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Subject: Sun.28.10.18 daily digest
Roderick
Sun.28.10 Metro Twitter.
Pakenham/Cranbourne lines: Buses replace trains South Yarra / Burnley - Caulfield until the last train of Sun 28 Oct (works). Express buses depart from Burnley (take Belgrave/Lilydale train). All-stations buses depart from South Yarra (take Sandringham train).
Buses replace trains South Yarra / Brighton Beach - Frankston / Stony Point until the last train of 28 Oct. Express buses depart from Brighton Beach (take Sandringham train). All stations buses depart from South Yarra (take Sandringham train).
Pakenham/Cranbourne/Frankston/Sandringham lines: No City Loop services this weekend (major project works).
We have extra trains & trams for the game at AAMI Park tonight.
- Your fastest option from Bonbeach is to take a replacement bus to Moorabbin and change for an express bus to Brighton Beach, then change for a train to Richmond.
- Thanks, I might drive to Brighton Beach.
16.50 Mernda line: Buses replaces trains between Bell and Epping (a person hit by a train). Buses have been ordered, but may take over 1 hour to arrive, please consider alternative transport.
- 17.04 that's the second one in 24 hours.
- 17.09 Alternatives: bus routes 552 and 553 Bell to Reservoir, bus route 555 Reservoir to Epping Plaza and bus route 556 Reservoir to Epping.
- 17.24 Buses have been dispatched to Bell and Epping but may take over 1 hour to arrive.
- 17.26 Then it must be the fourth one in the last month! One is too much, let alone the amount we hear on this line.
- 17.43 5 buses are in operation, with a further 5 enroute, with an extended journey time of approximately 30 minutes.
- 18.10 7 buses are in operation, with a further 6 enroute.
- 18.27 Anticipate buses to replace trains until at least 19.30.
- 19.08 Trains have resumed, with minor delays.
20.11 Hurstbridge line: Minor delays police at Watsonia. Trains may be held.
- 20.25 minor and clearing.
- 20.32 Seriously! Vic Govenment. HELP.
21.42 Hurstbridge/Mernda lines: Major delays (police attending to a trespasser near Parliament). Trains may be held.
- 22.25 major, clearing.
- Phew.Melbourne named worst city for convenient transport 26/10/2018..
More than four million Australians are not within walking distance to a reliable train or bus service, a report by Infrastructure Australia has found. An estimated 56 per cent of people who live more than 10 kilometres away from the CBD do not live within 15 minutes of public transport services. Melbourne was named as the worst city, followed by Brisbane and Sydney.
<www.skynews.com.au/details/_5853457097001>
Gloves off as state election campaign turns into the straight 28 October 2018.
The gloves are off in the fight to decide Victoria's future, with the major parties scrapping for every final undecided vote as the days tick down to the November 24 election.
The past week has claimed two Labor candidates in controversial circumstances, they both maintained they were quitting for family reasons.
The Coalition faces a massive challenge, requiring eight seats to form government in its own right. But Labor is staring down a rising threat from the Greens who are already eating into the government's grip on power.
Early on, crime had shaped as a defining theme as the opposition railed about lawlessness and the government talked tough about cracking down on criminals.
But Melbourne's barrelling population growth has become the crux issue as the major parties lay out their answer to tackling the congestion problems that frustrate voters across the city.
Each of the major parties will officially launch their campaigns this weekend, but the battle began long ago.
Premier Daniel Andrews in Kyneton on Wednesday. Credit:Joe Armao.
The Greens kicked off their launch on Saturday night spruiking their hopes of gaining the balance of power.
They held their launch in the marginal seat of Prahran, which Greens MP Sam Hibbins snatched from the Liberals at the 2014 election.
Mr Hibbins holds the seat by just 0.4 per cent.
In her launch speech, Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam said her party had the chance to deliver the most forward-looking era in the state’s history.
Victorian Greens leader Samantha Ratnam speaks after the party's Northcote byelection win.Credit:Wayne Hawkins
“At this election, your vote is powerful,” she said. “The Greens have the opportunity to be in balance of power, ushering in the most progressive era of politics Victoria has ever seen.”
The party holds three lower house and five upper house seats in the Victorian parliament.
Greens national leader Richard Di Natale said multi-party government in Victoria loomed as a “real possibility”.
“We will have a strong influence over the core decisions for Victoria - from how we build 100 per cent renewable energy and phase out coal, investing in a modern metro transport system, ending native forest logging once and for all,” he said.
Across the road from the launch venue a small group of protesters gathered to voice their opposition to the Greens' Richmond candidate Kathleen Maltzahn's previous support for the "Nordic model" for sex work. That model makes the buying of sex a criminal act rather than criminalising selling sex.
However, Ms Maltzahn has said she will vote with Greens' policy if she is elected.
Both Labor and the Liberals will hold their campaign launches on Sunday.
Health is set to feature as a major theme in Labor’s launch although it has also been campaigning strongly on its promise of delivering infrastructure, including public transport and education.
Labor has targeted key marginal seats with hospital upgrades, including Wonthaggi Hospital in the Bass electorate and Latrobe Hospital in Morwell.
Labor is fighting to seize both those seats from the Coalition.
Related Article Fringe factor: your guide to the minor parties.
On Saturday, the Andrews government announced it had achieved record results for ambulance response times and elective surgery waits, with 92 per cent of surgery patients now treated on time.
It also boasted of record results for critical ambulances, as paramedics reached code-one calls within an average time of 11 minutes and 11 seconds – “the best-ever winter performance in Ambulance Victoria’s history”.
The achievement has partly come off the back of a significant overhaul of which types of patients receive an ambulance, with thousands of patients now receiving alternative arrangements including being driven to a hospital or doctor by their relatives.
The government will attack the Coalition for its handling of a long-running pay dispute with paramedics when it was in government.
Meanwhile, the Liberals’ launch will emphasise their plan to decentralise the population and encourage employment outside of Melbourne in a bid to ease congestion.
It will accuse the Andrews government of losing control of population growth.
Earlier this week, two Labor candidates stepped aside in controversial circumstances, with both claiming they needed to spend more time with their families.
Peter Lockwood, Labor's candidate for Bayswater, stood down amid allegations he shoved and punched a fellow Knox councillor, and the party's candidate for Melton, Justin Mammarella stood down as his father was implicated in an alleged ALP printing rort.
<www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/gloves-off-as-state-election-campaign-turns-into-the-straight-20181027-p50cdp.html>
14.41 the Frankston timetable for 26th to 28th October is wrong. https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/route/view/6