Random Gunzel Insanity

Insanity 18

2012-01-09T15:57:00.003+11:00

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

2011-12-19T21:41:00.002+11:00

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

2011-12-18T23:12:00.004+11:00

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

2011-12-02T19:53:00.002+11:00

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

2011-11-14T21:44:00.003+11:00

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

2011-11-07T14:09:00.005+11:00

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

2010-11-03T01:24:00.002+11:00

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

2010-10-04T19:18:00.004+11:00

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

2010-07-20T00:06:00.005+10:00

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

2010-06-02T11:16:00.003+10:00

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

2010-05-09T14:58:00.003+10:00

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

2010-03-03T13:25:00.004+11:00

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

2010-01-24T12:02:00.003+11:00

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

2009-10-31T21:16:00.002+11:00

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

2009-09-16T11:06:00.005+10:00

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

2009-08-15T15:10:00.000+10:00

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

2009-06-10T00:52:00.005+10:00

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

2009-04-27T17:26:00.003+10:00

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

2009-02-02T13:13:00.002+11:00

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.

Insanity 1

2009-01-03T18:07:00.003+11:00

Eh, first update for the new year.

In the past month, I've taken well over 300 photos...mostly Dysons and Ventura, with a few other operators thrown in. Dysons #251 (L94UB/CR224L) is an awesome-looking bus.

I've also now done routes 442, 490, 676 and 680.

That means that I only have 40 regular routes and 3 Telebus routes (areas 4, 7 and 9) left to do, as well as a few Nightriders...hopefully it doesn't take me too long, since I intended to do all of them last year.

I'm going to Adelaide in a week...yay. :)

Some More Randomness 16/Piecarts suck

2008-11-27T13:10:00.004+11:00

I can't believe it's actually been seven weeks since my last update.

Anyway, I have now done routes 280/282, 534, 836, 837, 839.

Let me say, for the record, that even though National #448 has a decent amount of power, piecarts are crap.

Some More Randomness 15

2008-10-11T13:23:00.003+11:00

In the four weeks since my last update, I've actually managed to do at least a bit of gunzelling.

I have now done routes 436, 443 and 781.

According to my calculations, I only have 54 routes left to do. I predict I could do all of them in just seven gunzelling days, since with only a handful of exceptions, they're all concentrated in a few areas.

There are also only 81 days until the end of the year, so I'd better get a move on. ;)

Some More Randomness 14

2008-09-10T12:39:00.002+10:00

I haven't had a chance to do any gunzelling since my last update.

I did, however, spend most of this morning uploading my last nine months of photos (more than a thousand of them, incidentally) to my Fotopic gallery.

Leave some comments?

Some More Randomness 13

2008-09-05T17:52:00.004+10:00

I went to Frankston on Sunday, and did routes 784 and 785.

I drove out there on Tuesday, and did route 773. I was also going to do routes 782 and 783, but I had other stuff to do...so meh.

Still, three routes down...not quite as many to go now.

At least I only have five routes left to do in the Frankston/Mornington Peninsula area, so I only have to go out there no more than twice. ;)

Some More Randomness 12

2008-08-27T19:07:00.003+10:00

Apart from the fact that I've been forced to use route 220 more times than I'd care to remember, I've actually done some gunzelling in the last month.

I have now done routes 672, 677, 685 (to Coldstream), 688, 689 and 694, as well as Telebus Areas 1 and 2.

The Lilydale/Croydon area has a number of quirky, non-standard routes, ranging from half a dozen demand-responsive Telebus routes, to hail-and-ride routes like the 677, and then deviations of routes that run only a few times a day.

Let me say first, I think single-door buses are crap. I do, however, support the use of smaller buses in low-demand areas.

I have also come to the conclusion that Telebus services are a shitty attempt to provide a service to the majority of people, hence why patronage was generally low from what I saw.

I believe that the people in those areas would be better off with fixed-route services, even though most people would have to walk further to a bus stop. It would be easy enough to make the base Telebus route (ie. the route taken if there are no home pick-ups) the regular route, while adding a number of new stops.

In addition, the separate numbering system that Telebus routes have is redundant; as such I would support renumbering the existing routes to 661, 662, 663 and 664 (with 667, 668 and 669 used for the Rowville area - but that's a rant for another day).

As for hail-and-ride services, I believe they have their place - but I don't think fully-urbanised routes are it. They should generally be in rural areas on less-frequent routes, where installing fixed bus stops that receive little to no patronage would be cost prohibitive. Certainly the 677 doesn't meet either of those criteria.

In its current form, the 685 deviation in Coldstream serves little purpose other than being a rail feeder. As such, I believe it should be through-routed to Chirnside Park, either via route 677, or the renumbered 661. At least then it might get a moderate amount of patronage.

(Is this seriously only the sixth non-waffle post I've ever made...out of a total of 60?)

Some More Randomness 11

2008-07-31T20:50:00.003+10:00

It hasn't even been four weeks since my last update, so I must be doing good.

Since my last update, I've done routes 367, 414, 431, 561 and 570. Five routes is better than nothing, right?

Yeah, I thought so.

Some More Randomness 10

2008-07-05T01:25:00.002+10:00

It's been just barely over three weeks since my last post, so I'm doing reasonably well I'd like to think.

Since my last update, I've sadly only gotten one day specifically for gunzelling (which was Thursday just past). However, I did do routes 279 (to Templestowe), 401, 409, 432 and 704. It's not all that many, but it's still a few off my list.

I had been intending to do routes 927, 928 and 929 since I went to Pakenham during the day, but I decided to give that a miss and do 704 instead, so I could head home slightly earlier. After all, gunzelling after waking up at 4:40am with sweet FA sleep is hard. ;)

I have some free time coming up in the next few weeks, though, so I might get out a bit more. I need to concentrate more on the northern and outer eastern suburbs, which account for about two thirds of the routes I haven't done yet. I'll get around to them eventually, though.

Some More Randomness 9

2008-06-13T14:50:00.000+10:00

I've done some gunzelling in the last few weeks since I updated. I have now done routes 772, 773 (via Seaview Rd - what a pointless deviation), 833 and 901.

Anyway, I've decided for once, that I'm going to rant about something that actually has a point: bus sizes.

There are plenty of routes where the use of smaller buses (or larger, as the case may be), is justified on patronage grounds.

Areas where midi-buses already run include Doncaster, Sunbury, Rowville, Lilydale and Rosebud. Some routes that I believe midi-buses might be useful for include 467, 512, 582, 606, 772, 894, 895 among others.

Compared to other cities in Australia, Melbourne seems to have only a few articulated buses, and even fewer 14.5 metre rigids. There are a lot of routes where higher-capacity buses are needed at the busiest times (in addition to a higher frequency where possible), including but definitely not limited to 216, 220, 307, 406, 476, 508, 630, 700, 767, 893 and 901.

Anyway, enough ranting. Maybe I'll update again in a few weeks.

Some More Randomness 8

2008-05-19T14:01:00.002+10:00

Sadly, in the two months it's been since I last updated, I've only done five routes - 509, 533, 832, 892, 894.

I'm going bunzelling tomorrow, so hopefully I can add at least five more.

That is all.

Some More Randomness 7

2008-03-25T13:03:00.003+11:00

I ended up going to Frankston on Thursday. I am proud to say I have now done routes 768, 770, 771 (plus the Orwil St extension), 776, 777, and the former 832 (though I never did the Lyrebird Dr deviation). I was also intending to do routes 772 and 773, but I ended up not doing them because I'd had enough of Peninsula for one day...haha.

