB/Volgren CR228L) at Ferntree Gully station, 03/01/2012


Invicta #792 (Scania L94UB/Custom Coaches CB60) at Ferntree Gully station, 03/01/2012


Invicta #754 (Scania K230UB/Volgren CR228L) at Ferntree Gully station, 03/01/2012


X'Trapolis 961M at Ferntree Gully station, 03/01/2012

Insanity 17

Another day, another delay causing missed connections.

I set out to return home from Prahran just after 7:30pm. As I got to the tram stop on Commercial Rd and checked TramTracker, the next 72 was supposedly 17 minutes away. Given I was only a few minutes walk from St Kilda Rd I decided I wasn't going to wait.

The walk itself only took five minutes as I predicted, and the next tram was five minutes away when I got to the stop. By the time it arrived I realised I would need it to get to Flinders Street in exactly 15 minutes in order to catch the train I needed to connect with the 425 at St Albans.

Of course, the tram took 17 minutes to travel a dozen stops. By the time I got into the station it was 7:59pm but the 7:57pm Sydenham was still displayed on the departure board. So I started to dash across the concourse, only to see the train departing as I got to the bottom of the escalator. Missed connection one.

So, I has a half-hour wait for the next train, which departed one minute late. By the time it got to North Melbourne it was four minutes down, although by Sunshine it had gained two minutes. Good, I thought, I might make the last 425 from Watergardens. The last 425 from Watergardens is scheduled to depart at 9:05pm, however since the train arrives at 9:04pm most drivers wait a few minutes.

The train pulled into Watergardens at 9:06pm, and the bus was sitting at its stop as expected. I figured the driver wouldn't want to wait for too long, so I made my way up the stairs and over to the bus interchange, to find the 425 had already departed and was speeding through the crossing in front of the station. Missed connection two. Fuck.

Since I didn't particularly feel like walking all the way home from Watergardens, I figured I'd get the 462 which runs through Burnside Heights and stops a little over a km from home. A km is slightly further than my walk home from the 425, but considering the alternatives were to walk the 7km from Watergardens, or wait 15 minutes for the train back to Keilor Plains to walk 4km, I didn't feel the need to complain.

The 462 departed bang on time at 9:10pm. It lost a a couple of minutes along the Melton Hwy due to fairly heavy traffic but flew along Calder Park Dr. I wasn't too sure which stop in Burnside Heights was precisely closest to home, so I got off at the Tenterfield Park stop at 9:20pm, one minute after the timetable at the stop showed it was due. (Note that the 462 takes just 8 minutes to get to Taylors Rd, where the 425 takes 18.)

From there I figured it would probably be around a 15 minute walk home. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my timing was spot on, meaning I arrived home at 9:35pm - three minutes earlier than I would've arrived if I'd taken the 425. Go me. :)

Insanity 16

A few more pretty pictures for your viewing pleasure. I really need to start thinking of something intelligent. :)


Westrans Sunshine #26 (Volvo B10M mk II/Volgren) at Gillespie Rd/Cheleon Way, Kings Park, 05/12/2011


Westrans Sunshine #61 (Volvo B12BLE/Volgren CR221L) at Gillespie Rd/Cheleon Way, Kings Park, 12/12/2011


Westrans Sunshine #85 (Scania K230UB/Volgren CR228L) at Gillespie Rd/Cheleon Way, Kings Park, 12/12/2011

Insanity 15

Since I can't really think of anything intelligent to write at the moment, here are some photos from the last couple of months.


VL48 at St Albans, 12/10/2011


National #517 (MAN 15.220/Custom Coaches CB30) at Lonsdale/William Sts, Melbourne, 28/11/2011


Melbourne Bus Link #396 (Scania L94UB/Volgren CR228L) at Queen/Little Lonsdale Sts, Melbourne, 29/11/2011


Western Coach Services #30 (Mercedes-Benz O404-3/Austral Denning Majestic) at East Esp/Main Rd East, St Albans, 30/11/2011



Skybus #66 (Scania L94UA/Volgren CR227L) at Melbourne Airport, 02/12/2011

Insanity 14

Yet again I'm going to go off on a tangent about taking PT to work.

On Saturday I worked at Sandown Racecourse. It is rather annoying that I work so far from home, but money is money.

Of course, on Saturday there were no trains between Oakleigh and Springvale, due to trackwork at Westall. That in turn meant I had to leave 20 minutes earlier than usual to arrive with the amount of spare time I usually allow. The trip was fairly ordinary, the only issue being the rail replacement bus I got on at Oakleigh departed 10 minutes later than scheduled, and therefore missed its train connection at Springvale by a few minutes.

