-----Original Message-----
From: Roderick Smith [mailto:rodsmith@werple.net.au]
Sent: Monday, 13 August 2018 8:49 PM
To: 'transportdownunder@yahoogroups.com'
Subject: Sun.12.8.18 daily digest.

Attached.

180812Su Melbourne 'Herald Sun':
- letters, population growth.
- Sky News ban.
- energy prices. with tdu.

180812 Melbourne 'Age' - tram.

180812Su Metro Twitter:
- AFL.
- Batman Ave (Adam Ford)
- Flinders St at Swanston St, ~1949. (Robert Dow).

Roderick.

Sun.12.8.18 Metro Twitter.
We have extra services to/from Etihad Stadium this afternoon.
- Won't be biggest attendance, but footy specials OK, Liberal plan (if elected in Nov.) for 10 min, 'turn up and go' trains to give fans flexibility. Extra drivers will be trained.
- Let’s hope so. One or 2 extra footy trains is never enough on the Essendon / Craigieburn line. Platforms & trains are jam packed. Worse than peak hour Trams are the same! Lift your game Metro, PTV & YT.- Depends where supporters
reside: Richmond has a strong base at Glen Waverley; Western Bulldogs at Point Cook. Many South Morang line users go for Collingwood. But yes, a 20 min frequency with one or max two footy specials is suboptimal compared to the Liberal commitment.
- I can speak only for the thousands of Essendon members who live near & use the Craigieburn line, Essendon station being the main stop. Majority of fans are over 60. Not good enough.
10.14 No Route 78 trams between Stop 50 Toorak Rd and Stop 43 Windsor Station (a traffic incident in Chapel St). Passengers may consider Bus 246 along Punt Rd or Sandringham line trains. Passengers may consider Bus 246 along Punt Rd; Bus 216 along Williams Rd and connect with Route 6/72 trams; or Sandringham trains.
- 12.11 A limited bus replacement is running between Stop 50 Toorak Rd & Stop 42 Dandenong Rd. Buses are travelling via Chapel St, Commercial Rd, Punt Rd and Toorak Rd, diverting around road closures. Stop 48 Wilson St and Stop 49 Palermo St are not being serviced.
- 17.30 No Route 78 trams are running between Stop 50 Toorak Road and Balaclava. A limited bus replacement is running between these stops. Buses are travelling via Chapel Street, Commercial Road, Punt Road and Toorak Road, diverting around road closures. Stop 48 Wilson Street and Stop 49 Palermo Street are not being serviced. We have been advised this delay will continue for some time.
- 17.53 Route 78 trams have resumed along their normal lines, with delays.
13.11 Frankston line: Minor delays Frankston - Caulfield (a track-equipment fault).
- 14.12 How long is delay to Richmond station? I'm on a train now, around Edithvale.
- 14.17 The last train through the area was delayed only about 2min so we're hoping it won't be too long. Are you on the train at Chelsea now?
- 14.36 Yes, I think that we are hitting Glen Huntly now.
Come and get into the game at the Metro training zone as part of the Pink Lady Field of Women event at MCG today. Richo is signing autographs until 13.0 and some Melbourne AF women stars will be here from 14.15.
Batman Avenue Tram Terminus, year unknown. Today approximately the back end of Transport Bar at Fed Square. (Adam Ford).
A photograph in my grandfather's collection. Think ~1949 Princes Bridge station. (Robert Dow).
15.39 The 14.52 down Craigieburn has been delayed at Oak Park (an injured passenger requiring medical attention).

