Some More Randomness 9

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

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

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

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

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 3

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

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

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 23

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

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 20

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.

Proof that I am a loser

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 10

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. :)

Some updates

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.