Rather than waiting 17 minutes for the next train, to only go one station, I decided to walk to the racecourse from Springvale station. It's a fairly easy walk, a whole 12 minutes. I arrived a good 35 minutes before my shift, so no problems there. The trip back was even less eventful; the rail replacement bus ran right on time and wasn't packed.

It's unfortunate that Metro shut down the rail line during one of Sandown's few major events. But considering Sandown currently has an event planned every weekend until the start of December I imagine it was fairly unavoidable. At least everything ran fairly smoothly...

Insanity Redux

It's amazing to think that this blog has been on hiatus for just over a year now. So what have I been doing for a whole year? Well, I'm a year older (23 now) but just as lazy and stupid as I was at 22.

I've also been working and studying, and have been to Sydney twice, as well as Canberra and Adelaide. Lots of interstate gunzelling there - the most I've done in a year since I was in Perth for five weeks in 2006.

I had four shifts at Flemington Racecourse last week. Two of those days (Melbourne Cup Day and Oaks Day), I was unlucky enough to be forced to take the train to work. The trip to Flemington on Cup Day wasn't particularly eventful apart from being overcrowded on the outbound trip, but Oaks Day is a completely different story.

I get on the 10:54am train from St Albans, and arrive at North Melbourne at 11:16am (I started work at 12pm). I expect to be on a train to Flemington fairly quickly, since they're advertised as running every 5 minutes. Eight minutes pass, and there is still no race train in sight. An empty train passes through, followed by a Williamstown train.

The PIDs show the race train is still three minutes away. Okay, maybe it got delayed at Southern Cross. Five minutes later it finally arrives at North Melbourne, and is completely packed to the point that it would be impossible to board. Get the next one, I think. A Werribee train passes through a few minutes later. Six minutes after that, the next race train arrives and is similarly packed. Two people manage to squeeze in, but that's it.

By this point it's 11:38am, I've been at North Melbourne for 22 minutes and I have to start work in less than half an hour. If I don't get the next train I'll more than likely be late. Three minutes later another race train arrives. It's packed as well, but I have no choice. I manage to squeeze into the only remaining space in the carriage. The train is hot and humid, and it's hard to breathe. The train finally speeds off out of North Melbourne, but slows down again when approaching Kensington. From there it trundles along at about 40km/h.

I finally arrive at Flemington at 11:51am. I start work in nine minutes, and I still have to get through the crowd to where I'm working. The crowd slowly trickles through the turnstiles into the racecourse. It's now 11:56am. I pick up my pace, to a point where I'm almost running to get to work on time. I run down the stairs to the main betting ring, and push through the crowd of punters before finally arriving at work at 11:59am, just 60 seconds before my start time...

...to end up getting a whole four hour shift. Fuck.

Hiatus

The quality of this blog has been going downhill for more than a few months. In between work and my other hobbies, I don't have enough time or motivation for it.

I'll still be gunzelling regularly. Now that summer is approaching, I'm hoping to get out more often. I'll still be taking photos frequently, and posting them on ATDB every now and then.

I've decided to put the blog on hiatus for the time being, while I decide what to do with it. I might bring it back one day. I might not.

I don't want to bring it back if I'm only going to keep posting drivel. It takes a lot of effort to write blog entries that are more than that, and I just can't do it at the moment. I can't promise that it will change any time soon.

Jarf

Insanity 13

Since the last update, I've done routes 481, 485, 487, 488, 489, 626, 811, 858, 901 and Bacchus Marsh town service.

That is all. :)

Insanity 12

So:

• Routes 535, 558, 562 (allll the way to Kinglake), and the Kinglake Shuttle are done.
• I've been riding a lot of rail replacement buses recently. More will be coming.
• I'm going to Bacchus Marsh on Wednesday.

That's about all, sadly. Route 558 makes my head spin. Massive loops are annoying.

Insanity 11

Since the last update:

• Routes 442, 446, 448, 449 and 840 are done.
• Dandenong to Koo Wee Rup (not a full route, but meh) and Koo Wee Rup to Pakenham are done.
• Bendigo routes 1, 2, 10, 11 and 15 are done.
• Nar Nar Goon, Drouin and Trafalgar stations are done.

Let me just say, Maiden Gully is in a terrible location, and is far too spread out. What a shame.

Insanity 10

Since March:

• New routes 281, 735 and 902 are done.
• I've also ridden a few rail replacements (yay for coaches) and a number of routes again, on different types of buses. That's how tragic I am. :)
• Geelong routes 15 and 20 are done.

I have now reaffirmed my love for Express low-floors, as well as Euro V B7RLEs. K230UBs, on the other hand, still suck.

Unfortunately, though, I tend to distracted easily. I've largely been focusing on other pursuits (some of which aren't particularly appropriate for this blog), so even when I do have free time I don't have much motivation to do a lot of gunzelling. Hopefully I'll break out of the habit soon.