I didn't end up going out there again on Monday to do routes 832, 833 and 901...but I'll get around to it some time later this week, perhaps Sunday. I might do 781, 784 and 785 with them as well, I guess I'll see what happens though.

Some More Randomness 6

2008-03-16T16:25:00.004+11:00

Okay, I admit that I'm lazy.

Umm...not much actual gunzelling in the past four weeks, however I have done route 580. I've mostly been taking photos for the last month, about 120 in fact. One day I'm going to upload all of these photos I've taken, but considering the sheer volume of them that might take a while.

In the next week or so, I've got a fair bit of gunzelling to do - I'm going to focus on the Frankston area this week mainly, since a couple of routes around there are getting altered/deleted. I'll probably do some gunzelling around there on Thursday and Saturday.

On Easter Monday I might do route 901...or I might do it on the Tuesday and combine it with some other routes in the Ringwood/Croydon area, I'm not sure yet.

Some More Randomness 5

2008-02-15T14:27:00.007+11:00

I was intending to update this thing that long ago, but meh. I've been busy.

I've done at least a bit of gunzelling so far in 2008. I've finished 517, 582, 779, 789/790/791, and I've also done route 782 between Hastings and Flinders, so I never need to head out there again. ;) I've taken a few hundred photos at a dozen locations already, so I'm doing pretty good with that so far. Of course, more will come when I get a day out of my temporarily-busy life...heheh.

Anyway, the next update should be in a week or so if I'm lucky.

Some More Randomness 4

2007-12-27T14:54:00.000+11:00

I can't believe I actually went station hopping on the Seymour line last Friday when I said I was going to.

I've now been to every station between Southern Cross and Seymour, except for Donnybrook...so I'm making reasonable progress with my go-to-every-station-in-Victoria goal.

Now, hopefully this won't be my last update for the year. Hopefully I get up early enough to go do at least a few more bus routes tomorrow. But I dunno...I'm lazy.

Some More Randomness 3

2007-12-19T18:26:00.000+11:00

It's amazing - I actually went gunzelling yesterday...heheh.

I may have only done routes 467, 695D, 800 and 857, and 834/835 a couple of weeks earlier, but that's a pretty good achievement for me these days.

Either way, there's no way in hell that I'll have every route done before the end of the year, seeing as there's like...13 days left.

I'm going to Bairnsdale on NYE - can't wait. But before that, there'll probably be a bit of station hopping on the Seymour line.

Um, yeah...if I'm not lazy that is...

Some More Randomness 2

2007-12-01T14:42:00.000+11:00

Blah, shoot me for not updating for the past five weeks.

I finally have a new computer, so I should be able to update more regularly. Don't count on it though.

Since the last update, I've done routes 548, 554, 600, 627, 923, 958 and 980.

That's hardly anything. I'm way off target at the moment for doing every route by the end of the year (seeing as I only have four weeks left, and 79 normal routes to go). Plus only two Nightriders to go...yay. Then there's still that whole pile of route deviations to do.

Needless to say, I've got plenty to gunzel in the coming months - now to actually do it. Considering I'm no longer a student, I have plenty of time to do it, but I can't be stuffed getting off my ass most of the time. :(

Some More Randomness

2007-10-28T23:29:00.000+11:00

It's been another seven weeks since I last updated. Unfortunately, updates might be few and far between for a while, as my computer decided to shit itself a few weeks ago.

Anyway, I haven't gunzelled all that much in October. It sucks having no cash at my disposal.

That said, though, I have done a few routes - 557, 566, 575, 774, 775, 956, 969.

I only have three Nightrider routes and one extension to do - Dandenong, Eltham, Lilydale and Melton. As well, only 84 regular routes and five Telebus routes left to do, plus that whole pile of route extensions and diversions which I'm not really in a hurry to do.

On Tuesday, I'll probably do route 695 to Dandenong, as well as a few other routes which I'll decide on later (though routes 813, 834/835, 836 and 857 are likely to appear).

Maybe I'll update again on Tuesday night...

Randomness 25

2007-09-17T12:38:00.000+10:00

Apologies for the lack of seven weeks of updates.

In that period, I've done routes 219, 438, 439, 441, 530, 531, 538, 542, 552, 555, 572, 577, 699, 844 and 895 (off-peak), and a few others which I'll add later if I remember them. I've also done irregular deviations/extensions of routes 409 to Sunshine Park, 697 to Fountain Gate and 848 via Coolavin Rd.

I only have 89 regular routes left to do, give or take a few. In addition to that, I also have six Nightrider routes and five Telebus routes to do.

That's also in addition to dozens of extensions, variations, deviations, etc. - a couple of major ones being route 279 to Templestowe and route 695 to Dandenong.

Still, progress is good so far......

Randomness 24

2007-07-29T21:22:00.000+10:00

I went gunzelling last night. I seem to have a recent desire to randomly gunzel Nightrider routes. Having already done the Belgrave (but not Rowville), Craigieburn, Croydon (but not Lilydale), Rosebud and St Albans routes, I decided to do a couple more.

Because I got dropped off in Windsor at 8:30pm and got a 64 tram to Swanston St, I decided to do a bit of gunzelling in the city to fill in time. At around 10:30pm, I got on a train to Essendon, from where I boarded route 483 to Sunbury, which only runs at night on Fridays and Saturdays. Whether it needs to run at night on weekends is a different story - there were no other pax onboard.

At Sunbury, I waited the 20 minutes until midnight for the Nightrider back into the city, which is a 77 minute trip via St Albans. I then got the Werribee Nightrider outbound and back in, filling in another couple of hours. By this point it was 3:20am.

From there, I was planning to do the Eltham and Dandenong routes (I would've arrived at Dandenong at 6:30am). I was tired and felt a bit nauseous after going over the West Gate twice, so I boarded the Nightrider back to St Albans. I alighted at Main Rd/Station Rd, only a couple of km from my house, but I decided to be lazy and get picked up so I ended up arriving home at 4:30am instead of 5am.

So I've now done half of all Nightrider routes. I might do some more next weekend, too. I'm thinking of getting the 11:27pm trip in from Croydon via Belgrave and Rowville, then 1:30am to Epping and back, 3:30am to Eltham and back, and 5:30am to Dandenong next Saturday night. If I do all of them, I would've done all routes except Croydon to Lilydale and Deer Park to Melton, which I can do on a separate trip.

Let's see what happens though. ;)

Randomness 23

2007-07-20T14:32:00.000+10:00

On Tuesday, I went to Macedon, Woodend, Kyneton, Malmsbury and Castlemaine stations. I can now proudly say I've gunzelled in falling snow.

Yesterday, I did routes 612, 624 via Darling Rd, 624 via Murrumbeena, 734, 737, 821 and 825. I have now done all Driver routes except the short section of route 627 between McKinnon station and Brighton East. I have also done all Moorabbin Transit routes.

I've therefore done more gunzelling just this week than I've done in ages. Hopefully I can make it a habit now.

Randomness 22

2007-07-06T13:59:00.000+10:00

I have actually been somewhere this week. It's about damn time. While it's not much of an achievement, I did routes 799, 842, 845 and 849 yesterday.