Voters urged to make questions count ahead of state election Whitehorse Leader August 12, 2018.
WE NEED to talk about public transport.
The dire state of our roads and transport infrastructure can no longer be ignored; put simply, the streets of Whitehorse, particularly around the Box Hill Activity Centre, are choking as our population soars.
This paper has congratulated the Andrews Government for its commitment to eradicating the blight of level crossings.
At the same time, the Whitehorse Leader has campaigned for work to be done on the Box Hill Interchange.
For Box Hill to be dubbed the second CBD of Melbourne, with a skyline that will put several smaller state capitals to shame, its transport hub is a disgrace.
And it will only get worse.
What the people of Whitehorse need, especially the thousands expected to call those 100m Box Hill towers home, is a firm commitment to fix our public transport woes.
It’s all good and well to jag a headline promising to rid our roads of cars; to cry out for people to ease congestion by using buses and trains to get to work.
What is needed is action.
For money to be spent improving services; for a government determined enough to transform one of the busiest transport hubs in Melbourne from a grotty, windswept, unsafe relic of the 1970s, into a vibrant, safe, commuter-friendly asset.
One where people will gladly leave their car at home, because they know a bus will arrive on time, take them to a clean, warm station — without a mad dash through a busy shopping centre — to catch a train in relative comfort.
Box Hill train station. Picture: David Crosling.
In August last year, after a two-month campaign by the Whitehorse Leader, the Andrews Government released the Box Hill interchange ministerial advisory group report.
It made for sober reading.
It claimed any major redevelopment of the hub was at least a decade away.
The report states Box Hill is the 10th busiest train station in metropolitan Melbourne, with commuter use to increase by more than 45 per cent by 2031..
Just how one expects the interchange to handle those numbers is worthy of an expensive high-grade advisory report itself.
But it’s unfair to focus just on Box Hill. Across Whitehorse, roads are becoming gridlocked. Peak hour — or rather hours — turns parts of Whitehorse into a carpark.
And that’s another, though linked, issue. A lack of dedicated carparks around major business and medical centres means people are parking where they shouldn't, be it in commuter carparks or in the leafy side streets we are so proud of.
Clearly, we need to get people on to buses and trains.
That needs action.
You have the chance to put your questions to those who can make a difference.
The Leader Newspapers and Metropolitan Transport Forum at Box Hill Town Hall on August 30, from 6.30 to 8pm, is an open invitation for you to come and have you say, to ask questions of those who are handsomely paid to solve these sorts of problems.
Liberal spokesman for Public Transport David Davis will be there, as will Samantha Dunn, Greens Easter Metropolitan MP while a representative from Labor is expected to attend.
The forum will be chaired by Whitehorse Mayor Andrew Davenport and the Whitehorse Leader will be there.
There is a state election in three months. Make your questions count.
Man proposes to his girlfriend on a packed Melbourne train.
HOW THE STATE GOVERNMENT IS LETTING DOWN BOX HILL COMMUTERS.
WANT TO LIVE DANGEROUSLY? CATCH A TRAIN WHILE YOU’RE PREGNANT.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/east/voters-urged-to-make-questions-count-ahead-of-state-election/news-story/9471f547612a55c32766615d19d87386>

The $93,000 'free' tram plan for schools 12 August 2018.
It sounded too good to be true: a free tram that could be transformed into the classroom of students' dreams.
Abbotsford Primary School was among 130 state schools vying for a piece of Victorian history through the Andrews government’s retired tram scheme.
Abbotsford Primary School students Calypso, Kai'en, Benson, Mike and Kaila, L to R, were making plans for their 'free' tram until they realised how much it would cost Photo: Eddie Jim.
The trams would be provided to successful state and non-government schools for free, with VicTrack footing the bill for their transportation and foundations.
But weeks after lodging an application for one of the retired yellow and green trams, the state school received a letter from the Victorian School Building Authority explaining it would have to fork out an estimated $30,000 in upfront costs. These included asbestos and lead paint removal and shading..
The Authority also told the school that it may have to pay a further $63,750 in maintenance costs for replacing the tram's roof, glazing, window frames, flooring, doors and installing an accessible pathway.
“It’s not a free tram,” principal Latham Burns said..
While Mr Burns expected that the school would have to foot the cost of refurbishing the tram, he said the costs outlined by the school authority were prohibitive.
His school will now have withdraw its application, and Mr Burns suspects many other state schools will be in a similar situation.
“It’s disappointing because we are letting people down,” he said.
“This is not a priority for our very finite resources.”
Abbotsford Primary School students were excited about the prospect of a tram in their playground and helped write the school’s application for the heritage vehicle.
They wrote about how the tram could be used as a quiet space to play, a classroom or a music room. One girl imagined a slide snaking out of the tram’s window.
Year 6 student Benson said the promise of the free tram was “false advertising”.
“It’s not free, that’s for sure. It’s a rip off."
A VicTrack spokesman said schools that applied for a tram were told there would be costs to ensure they were safe and appropriately maintained.
“That’s why the Victorian School Building Authority is contacting schools which submitted an application to make clear the potential costs which can come from having a tram on school grounds,” he said.
He said the scheme gave schools, community organisations and businesses an opportunity to own a piece of our state’s history.
The VicTrack website states that asbestos has been identified in the trams' flooring and electrical control systems.
In May, Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan said schools, community groups, not-for-profit organisations and other public institutions would be “able to access a tram for free” under the state government scheme.
She said community groups and educational institutions were “particularly encouraged to apply”.
A total of 134 trams will be made available to the public as part of the expression of interest process, which closed on July 6. Successful applicants will be notified by late September.
<www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/the-93-000-free-tram-plan-for-schools-20180810-p4zwtb.html>