Insanity 9

So:

• Routes 673, 685, 686, 687 and 692 are done.
• King Long MANs aren't actually as tragic as I thought they'd be.
• Coach seats on route buses make me happy.

That is all.

Insanity 8

I'm well aware that it's been nearly three months since my last update. However, more gunzelling has been done:

• Routes 745D, 797, 838, 896, 903, 929 are done.
• I've now been to Wendouree station, and Ballarat routes 8, 12, 13, 14 and 19 are done.
• I've also been to Kangaroo Flat and Eaglehawk stations, and Bendigo routes 3, 5, 7, 8 and 12 are done.

It's not really much for just under three months, but it's still something.

I'd been planning a longer post, but I seem to have lost my train of thought. Pun intended. :)

Insanity 7

I think I've now proven that, yet again, I am completely useless when it comes to updating this.

Routes 528, 529, new 530, 927, 928 and Area 4 are done.

It's hardly surprising that the 927 and 928 combined got less than a single handful of pax on a Saturday morning around 10am.

The 528 and 529, on the other hand, were fairly busy for an outer-suburban area on a Wednesday morning at 11am - the 528 arrived at Craigieburn station with 10 pax, and the 529 arrived with 23 pax.

It might be worthwhile upgrading the Pakenham routes to every half hour, at least on a trial basis, to see if additional patronage can be gained. If not, it'd probably be a good idea to reconsider whether the services were actually viable in the first place.

I had been planning to go out tonight to do the 965/966, except it's been pouring rain for the past hour. Next weekend, perhaps.

Insanity 6

Besides riding routes 422, 424 and 425 multiple times every week, I've done a bit of actual gunzelling in the month it's been since I last updated this:

• Routes 318 and 897 are done.
• I've now been to Nagambie, Mooroopna and Shepparton stations, and have also done Mooroopna routes 1 and 3.

Route 897 is strange. It's short, and doesn't really go anywhere or serve anything except some houses and a train station. It doesn't run particularly frequently, and only runs on weekdays. It doesn't even come close to meeting the government's minimum bus standards. Other, more frequent routes (789/790/791) are within a short walking distance of the vast majority of the route. However, with a couple of exceptions, it has good connections to and from trains.

I wasn't expecting it to be particularly busy given the vast majority of Cranbourne residents drive everywhere, even though I was riding it in the morning peak at 8am. Needless to say, I was surprised when it ended up arriving at Cranbourne station with over 50 pax, a significant portion (about half) of whom weren't school students, and who boarded the 8:10am City Loop train, though possibly only going as far as Dandenong or Springvale. I wonder, did those pax use it because they had no other choice, or because it was simply convenient and/or cheaper? The mind boggles.

Insanity 5

I've put off publishing this post for weeks on end because I'm not sure how to finish it. I think I've finally come up with something.

First, routes 400, 415, (new) 520, 559 and 572 are done.

Route 572 is now appallingly indirect. At the very least, it should be altered to run direct along Plenty Rd between University Hill and Centenary Dr (which would cut ~10 minutes off), with a new route replacing the existing route in Mill Park (rerouted/extended 577?).

That said, at least the University Hill terminus is in a fairly good location, even though the loop through the housing areas is slightly indirect.

As for route 400, I'm sticking to my guns by saying that the section along Windsor Bvd in Derrimut should be part of a separate route and that the 400 should run along Foleys Rd between Mt Derrimut Rd and Robinsons Rd.

In my submission to the Brimbank/Melton bus review earlier this year, I suggested that route 219 could be rerouted away from Sunshine Park and extended, running through Sunshine West then along Swann Dr and Windsor Bvd en route to Caroline Springs.

Any thoughts?

Insanity 4

Since my last update:

• Routes 271, 315, 518, 520 and 575 are now done.
• I have taken over a hundred more photos.
• I have spent more time talking about gunzelling than actually gunzelling. How sad is that?

I have been reading some of the older posts on here, and it seems that my posts have been progressively becoming more concise and are lacking in actual content, not to mention becoming less frequent.

I've come to the conclusion that I need to start writing something more...interesting than just what routes I've done, and stop trying to save time when it comes to posting. Therefore, my next update (which will hopefully be in less than two weeks) will have some actual content.

Between now and then, hopefully I can do a dozen more bus routes. I have plenty of free time next week.

Insanity 3

Apologies for the lack of updates, but sadly I haven't done much gunzelling lately.

I have managed to take over a hundred photos since my last update, though, so I suppose that's better than nothing.

Insanity 2

I've now done route 813. Hopefully I never have to do it again. ;)

Well, I went to Adelaide a few weeks ago.

I'm proud to say that I've now been to every train station in Adelaide...whoo. I also managed to do half a dozen or so bus routes while I was there, but the main point of my trip was trains.