Meanwhile, I'm moving on with other planning to do all remaining Melbourne bus routes by the end of 2007. Whether or not I can actually do it I don't know, but hopefully I'll get at least close to doing them all.

Randomness 21

2007-06-16T14:09:00.000+10:00

Interestingly enough, instead of actually gunzelling in the last week, I've been completing more planning to go gunzelling.

I've now completed planning for another Ballarat trip to go bunzelling, which will mean I'd have done all regular Ballarat routes.

The plan:

0557 422 - St Albans 0608
0614 Train - Sunshine 0622
0639 Train - Ballarat 0803
0808 City Loop - Lt Bridge St (via University of Ballarat) 0850
0855 15 - Sturt/Vale - Curtis St 0929
0935 8 - Eureka - Lt Bridge St 0954
1000 12 - Sebastopol - Curtis St 1044
1100 7 - Brown Hill - Lt Bridge St - 1124
1130 1 - Wendouree West - Wendouree Village 1153
1200 17 - Miners Rest - Wendouree Village 1225
1230 6 - Webbcona Loop - Wendouree Village 1244
1255 2 - Curtis St 1324
(Lunch)
1420 14 - Delacombe - Peel St 1454
1455 5 - Black Hill - Lt Bridge St 1520
1550 13 - Delacombe - Peel St 1624
Walk to Lt Bridge St, approx 10 min
1645 3 - North Creswick 1713
1715 3 - Doveton/Mair Sts 1738
Walk to Ballarat Station, approx 10 min
1757 Train - Sunshine 1917

Now I just need to decide when to do it. :)

Randomness 20

2007-06-10T19:44:00.001+10:00

Apologies (again) for the lack of updates, but I've done fuck all gunzelling in the last month apart from a couple of bus routes.

However:

I have completed planning for five minor trips for bunzelling, and three days of station hopping.
Actually doing said bunzelling would add about 35 bus routes to my list, in the areas of:
- Frankston
- Werribee
- Ringwood, Croydon, Lilydale, Belgrave
- Dandenong, Berwick, Cranbourne
- Epping, Greensborough.
Actually doing said station hopping would add approximately 25 stations to my list, being all stations from:
- Donnybrook to Seymour
- Nar Nar Goon to Trafalgar
- Macedon to Castlemaine.
I've also completed planning for two major station hopping/bunzelling trips, which will be dependent on me having sufficient cash available:
- One to Bendigo, doing all three stations plus at least 75% of bus routes and arriving back at Sydenham at 22:09.
- One to the Latrobe Valley, doing all three train stations and all Valley Transit bus routes except Traralgon to Churchill.
In addition to that, I've completed planning for an overnight trip involving a few Nightrider routes, which will probably be done in conjunction with the Craigieburn electrification opening, so I can also gunzel the first spark.

Exciting times are ahead, perhaps. And it's going to cost a fair bit, and take up a lot of my time. But I have plenty of it anyway, since I finished uni for this semester on Friday.

Randomness 19

2007-05-05T21:17:00.000+10:00

I need to get out more. I also need to update this bitch more, but I'm too damn lazy.

Anyway: random ranting time.

I am officially not in love with Watergardens as much as I was previously, currently anyway. For one, the shopping centre expansion isn't even finished yet despite having been open for four weeks now. Two, the interior is too tacky. Three, Westrans has already withdrawn services from the former shopping centre interchange, meaning access from the station to the shopping centre is shithouse at the moment.

Route 461 is okay, but it is indirect, and I hate loops. I want to run it along Community Hub instead of Catherine Dr and split it into two routes (461 along Hume Dr, 462 via Community Hub) in both directions. Its frequency is adequate for its purpose and current patronage level, but both my 461 and 462 should be every half-hour.

Add to that route 460 is too indirect for my liking considering it could be a major route. The deviation through the backstreets of Sydenham is stupid and should be a local route (463, every 30 minutes). 460 can then run direct along Melton Hwy and Gourlay Rd, and should be progressively upgraded to every 15 minutes.

That'll do; enough ranting. ;)

Randomness 18

2007-04-17T21:02:00.000+10:00

I like buses. There, I said it. I, Jarf, am a bunzel.

I am progressively putting my photos from the last five months online.

Go look at my new Fotopic gallery.

Randomness 17

2007-04-05T20:11:00.000+10:00

So, I did some more station hopping today.

Random observations:

Clarkefield station is dead. Poor location, in the middle of nowhere. Needs more people. Until then needs less trains, possibly peak only.
Riddells Creek station is equally dead a lot of the time, but isn't completely useless. Needs more trains.
Gisborne station is busyish. Good location. Needs more people and more trains. Needs sparkification, in fact.

That is all.

Randomness 16/I hate Designline

2007-03-18T17:50:00.000+11:00

After doing route 700 to Chelsea on Wednesday, I am officially able to say that Designline seriously makes the most absolutely fucking atrocious buses ever.

For one, they have absolutely no grunt to them, and the engine noticeably slips a lot.

Two, the air-conditioning sucks. There's not enough air, and it's hardly cold.

Three, they're as ugly as fuck. They make me happy that Westrans isn't as sucky as Ventura.

Don't mind the language. ;)

Randomness 15

2007-02-20T14:33:00.000+11:00

What have I been doing for the past month? Pretty much nothing, because I'm a boring gunzel.

I need more money...I want to go to Bendigo. :(

Randomness 14

2007-01-17T02:46:00.000+11:00

I've hardly done any gunzelling in the last two weeks, apart from taking a few photos while randomly driving, at on Monday at Heidelberg station while waiting for my mother to get out of a job interview.

Uni in five weeks, yay. I really want a massive bitch of a skyscraper to start getting built in Footscray right now, to cure my boredom for a year or so. :P

Proof that I am a loser

2007-01-03T15:07:00.000+11:00

It's awesome to know that for the first time ever, I ushered in the new year while gunzelling.

A time-less trip log for NYE/NYD:

Leave home approximately 0915
425 - St Albans
Train - Flinders Street
Train - Mentone
811 - Springvale
Train - Dandenong
V/Line - Pakenham
V/Line - Flinders Street
75 - Vermont South
732 - Knox City
664 - Lilydale
Train - Ringwood
Train - Flinders Street
Train - Upfield
Train - Coburg
Train - Flinders Street
(roam around Swanston St for about 45 minutes)
Nightrider - Croydon
Train - Ringwood
Train - Box Hill
Train - Blackburn
Train - Laburnum (last up to stop there)
Train - Blackburn (last down to stop there)
Train replacement - Camberwell
Train - Flinders Street
Train - St Albans
Arrive home approximately 0630

So, I was officially the last person to get off an up train at Laburnum, and get on a down train, before it got demolished. :D

What's worse is that I was gunzelling for 21 hours, without falling asleep.

Randomness 13

2006-12-21T15:41:00.000+11:00

Again with the lack of updates. :( I'm hopeless.

That said, I went to Adelaide, and knocked some extra stations off my list there.

I've also now been to every station in Melbourne. :D

Randomness 12

2006-11-16T22:21:00.000+11:00

Okay, I haven't updated for ages. Shoot me.

It seems like I've done enough bus gunzelling in the last six weeks to last me a lifetime. I've done no less than 20 (yes, twenty!!) routes end-to-end, therefore bringing my total to over 50% of all routes finally.

Yay. :D

Randomness 11

2006-10-07T20:43:00.000+10:00

I'm bored, and I feel like going tram gunzelling tomorrow.

