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.

Randomness 19

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 Three, Westrans has already withdrawn services from the former shopping centre interchange, meaning access from the station to the shopping centre is shithouse at the moment.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 17

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 5

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......

Tenth Post

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.

Things I love 1

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.