-----Original Message-----
From: Roderick Smith [mailto:rodsmith@werple.net.au]
Sent: Wednesday, 18 October 2017 9:34 AM
To: 'transportdownunder@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: snippets, Tues.17.10.17

Re yesterday's photo, Paint Spot has outlets in Niddrie, Footscray, Preston and Bundoora. Did the photo look like any of those?

Attached:

171015Su Melbourne 'Age' - energy costs. with tdu.

171017Tu Melbourne 'Age' - Yarra oBikes. with tdu.

171017Tu Metro Twitter - Point Ormond.

171017Tu Melbourne 'Herald Sun':
- energy, gas; - letters, energy; energy and politics. with tdu.
- emu.
- oBikes. with tdu.
- fare evasion.

Roderick.
Metro Twitter, Tues.17.10.17
Melbourne Tram Museum‏. You can still travel by Melbourne tram to the beach, just not to Point Ormond. That line was closed in 1960.

Melbourne Express: Tuesday, October 17, 2017 .
•Contractors have pulled 44 oBikes from the Yarra River on Monday (8.08am post).
8.22 Dandenong Road is cactus inbound after a four-car smash outside the cemetery near Chapel Street.
oBikes are not only an eyesore, they're becoming pollution in our waterways..
Contractors working for City of Melbourne and the Singaporean company pulled a whopping 44 bikes from the Yarra River on Monday.
Jason Wittmann and Robbie Stavenuiter spent yesterday hauling the yellow bikes from the depths of the river, filling an entire barge with the pushies.
I've seen people riding the bikes many times so the argument about no one using them is a little tired, but I wonder how much time this company has left.
Jason Wittmann (hat) and Robbie Stavenuiter (cap) collect O bikes frim the Yarra. 16th October 2017 Fairfax Media The Age news Picture by Joe Armao.
Jason Wittmann (hat) and Robbie Stavenuiter (cap) collect oBikes from the Yarra. Photo: Joe Armao, Fairfax Media.
Jason Wittmann (hat) and Robbie Stavenuiter (cap) collect O bikes frim the Yarra. 16th October 2017 Fairfax Media The Age news Picture by Joe Armao.
Contractors pulled 44 oBikes from the Yarra River on Monday, October 16. Photo: Joe Armao, Fairfax Media.
8.04 3AW Breakfast is reporting a four-car smash on Dandenong Road inbound near Chapel Street. Route 75 trams are also being diverted along Swan Street due to a smash on Burwood Road.
<www.theage.com.au/victoria/melbourne-express-tuesday-october-17-2017-20171016-gz261n.html>

The simple truth: Coal-fired generators have no future in Australia 13 Feb 2017. with tdu.
<www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-13/ian-verrender-the-simple-truth-on-renewable-energy/8264296>

Councils announce crackdown on oBike share scheme.
Herald Sun October 17, 2017.
THREE Melbourne councils are cracking down on the operators of the city’s oBikes, with plans to confiscate bikes not parked properly and enforce fines to release any bikes they impound for breaching the new rules.
Melbourne, Yarra and Port Phillip today announced a set of terms in a bid to improve public safety and tidy up the inner city, where many of the bikes are being dumped in groups and left in trees.
The agreement requires oBike Australia to ensure their bikes:
* do not obstruct footpath access;
* are parked upright at all times;
* are not parked on steps, ramps or other areas that provide assistance to the vision impaired;
* are parked clear of roadside kerbs, and not on traffic islands or against trees, buildings, light poles or street furniture.
The rules also require any dangerously placed oBikes are relocated within two hours.
Any oBikes reported as faulty, damaged or unsafe are to be immediately removed and then repaired.
The operators will also be responsible for moving excessive numbers of oBikes left at a single location within 24 hours.
The councils will impound any bikes breaching the rules.
The operators will have to pay a $50 fee for the bikes to be released.
The crackdown comes just a day after at least a dozen oBikes were fished from the Yarra, the second major clean-up in three weeks.
Melbourne councillor Nicolas Frances Gilley said cycling was great for health and helped reduce traffic congestion.
“The safety of all city users shouldn’t be compromised in the process,” he said.
“The signing of the MOU is a step in the right direction for sustainable transport options like oBike and a safer, clutter-free environment for bike users and pedestrians.
“It means oBike and the three municipal councils are on the same page when it comes to expectations, roles and responsibilities.”
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/councils-announce-crackdown-on-obike-share-scheme/news-story/26b091cd341e4cd16966a5bce2162648>
* Haw haw haw.....this is Australia right? Get rid of bikes from our streets, and let's have everybody driving a car.
One person, one car.
We seem to really like traffic congestion here in Melbourne, just about as much as we like bleating to the government to "do something" about it.
Fools.
* Everyone is missing the point; including the councils. It is NOT O Bike that is the problem. The problem is good old ocker Aussie Human Nature. No one cares, has any respect, or is civic minded . It's all me me me. The O Bike scheme merely allows antisocial behaviour to be highlighted. This disgraceful behaviour is endemic. What we need to do is to tackle the real problem and forget this O Bike symptom bashing. Melbourne the most unliveable city.
* Isn't this more of a blight on Melbournian's and how we treat things more than anything else. The other day all along Lonsdale st someone had deliberately pushed them all over when they were neatly parked. No wonder we can't have anything nice here.
* Not good enough. Have the councils twigged that the company doesn't even bother paying the $50 fine to get the bikes back? That's how much the bikes are worth to them.
Epic fail.
* In the State of Victoria no one does any time let alone pay the fine! Get real.
* Getting rid of the obikes is a god start. Now get rid of all the barely used bike lanes in and around the city that block traffic and cause congestion that costs the economy a fortune and increases pollution.
* Just give everyone a free bike.
Probably cheaper and save $$ on the health bill FURTHER READING:
42 BIKES FISHED FROM THE RIVER.
BIKES PEDAL TO THE SCRAP METAL.
OBIKES LEFT IN CRAZY PLACES.
‘UBER FOR BIKES’ COMES TO THE CITY.

Malcolm Turnbull to unveil ‘affordable’, ‘reliable’ energy strategy to cut household power bills AAP, News Corp Australia Network Tues.17.10.17
<www.heraldsun.com.au/business/work/malcolm-turnbull-to-unveil-affordable-reliable-energy-strategy-to-cut-household-power-bills/news-story/abf2ec45058cabb5c9fabe1519ca1111>