That is all.

Randomness 10

2006-09-25T21:52:00.000+10:00

I did even more bus gunzelling yesterday. It involved getting:

425 to St Albans
train to Southern Cross
train to Cranbourne
791 to Karingal Hub
769 to Frankston
train to Parliament
train to Greensborough
569 to Epping
train to Flinders Street
train to St Albans

I must say I'm pleased with the level of patronage the 425 is getting on Sunday, even though its first ever Sunday service was yesterday. The trip I was on in the morning had a total of 11 passengers on it when it arrived at St Albans.

Otherwise it was a fairly uneventful day.

But I'm still a loser. :)

Randomness 9

2006-09-18T20:32:00.000+10:00

I rode the new route 418 from St Albans to Caroline Springs this morning, then walked about a km and got route 456 to Melton (Woodgrove Shopping Centre). From there I got route 457 to Melton to finish the part of the route that I hadn't yet done, then after having a quick lunch and racing back to the Palmerston St interchange, I got route 459 to Melton station.

And for the first time today, I rode a V/Locity at full speed. It was almost orgasmic, somehow.

(Do I sense a hint of train-wankerism here?)

Randomness 8

2006-09-10T22:47:00.000+10:00

I've done even more bus gunzelling recently. I really think it's starting to turn into an obsession of some sort.

That is all.

Randomness 7

2006-08-13T14:43:00.000+10:00

I still haven't done my trip to Seymour, but I've decided I'm going to do it some time in September - so I can take advantage of all of the extra services that will be running on weekdays, and actually go to every station in a single day. I can also do it on the Bendigo line, so that will be coming up eventually too.

Hmm, for some reason I've been doing a LOT of bus gunzelling recently. At a quick estimate, if I keep it up at the current rate, I'll be able to have every route in Melbourne done by the end of 2007.

How sad I am...

Randomness 6

2006-07-25T12:52:00.000+10:00

So, I did some more station-hopping yesterday.

I ended up going to Baxter, Somerville, Tyabb, Hastings and Morradoo.

That means I only have three stations in the Metcard area left: Flemington Racecourse, Leawarra, Bittern.

It's definitely time to start heading further out I think.

Reapperance

2006-07-20T13:14:00.000+10:00

Okay, so I got back on Tuesday but I've been too damn lazy to update.

I did plenty of gunzelling in Perth, and also got around to going to Belmont Park. So I've now been to every station.

I also rode a whole pile of bus routes, which I will list here some time later.

Just a random note: Perth is too quiet for my liking. ;)

Disappearance

2006-06-27T19:45:00.000+10:00

So, I'm going to Perth tomorrow.

I'll be back in mid-July.

A proper update will come then.

Annoyance

2006-06-18T22:05:00.000+10:00

A better post will come later.

Gunzel-trip-meets are randomly fun.

Conclusion: Tullamarine Bus Lines officially suck, and employ dumb wanker drivers.

Randomness 5

2006-06-03T16:27:00.000+10:00

I went to Rockbank yesterday, finally. The station itself sucks. It's useless, and I wouldn't want to wait there for more than the half hour I did. I have now been to all stations except Flemington Racecourse, and all stations between Leawarra and Morradoo.

Here goes a random partly-sensical rant about activity centres around me, mixed with some more gunzelling.

I also went to Sunshine yesterday for no real reason. Well, I did have a reason sort of. I decided to randomly do a photographic tour, which involved taking the longest possible route between Sunshine and Albion on foot. I realised that Sunshine has tremendous amounts of open and underutilised, and therefore developable, space.

Due to a lack of low-density housing surrounding the core activity centre, Sunshine could easily accommodate taller (ten to twelve storey) buildings without much of a problem. But I already knew that anyway. It just seems more surreal to actually look at the whole centre specifically in terms of development space.

So, I eventually got to Albion station, opposite which there is a massive (unused?) flour mill, which would look completely awesome if it was converted into apartments. I was thinking of how a possible redevelopment of that one building would fit in with Melbourne 2030, and I came to the conclusion that it's a perfect example, and is also in a perfect location:

It preserves the early-20th century heritage-listed building
It's right next to a train station and a few bus routes
Nearby residents couldn't complain about the height of the building, because it's been there the whole time (this is actually an important point in my opinion, considering how anti-development people in Brimbank, unlike me, tend to be)

So anyway, I got on a train back to Sunshine, and decided to randomly ride route 454 from end to end and return (which I did without getting off the bus - that's how tragic I am). I took some more photos of Sunshine, this time on the western side of the train line, before getting on a train to Sydenham.

Sydenham (in particular around Watergardens) isn't much of a principal activity centre at the moment, despite being a Transit City. Something worth noting, though, is the level of development that is now under construction and/or approved. Sydenham is going through a construction boom (of sorts) right now, including a new "Learning Centre" and a large shopping centre expansion. It is eventually going to have a town square linking the shopping centre to the train station. So, after taking a couple of photos, I got the 421 to Centro Keilor.

Centro Keilor is just an everyday supermarket-based shopping centre. No real description is required for that reason. I transferred to route 418, to St Albans.

St Albans is a major activity centre. It's very busy, and has significant numbers of people arriving by public transport (although also significant amounts of car traffic). I wasn't there for very long. Just long enough, in fact, to walk from the Alfrieda St bus terminus to the train station, to buy a Sunday Saver, and then get on the 423 a few minutes later.

Route 423 goes through Cairnlea, one of Vicurban's flagship "sustainable" suburbs. The only problem is, Cairnlea only has a single bus route which runs every 40 minutes on weekdays, every hour on Saturdays, and not at all during evenings or on Sundays. True sustainability (I assume) would include reducing reliance on cars, which certainly hasn't happened. But enough about that.

I got to Brimbank Central, which is currently the largest shopping centre in Brimbank (but is going to be overtaken by Watergardens very soon). It is nominated as a major activity centre, and will eventually have the Green Orbital Smartbus running through it. I had lunch there, while thinking about how PT to it should be improved. It would involve running at least routes 423 and 451 on Sundays.

But, enough compulsive ranting for now. Main points for today:

Sunshine should get lots of high rise buildings. It's in a perfect location
West Sunshine (particularly around Glengala Rd) is a hole, and should disappear from the face of the earth
Shopping centres in Brimbank are too small, and should be massively expanded
I think I'm a bus gunzel......

From This Side Of Suburbia

2006-05-25T14:18:00.000+10:00

Gotta love the local rag, purely for hearing about proposed developments. From this week's Brimbank Leader (poor-quality photo of the proposal is here):

Tower plans before council
Kylie Skotnicki
23 May, 2006

AFTER months of speculation and heated debates in council meetings, plans for the three Sunshine tower blocks have been lodged with Brimbank Council.

The plans, submitted by LPD Corporations, are for a 12-storey office tower and 11 and eight-storey residential towers on the corner of Harvester and Foundry roads.

The residential towers will include 180 independent living units for over-55s, with one, two and three bedrooms.

These will be provided by a non-profit agency, which the developers are now seeking tenders for.

The ground levels of the three towers will offer 36 retail stops, with car parking above the shops. The developers aim to get community service and government organisations as tenants in the office block.

"There's been a number of plans that have been floated, but this plan is the final plan," LPD Corporations spokeswoman Fiona Darwin said.