Parking pains as light rail, private construction overtakes Braddon 12 August 2018.
Talking points:
•Braddon businesses are reporting a downturn due to the amount of construction, both private and for the light rail, in the suburb.
•Elouera Street has only recently reopened after work was due to be complete in April.
•The Canberra Business Chamber runs a program to help businesses along the light rail corridor adjust to the changes.
Braddon businesses are suffering lost trade from delayed light rail construction as parking remains an ongoing issue in the inner city suburb.
Businesses particularly along Mort Street are being negatively impacted.
Owner of Ciao at Mort cafe, Ab Guleria is concerned a lack of parking in Braddon due to construction is affecting his business. Photo: Elesa Kurtz.
Elouera Street was reopened only recently despite construction work originally slated to be completed in April.
The delays affecting Eloura Street were as a result of "unique conditions not found anywhere else along the light rail corridor", a Transport Canberra spokesman said.
He said lots of existing services meant electric cabling for the light rail had to be installed up to seven meters underground.
"Drilling also progressed slowly due to the presence of large areas of very dense rock," the spokesman said.
The cabling connects to a substation which has taken up roughly half the carpark on the corner of Mort and Eloura Streets.
The carpark directly outside Ab Guleria's cafe, Ciao at Mort, has been lost to light rail construction. Photo: Elesa Kurtz.
The spokesman advised during August and September the corner carpark would be closed intermittently while construction of the substation is completed.
About 40 off-street parking spaces and 27 on-street carparks have been lost temporarily. Car spaces where the substation is located will be permanently lost.
Ciao at Mort cafe owner Ab Guleria, whose business directly faces the corner carpark, said construction had impacted trade.
"Our regulars would park the car and walk to work but now they avoid the area because of the [construction] work and traffic," Mr Guleria said.
"They come, they see the [carpark closed] sign and they keep driving."
Mr Guleria said an upside was that the number of construction workers in the area provided a new customer base, but he was concerned what the disruptions might do to his long-term customers.
Owner of neighbouring restaurant Burger Hero, Kuber Sethi said his business had also suffered from the surrounding construction, especially with the removal of car spaces from an area that already had limited parking.
Mr Sethi said he had received complaints from customers about diffculties parking for the last two to three months.
Both business owners said they had received roughly a week's notice of the closure of the carpark but no offers of support from the ACT government.
It comes after Braddon's last car dealership and Next Hair, both on Mort Street, closed earlier in the year with both owners citing a downturn in business due to construction.
A government spokesman said the Canberra Business Chamber was funded to deliver the Light Rail Business Link program to assist businesses along the light rail corridor to mitigate adverse impacts from construction.
Chamber CEO Robyn Hendry said much of that program had involved working with businesses in Gungahlin and Mitchell. She said any business along the light rail corridor was welcome to be a part of the program.
Mrs Hendry said about 520 business owners had attended quarterly forums about light rail.
She said prior to the light rail construction Braddon had been "a victim of its own success" as growing popularity put strain on parking and access.
The amount of private sector development in Braddon meant it was hard to quarantine the negative impacts of light rail construction from other developments, she said.
"If they [businesses] can get through challenges construction is giving them at the moment, it looks very promising," Mrs Hendry said.
<www.canberratimes.com.au/national/act/parking-pains-as-light-rail-private-construction-overtakes-braddon-20180810-p4zwsh.html>