"We have discussed some plans with council that have been taller, some that have been lower, but this in the end is what the developers are going ahead with."

Ms Darwin said one reason behind the towers was the developers identifying a lack of quality aged-care services in the area.

Harvester Ward councillor Sam David said he would welcome accommodation of this sort in Sunshine. "We haven't got anything like this and it would be a wonderful thing to have accommodation for the elderly," he said.

"Our city is aging very fast," he said.

"It is something that we need very badly that we haven't got yet."

Mayor Natalie Suleyman said highrise developments in Sunshine were fine as long as the location was appropriate.

"It's part of growth. It is inevitable at the end of the day. We as a community need to look at rejuvenating and making sure that we are feasible in the future," she said.

Cr Suleyman said there would be "extensive public consultation before council makes any decision".

Ms Darwin also said residents would be consulted, adding: "We intend to be open with the community about this development. This is a quality development for Sunshine and we as a developer have nothing to hide with this project." Ms Darwin contacted the Sunshine resident and Ratepayers Association via its website early last week to arrange a meeting.

The association's Brian Carroll said he would reserve judgment on the development until he had seen the plans. He said he hoped the "consultation" talked about by the developer and Cr Suleyman was genuine, where the other parties would take on board resident's concerns.

"I've got nothing against this type of housing, but it all comes back to consultation," Mr Carroll said.

A discussion on the development will be held at 7pm, June 8, at Victoria University Sunshine, with project team members to answer questions.

Now, gotta love highrise developments, especially being so close to me. And in a place that I go to regularly! My height estimates would be 50 metres for the office tower, 35 metres for the 11-storey tower and 25 metres for the 8-storey tower.

Hmm, now hopefully it gets approved. :D

Randomness 4

2006-05-12T20:00:00.000+10:00

I just realised I have over six hundred photos I haven't uploaded to Fotopic. Uploading them might take a fair while, I'd say; at least an hour and a half, probably more.

Hmm, I like photography. Now, to just buy an actual camera, to replace my hopeless phone. I'm working on saving some cash, hopefully I can buy myself one for Christmas. :)

New layout is coming soon; later tonight perhaps.

Gunzel Update

2006-05-06T18:02:00.000+10:00

Okay, so I ended up going to Ballarat. I just about stuck to my plan, but I ended up getting an earlier train to Melton, then back to Bacchus Marsh, then to Sunshine, then went home.

I still need to get around to going to Rockbank though. Maybe I can do it on Monday before uni, at least I'd only have a 30 minute wait for the train back.

I might also change my blog layout some time soon.

Hmm, I'm going to Sunbury tomorrow. Yeah.

Randomness 3

2006-04-29T17:12:00.000+10:00

So, I ended up just about sticking to my plan, right up to North Geelong anyway. After getting off the train at North Geelong, my trip went something like this:

1543 North Geelong - Little River 1603
1640 Little River - Footscray 1712
then as normal.

So, I've now been to every station between Melbourne and Geelong. Woot.

I'm going to Ballarat on Thursday. My full plan is as follows:

0557 Route 422 - St Albans 0608
0614 St Albans - Sunshine 0622
0639 Sunshine - Ballarat 0816
0914 Ballarat - Ballan 0936
1042 Ballan - Ballarat 1111
1130 Route 1 (Lt. Bridge St) - Wendouree Village 1149
1232 Route 16 - Ballarat City 1249
1520 Ballarat - Deer Park 1629
1642 Route 451 - Brimbank Central 1700
1726 Route 424 - Arr home 1745

Randomness 2

2006-04-20T13:57:00.000+10:00

Latest station update. I haven't been to:

Rockbank
Flemington Racecourse
Leawarra
Baxter
Somerville
Tyabb
Hastings
Bittern
Morradoo

Woot, only nine stations to go till they're all done (but unfortunately Flemington Racecourse might have to wait a while, perhaps Melbourne Cup Day). I might go to Rockbank tomorrow, since I'll be out anyway.

I'm probably going to go to Geelong/Marshall on Thursday; purely a station-hopping trip. Since I've basically finished the suburban area, I think it's just about time to start going further out. I'm planning to go to all stations between Lara and Marshall, and perhaps wander around Geelong CBD for a while taking photos.

So, full plan for Thursday:

0605 Leave home
0617 Route 424 - St Albans 0628
0634 St Albans - Flagstaff 0659
0706 Flagstaff (pl. 1) - Southern Cross 0708
0747 Southern Cross - South Geelong 0856
0925 South Geelong - Geelong 0928
0947 Geelong - Marshall 0955
1005 Route 15 - Geelong City 1044
1130 Geelong - Corio 1139
1151 Corio - North Shore 1154
1228 Route 10 (Melb Rd) - Geelong City 1244
1453 Geelong - Lara 1506
1526 Lara - North Geelong 1538
1620 North Geelong - Footscray 1712
1728 Footscray - St Albans 1745
1750 Route 424 - Arr home 1810

The Speed Factor

2006-03-18T20:36:00.000+11:00

Just something that popped into my head while I was posting on ATDB earlier: just how fast is public transport (in relation to my trips anyway)?

Assumptions

- It takes me six minutes to walk to the bus stop at Gillespie Rd/Allandale Rd (route 422).
- It takes me six minutes to walk to the bus stop at Kinterbury Dr/Balnarring Dr (route 424).
- It takes me nine minutes to walk to the bus stop at Gillespie Rd/Cheleon Way (routes 422, 424, 425).
- There is a two minute wait between arriving at the stop and boarding the bus.
- All trips to Victoria University Footscray will be made in the morning peak (arrival before 08:30), and all trips from Victoria University Footscray will be made in the evening peak (departure after 15:00).
- All other trips will be made off-peak.

Trip 1

Kings Park to St Albans station, driving time 10 minutes

10:29 Leave home - arr Gillespie/Allandale 10:35
10:37 Route 422 - arr St Albans 10:48

Total Time: 19 minutes
Time Difference: +9 minutes

St Albans station to Kings Park

11:30 Route 422 - arr Gillespie/Allandale 11:41
Walk home - arr 11:47

Total Time: 17 minutes
Time Difference: +7 minutes

Trip 2

Kings Park to Brimbank Central, driving time 10 minutes

10:35 Leave home - arr Kinterbury/Balnarring 10:41
10:43 Route 424 - arr Brimbank Central 10:52

Total Time: 17 minutes
Time Difference: +7 minutes

Brimbank Central to Kings Park

11:26 Route 424 - arr Kinterbury/Balnarring 11:35
Walk home - arr 11:41

Total Time: 15 minutes
Time Difference: +5 minutes

Trip 3

Kings Park to Sunshine station, driving time 20-25 minutes

10:29 Leave home, walk to cnr Gillespie Rd/Allandale Rd, arr. 10:35
10:37 Route 422 - arr St Albans 10:48
10:54 Train - arr Sunshine 11:02

Total Time: 33 minutes
Time Difference: +8 to +13 minutes

Sunshine Station to Kings Park

11:20 Train - arr St Albans 11:27
11:30 Route 422 - arr Gillespie/Allandale 11:41
Walk home - arr 11:47

Total Time: 27 minutes
Time Difference: +2 to +7 minutes

Trip 4

Kings Park to Footscray station, driving time 40-45 minutes

10:29 Leave home, walk to cnr Gillespie Rd/Allandale Rd, arr. 10:35
10:37 Route 422 - arr St Albans 10:48
10:54 Train - arr Footscray 11:11

Total Time: 42 minutes
Time Difference: -3 to +2 minutes

Footscray station to Kings Park

11:51 Train - arr St Albans 12:07
12:10 Route 422 - arr Gillespie/Allandale 12:21
Walk home - arr 12:27

Total Time: 36 minutes
Time Difference: -9 to -4 minutes

Trip 5

Kings Park to Flinders Street station, driving time 45-50 minutes

10:29 Leave home, walk to cnr Gillespie Rd/Allandale Rd, arr. 10:35
10:37 Route 422 - arr St Albans 10:48
10:54 Train - arr Flinders Street 11:25

Total Time: 56 minutes via City Loop, 53 minutes direct
Time Difference: +3 to +11 minutes

Flinders Street station to Kings Park

11:40 Train - arr St Albans 12:07
12:10 Route 422 - arr Gillespie/Allandale 12:21
Walk home - arr 12:27

Total Time: 47 minutes direct, 50 minutes via City Loop
Time Difference: +2 to +5 minutes

Trip 6

Kings Park to Highpoint, driving time 30-35 minutes

10:29 Leave home, walk to cnr Gillespie Rd/Allandale Rd, arr. 10:35
10:37 Route 422 - arr St Albans 10:48
10:54 Train - arr Sunshine 11:02
11:05 Route 408 - arr Highpoint 11:29

Total Time: 60 minutes
Time Difference: +25 to +30 minutes

Highpoint to Kings Park

12:10 Route 408 - arr Sunshine 12:30
12:40 Train - arr St Albans 12:47
12:50 Route 422 - arr Gillespie/Allandale 13:01
Walk home - arr 13:07

Total Time: 57 minutes
Time Difference: +22 to +27 minutes

Trip 7

Kings Park to Victoria University, Footscray Park, driving time 30-40 minutes

07:27 Leave home - arr Kinterbury/Balnarring 07:33
07:35 Route 424 - arr St Albans 07:48
07:55 Train - arr Footscray 08:13
08:20 Route 406 - arr VU Footscray Park 08:24

Total Time: 57 minutes
Time Difference: +17 to +27 minutes

Victoria University, Footscray Park to Kings Park

15:31 Route 406 - arr Footscray 15:42
15:48 Train - arr St Albans 16:04
16:10 Route 422 - arr Gillespie/Allandale 16:21
Walk home - arr 16:27

Total time: 56 minutes
Time difference: +16 to +26 minutes

Observations

- If no connecting bus is used at the other end of the trip, travel time is close to driving time, in some cases less.
- Train travel on its own is significantly faster than driving.

Back In Melbourne

2006-03-15T09:28:00.000+11:00

Whoo, I haven't updated this in how long now? Three weeks, haha.

When I last updated it I was in Adelaide (Seems like so long ago now, even though it was only three weeks ago). I ended up getting the V/Line Daylink coach+train back to Melbourne (St Albans to be precise, since Bendigo trains stop there). Some random observations:

- Adelaide has hardly changed since I was last there in April 2005.
- 8:25am is too early for me to get a coach from Adelaide city (I had to leave Findon (where I was staying, at my grandma's house) at 7:15am).
- V/Line coaches take too long and stop too often.
- Bendigo station is big(-ish).
- N+N set from Bendigo to St Albans = fun.

Well, I'm now back at uni. Fun, fun. Doing a BA, majoring in professional writing and Japanese. Yep, very fun actually.

Need to do more gunzelling soon. I went to Pakenham and Fountain Gate, then caught the 695 to Belgrave, on Saturday. I went to uni on Labour Day (and had to walk to Keilor Plains in the morning, 45 min, and home from St Albans after uni, 50 min). I still haven't been to Sandown Park, Yarraman, Tottenham, West Footscray, Rockbank and Leawarra-Crib Point for some reason.

Hmm, I don't know what else to write now.

Trans-Australianism

2006-02-22T18:28:00.000+11:00

Okay, I'm now 18. Whoo.

Some notes after staying in Perth for five weeks:

Random trips all the way across Australia aren't my thing, seriously. Driving from Melbourne to Perth takes damn forever (three days to be precise). Gunzelling in Perth is fun, meaning I got around to going to every train and bus station in Perth.

Route 39 (Redcliffe to Perth, terminus was outside of where I was staying) has a good service level (every 10-15 minutes peak, 30 minutes off-peak/Saturday, 60 minutes Sunday/evening), but takes too damn long to get to the city (40-50 minutes).

The Esplanade Busport, which I ended up using on most gunzelling days, was massive.

For some reason, I ended up liking Perth despite how boring it was in general. I still prefer Adelaide though. Perth trading hours suck majorly.

Perth shopping centres are generally big, but I don't really understand the hype. Out of the three shopping centres I went to frequently, in my opinion, Westfield Carousel was a dump. Morley Galleria was good I suppose, as was Belmont Forum.

I liked most of the beaches I went to: Cottesloe, Scarborough, Rockingham, Kwinana, Mandurah, Secret Harbour.

I also liked Bunbury, despite its lack of useable public transport (buses generally only run every hour, and none run on Sunday).

This post sucks for some reason. I might fix it up later.

Station Hopping

2005-11-24T21:34:00.000+11:00

Four stations done today - East Camberwell, Canterbury, Chatham, Mont Albert. I've now been to every station on the Lilydale/Belgrave lines, meaning that the whole Burnley group is done.

Only 38 stations left to go. I'm starting to make real progress, considering just two months ago that number was 65, and I haven't really gone out that many times since then with the purpose of randomly going to train stations.

Time to shut up I think! :)

Gunzeltripping

2005-11-21T22:38:00.000+11:00

Okay, I just invented a new word - gunzeltripping. I invent words a lot though.

Yes, I did go to Stony Point yesterday. Yes, there were a pile of gunzels there, as could be expected. Yes, I did enjoy it. Yes, I realise that I'm saying the word 'yes' too much.

There are some pics of the train (and one including some gunzels) in my Railpage gallery (link is on the right).

Woot, yay for meeting random gunzels. Yeah.

Randomness 1

2005-11-18T13:55:00.000+11:00

Okay I haven't been able to post because my ISP has been annoying the hell out of me.

Well, I'm 99% certainly going to Stony Point (again!) on Sunday for the Railpage get-together. And since it's on a Sunday I'm going to have to walk to St Albans station, which isn't much a problem really, since it's only about an hour or so walk. Shall be fun, I think.

Anyway, since I last posted I got around to going to Glenbervie, Strathmore, Pascoe Vale, Oak Park and Jacana. Broadmeadows line is therefore complete. I've completed planning to complete the Werribee, Williamstown and Upfield lines, now I just need to decide on a day to do it (probably Tuesday).

Hmm anyway, I'm finally going to get photos of some stuff on the Stony Point line this Sunday. I'll be posting them either Monday or Tuesday night.

Stuff

2005-11-02T19:00:00.000+11:00

Well, it's been a while since my last post. I've been getting out quite a bit to explore, predominantly on buses. I shall go out tomorrow, I think.

I only have 48 stations left to go to. As of right now, I've been to every station from Flinders Street to Glen Waverley, Sandringham, Frankston, Alamein, Hurstbridge except Collingwood and to Pakenham/Cranbourne except Sandown Park and Yarraman.

Tomorrow, I'll probably go to: Aircraft, Seaholme, Altona, Westona, Williamstown Beach, Seddon, Spotswood, South Kensington, Glenbervie, Strathmore, Pascoe Vale, Oak Park and Jacana. Perhaps I'll get to Flemington Bridge, Jewell, Anstey, Batman, Merlynston and Fawkner too. If I do, it means I'll have been to every station on the Werribee, Williamstown, Broadmeadows and Upfield lines, and will be down to just 29 stations.

I think I'm making significant progress now. I think I'll leave it there for now, and hopefully I update tomorrow.

Tenth Post

2005-10-15T11:24:00.000+10:00

I haven't been out much really, although I went to Stony Point for the second time ever last week. The ride itself wasn't bad, although kind of boring after a while, and painfully slow.

There is a lack of development along the line, particularly before Hastings (except Somerville) and after Crib Point. I think that development could at least extend from Crib Point to Stony Point, because there's a bit of room to build something at the terminus. Stony Point station is less than a hundred metres from Western Port, which would make it more viable perhaps?

Well, I was thinking that since all of the stations on the line are run-down and practically useless, they should be upgraded. Perhaps along the lines of Boronia, where the platforms were sunk and a concourse was built over the tracks. Since a lot of the line's stations are near a level crossing, it would make perfect sense to do this while grade separating. I think that particular attention should be given to Somerville, Hastings and Crib Point, which appeared to be the busiest stations on the line looking at the number of passengers. Perhaps they could be made premium.

It would be perfect, but unlikely, if the whole upgrade was combined with electrification of the whole line, and duplication as far as at least Hastings. From what I saw, on a standing-room-only train on a Saturday, a 15-minute frequency service to Hastings could easily be supported, with every second train continuing to Stony Point.

Eh, I think I dream too much. Seriously.

Provincial Victoria 1

2005-10-02T19:35:00.000+10:00

So, I never ended up getting to Adelaide. So instead, I went on a bit of a roadtrip around Victoria on Tuesday (No, I wasn't driving!).

I ended up getting to Kyneton, Bendigo (where I picked up a Bendigo Bus timetable for 20 cents, which I paid with a $50 note. Ouch), St Arnaud, Avoca, Maryborough, Castlemaine and Daylesford. Yes, the whole point of the trip was to take photos of train stations.

Highlights of the trip included driving on the Calder Freeway, which I'd been on before but not in daylight, Maryborough station, and driving from Castlemaine to Daylesford to Woodend in pouring (POURING!) rain and being able to see barely twenty metres ahead. Many, many cars were stopped on the Midland Highway about half-way to Daylesford as it really started to fall.

Erm, yeah. It was fun, really.

Gunzelism

2005-09-25T22:39:00.000+10:00

You know you're a hardcore gunzel when people are staring strangely at you as you take photos at some suburban nowhere train station, and you just grin stupidly at them. Yeah, I've been doing that a bit too much now I think.

Since I last updated, I've been to Merinda Park, Officer, Beaconsfield, Hallam, Lalor, Keon Park, Montmorency, Diamond Creek and Wattle Glen. I'm now down to just 65 stations, but I haven't gotten to my target and won't since I'm most likely leaving for Adelaide tomorrow.

So anyway, I've now been to all stations on the Cranbourne/Pakenham lines except Sandown Park and Yarraman, and all stations on the Hurstbridge line past Macleod.

Hmm yeah, that's about it really. I'll update again when I get back from Adelaide on Thursday (if I even actually go there). I'm planning to get lots of photos, that's certain (since I'm strangely obsessed with 3100-class railcars). See you then!

Some updates

2005-09-17T21:07:00.000+10:00

I haven't really gotten out on PT much this week really, apart from going to uni a few times.

I have, however, done a small amount of travelling around the CBD and western suburbs (the highlights being getting off Kensington station, then route 402 from Kensington to Grattan/Swanston Sts one day, and another day going to West Maribyrnong), which means I have now been everywhere on the tram network (since I went to rt. 5 Malvern terminus some time a couple of weeks ago, which I neglected to mention).

And that's about it. I did however get dragged along on a drive to Southland via North Brighton and Sandringham, which was interesting to say the least. A lot of houses in Brighton are massive! Enough about that.

I've made a small addition to the blog layout: there are now a pile of links on the right sidebar that go to various transport-related sites, one being my Railpage photo gallery. Yeah, there's a few photos of trams in there that I took while walking from the corner of Harbour Esp./Latrobe St, Docklands to Spencer Street station via Latrobe and Spencer Sts. I also have a pile of photos of buildings that I might post somewhere eventually.

Now, hopefully in the coming week I can actually get out more, since I still have 74 stations that I have left to go to, which means I'm not quite on track of getting to my target of only 50. And I also need to use the remaining four trips on my 10x2hr Metcard, but maybe I could save them for some other time when I really really need them.

Erm, I also want to go to Adelaide when their new trams enter service (and since I also have a pile of timetables I want to get hold of). They look so cool. But that's enough ranting for today I think.

Travel Update

2005-09-09T22:13:00.000+10:00

I haven't updated in a while. I'm not going to ramble on about the amount of pointless travelling I've done in the past week, since I don't want to bore myself.

To summarise, though:

I have now been to every host station in Melbourne.
I have now been to every station on the Glen Waverley and Sandringham lines, and every station between Hawksburn and Mentone and Caulfield and Springvale.
I never got to Burwood, Hartwell and Willison, so I have not been to every station on the Alamein line.
I have reduced my station count from 88 last week, to 75.

I won't be out very much this week; probably only Monday, Wednesday and Thursday; due to a lack of money for another weekly ticket.

I will also start posting photos soon, since I have a digital camera. I had about 40 photos of trains, stations and trams, of which none turned out properly. Which means I have to get out and take them again, but that's okay.

Monthly Plan 1 Update

2005-09-03T21:03:00.000+10:00

I only wrote my monthly plan yesterday, and I've already deviated from it. Which isn't surprising. I thought it would be better to get every station on the Lilydale and Belgrave lines over and done with, which is made possible by the outer extremities of these two lines having a higher service frequency on weekends than weekdays.

After getting a direct service from Flinders Street to Belgrave just after 9am and getting to Belgrave in search of a route 695 timetable which could not be found, I decided to roam the area. In order of stops, I went from Belgrave to Upwey to Tecoma to Heathmont to Ferntree Gully to Boronia to Croydon (737 bus) to Ringwood East (367 bus). I have now been to every station on the Lilydale and Belgrave lines past Blackburn, which has reduced my non-visited stations count from 93 to 88.

I will be going to the rest (Laburnum, Mont Albert, Chatham, Canterbury, East Camberwell) some time this week probably, along with Burwood, Hartwell, Willison, Heyington and Darling, which will complete the whole Burnley group. Also coming this week will be Newmarket, Middle Brighton and Hampton, which will complete all host stations as well as the Sandringham line.

Considering the comparitively low number of buses (compared to trains, anyway) I use (mainly due to their low service level), riding parts of two routes is an achievement for me. The lack of timetable information at major stops is another main reason. For example, one of the busiest stops on my own route 422, outside Kings Park Secondary College, does not have a timetable. Even though it is serviced by three routes and is a timing point. A timetable here would be useful definitely, particularly on weekends when the three routes (422, 424 and 425) combined give the stop departure times of 07, 32 and 47 past the hour (an overall frequency of 25-15-20 minutes), and not all services to St Albans stop on the same side of the road.

Maybe I need to stop complaining and get a life. But that probably won't happen in a hurry.

Monthly Plan 1

2005-09-02T15:56:00.000+10:00

Apologies for not updating for a few days. I haven't really been anywhere worth mentioning, unless a routine long car trip to Chadstone and Southland last night counts.

I was thinking earlier about the amount of travelling I do on public transport, which is probably nearly 2000km every month (or an average of about 66km a day), considering the number of long trips I make. For example, on one day in September 2004, I did a day trip to Frankston, then back to Richmond, and to Belgrave and return.

Also, according to my last count, about three days ago, there are 93 train stations (not including General Motors) in the Metcard area that I haven't gotten on or off a train at. By the end of September, I'm hoping to reduce that number to less than 50. Which means I have a lot of travelling to do in the next month.

In the next month, I'm planning to have gone to every station on the Werribee, Williamstown, Sydenham, Broadmeadows, Upfield, Epping, Sandringham, Glen Waverley and Alamein lines, that I haven't yet been to, as well as Hawksburn. That's a grand total of 44 stations, or 1-2 every day for the next four weeks.

I'm planning to have been to every single station in the Metcard area, as well as everywhere on the tram network, by the end of this year. I'll see how well I go at that.

For some reason this entry has taken me an hour to type.

Things I love 1

2005-08-27T19:33:00.000+10:00

One of the things I love about suburbia is the amount of retail expansion that takes place. For example, I went to Highpoint today, where a major expansion that will add some 60 shops and 15000m² of retail space, is occuring.

Highpoint, one of Melbourne's largest shopping centres, possibly the largest, is located in the suburb and City of Maribyrnong, and is relatively easy to get to by public transport even on weekends (compared to other major shopping centres, like Doncaster Shoppingtown, anyway), since there are a few fairly frequent routes running to it from Footscray:

bus 223, which runs every 15 minutes on Saturday and every 30 minutes on Sunday until midnight.
bus 406, which runs every 20 minutes on Saturday and every 70 minutes on Sunday, but not in evenings (except on Thursday and Friday).
tram 82, which runs every 15 minutes on Saturday until about 7pm then every 20-30 minutes until 11:30pm, and every 15 minutes on Sunday until about 7pm then every 30 minutes until 8:30pm.

But say I wanted to get a bus from Sunshine instead. I'd have a choice of a single bus route, the 408, which runs every 30 minutes until about 6pm on Saturday and not on Sunday. Not really the best service span, but the frequency is reasonable when it does run.

I've often wondered whether Highpoint could justify having a train line running to it. Considering its principal activity centre status under Melbourne 2030, and the amount of traffic the centre gets (which is in the tens of millions every year) and the patronage of the route 82 tram between Footscray and Highpoint, it could probably work. I think that the best option would be to extend the Flemington Racecourse line, which could then also serve Victoria University's largest campus, which is only 800 metres away from Flemington Racecourse, and would also introduce a full-time service to the Showgrounds.

Having a train station at (or under) Highpoint would definitely be a good long-term option, especially if the retail group and/or council and/or government want to increase public transport usage to the centre. In the mean time, weekend service frequencies on tram route 82 should be upgraded to every 10 minutes during the day and every 15 minutes in the evening, so every train departing Footscray on the weekend is met by a tram. I know I for one would definitely use trams more often, and I imagine a large number of others would, especially considering much of the centre's traffic comes from the western suburbs.

South Eastern Suburbs 1

2005-08-24T19:05:00.000+10:00

Since I finished accidentally burning my hands with liquid petrol at uni (which has nothing to do with Civil Engineering??) at 11:45am today, and had to use a second trip on my 10x2hr Metcard anyway, I decided to do a bit of random exploring. Got on the late-running 11:56am bus to Footscray station. I changed to the 12:11pm ex-Sydenham Comeng from Footscray to Flagstaff, where I moved over to platform 4 and got on an Xtrap which ran express through Spencer Street. I got to Flinders Street finally, where I eventually decided to board the Pakenham-bound Comeng to Oakleigh.

From Oakleigh, I caught a route 700 bus to Chadstone, where I ended up having lunch to fill in time. Nearly missed another route 700 bus to Mentone about half an hour later. I got to Mentone, where I changed to the Frankston-bound Siemens which I got off at Mordialloc. Picked up a route 705 timetable at Mordialloc, then boarded the next train back to Flinders Street, which was a Comeng.

Upon arrival at Flinders Street, the Broadmeadows line train I was planning to catch to Essendon was narrowly missed because the train from Frankston was a few minutes late. Waited about 15 minutes for the next one which ran late anyway, a Siemens which was overcrowded by the time it left Flinders Street. Some random young woman who had two cans of alcohol and couldn't stand up straight was both smoking and drinking as the train went through the City Loop. Got to Essendon just before 4pm, where I picked up a timetable for routes 510/512.

I caught the 4:06pm Comeng ex-Broadmeadows from Essendon to North Melbourne, it left at a few minutes late at 4:09 or so. Upon arriving at North Melbourne and moving from platform 1 to platform 4, I observed about 75 people moving from platform 4 to platform 2 to catch the P+FSH Bacchus Marsh train which had been rerouted, and also a couple of Connex-refurbished Comengs running not in service from Flemington Racecourse to Flinders Street.

I got on the delayed 4:23pm Sydenham train at 4:26 or so, it was a Hitachi. It got delayed again between North Melbourne and South Kensington. I arrived at St Albans just after 4:50 (about six minutes late), where I got on the 4:55pm route 422 bus and arrived home just after 5:15.

So today, I ended up riding four different types of suburban train, which is all of them except the Connex-refurbished Comeng (which I honestly don't really like anyway. They're too jittery and clunky). That's an achievement, for sure.

Introduction

2005-08-23T21:59:00.000+10:00

Now, the compulsory introduction.

My name's Matt, and I'm 17 years old but not for that much longer. I'll be 18 in December. I'm located in the western suburbs of Melbourne. I live in a 1980s-90s subdivision of a (fairly) major suburb, St Albans, that has three reasonably well patronised bus routes (422, 424 and 425, which all run roughly every 40 minutes Monday to Friday, every hour on Saturday and not at all on Sunday or during the evening) servicing it (although, route 422 is less frequent in peak than off-peak due to increased running times to the terminus and back). I live closer to route 422 than the other two. I like trains, trams and buses if you didn't already know.

I'm studying Civil Engineering at Victoria University, in Footscray. My four-day-a-week commute involves taking a bus, a train, then another bus. I've had my learner's permit for over a year, but I hardly ever drive. I end up taking public transport almost every time I go somewhere. That'll be the main focus of what will eventually be here - my public transport adventures, most of which will occur on Saturdays.

I've been to/through every train station in the Metcard area, except Flemington Racecourse. I've gotten off a train at every single premium station in Melbourne, and almost every host station. I've been almost everywhere by tram too, except route 5 past Glenferrie/Wattletree Rds and route 57 past Maribyrnong/Rosamond Rds. I've been on a whole pile of bus routes that I couldn't possibly list all of off the top of my head.

I like to collect train/tram/bus timetables. I'll probably do a lot of ranting about them here. Probably what changes should be made to them, in particular.

So yeah, that's the introduction. Hopefully I can update this regularly, which shouldn't be too hard considering the amount of suburban travelling I do.