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Sun.24.5.20 Metro Twitter
Buses replace trains North Melbourne - Upfield until the last train (level-crossing works).
Buses replace trains Clifton Hill - Mernda until the last train (maintenance works).
Buses replace trains on sections of the Frankston line until the last train of Sun 26 Jul (level-crossing works).
Buses replace trains Frankston - Stony Point until the last train of Sun 26 Jul (level-crossing works elsewhere).
5.21 Pakenham/Cranbourne lines: Major delays (police attending to a trespasser at South Yarra). Trains will be held.
- 5.42 clearing.
19.18 Lilydale/Belgrave lines: Major delays (an equipment fault at Ringwood).
Pakenham/Cranbourne lines: Buses replace trains Parliament/Burnley - Caulfield from 20.00 until the last train (maintenance works). Take a Lilydale/Belgrave train to Burnley for express buses.
Sandringham line: Buses replace trains Parliament - Elsternwick from 20.45 until the last train (works).

Why Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane should put an end to old rivalries  May 24, 2020
Australia’s eastern seaboard boasts three hugely successful cities. The output of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane was just over $1000 billion last financial year, equivalent to 53 per cent of Australia’s gross domestic product.
The trio is consistently ranked among the world’s most liveable cities and their residents report high levels of wellbeing. The latest World Happiness Report, which analysed life evaluation data across 186 cities, found Brisbane to be the 10th happiest city in the world with Melbourne 15th and Sydney 20th.
Connecting the population centres of the eastern seaboard makes sense.Credit:Wayne Taylor
Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are routinely cast as rivals. But it's time for them to become more connected and collaborative.
An eastern seaboard megaregion that links our three biggest cities more effectively would deliver major social and economic benefits. There’s growing global evidence that when large regional economies become more integrated and co-ordinated they become more productive.
A little over a decade ago, urban theorist Richard Florida published a ground-breaking study called The Rise of the Megaregion. It found the world’s top 40 integrated economic regions were responsible for two-thirds of global economic output and close to 90 per cent of patented innovations even though they only made up 18 per cent of the world’s population.
Some economic megaregions in the US and Europe are long established. The biggest is “Bo-Wash” which extends from Boston through New York and Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. in America’s north-east. It would rank as the world’s 7th largest economy if it was a country of its own.
The number and sophistication of economic megaregions in Asia is growing. Greater Tokyo is the largest. It is home to almost 40 million people and its economy is comparable to Spain’s and larger than Canada’s. China now has at least 10 megaregions including Beijing-Tianjin and Shanghai-Hangzhou and more are emerging.
The cities within these megaregions tend to have highly developed economic connections with each other and with nearby towns and hinterlands. They also tend to have common transport systems which link population centres and provide opportunities for collaboration. Labour and capital can be moved around at a very low cost.
Complex, high-value economic activities such as information technology, communications, bio-medical research and professional services are become increasingly concentrated in places with large, well-trained, culturally diverse workforces.
Greater Tokyo is the largest of Asia's megaregions.Credit:Alamy
That suggests the economic importance of the world’s economic megaregions is likely to grow.
A new report prepared by consultancy SGS Economics and Planning for the Committee for Melbourne lobby group says its time for an Australian megaregion stretching from Geelong in Victoria to the Sunshine Coast in Queensland.
It argues that Australia’s south-east, if conceptualised as a single region, is similar in size and economic scale to megaregions around the world, which have delivered significant benefits.
Even a 1 per cent increase in output through improved planning and coordination between Australia's three biggest cities would deliver a $268 billion lift to GDP by 2050, modelling by the report’s author, economist Terry Rawnsley, shows.
The report says a Sydney-Melbourne-Brisbane corridor would be attractive to global investors who are "increasingly looking at megaregions as opposed to individual countries or cities".
But a megaregion would do much more than boost national income – it’s an opportunity to promote a more sustainable pattern of growth.
Our biggest cities have been expanding rapidly with unpopular side effects like congestion and more expensive housing. At the same time the economic performance of many regional areas is lagging.
Sydney's economic output per person was a record $31,300 more than in the rest of NSW last financial year. Melbourne's output per person was $22,000 more than the rest of Victoria, also a record.
It’s no surprise the economic gap between city and country has emerged as a disruptive political fault line.
A megaregion would promote more sustainable growth.Credit:Fairfax Media
But Rawnsley says an eastern seaboard economic corridor could allow the benefits of growth to be more evenly distributed by better linking the economic and cultural dynamism of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane to the many smaller cities and towns that surround them.
Improved transport connections and investments in regional centres along the corridor, for instance, would attract economic activity and workers. That would, in turn, help ease congestion and improve housing affordability in big cities.
“We can link together those big cities much more effectively but also knit in the hinterlands,” says Rawnsley.
“There are real opportunities to uplift some smaller east coast regional cities by strengthening land connections between major cities and channelling more investment across the region.”
Of course, a different style of governance will be required to achieve a more coordinated megaregion on the eastern seaboard. State premiers often seem more interested in criticising or competing with their counterparts than collaborating with them.
But Martine Letts, the chief executive of the Committee for Melbourne says there are grounds for hope in the partnership achieved by the national cabinet during the coronavirus crisis.
She has called on the federal government and governments of Victoria, NSW and Queensland to use the momentum created by the national cabinet over the past two months to push for greater coordination and planning along the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane corridor.
The scheme would strengthen Australia’s post-pandemic recovery and boost the economy in decade to come. It makes a lot of sense.
Related Article New housing builds are falling.  Dismal outlook for NSW home building puts thousands of jobs in jeopardy
Related Article Spending would deteriorate sharply if government income support and stimulus were to be scaled back  Spending would collapse without crisis payments to households
<www.brisbanetimes.com.au/business/the-economy/why-melbourne-sydney-and-brisbane-should-put-an-end-to-old-rivalries-20200522-p54vm7.html>

WA gas has been a disaster for the climate – don’t send it east at taxpayer expense May 24, 2020
<www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/wa-gas-has-been-a-disaster-for-the-climate-don-t-send-it-east-at-taxpayer-expense-20200522-p54vkv.html>

May 24, 2020 As the day unfolded: JobKeeper extension urged after 'error' as global COVID-19 cases surpass 5.3 million, Australian death toll stands at 102
* 16.18 Hundreds of extra officers to 'monitor physical distancing' on transport networks. Hundreds of extra officers will be deployed across some of NSW's busiest public transport networks from tomorrow to "monitor physical distancing" and help with crowd management as schools reopen. "This could mean forming lines at bus stops or limiting the amount of people who can enter onto a platform," Transport Minister Constance said.
"Green physical distancing dots [have been put in place] across the entire network to show customers the safest places to sit and stand," Transport Minister Constance said. Credit:Dean Sewell
He said 20 teams will initially be deployed at some of the busiest interchanges, including Wynyard, Blacktown, Hurstville, Chatswood, Newcastle, the Blue Mountains and Wollongong. Teams of cleaners will also board services to conduct cleaning in "real-time.  Passengers are already seeing Sanitisation and Hygiene Agile Response Cleaners boarding buses at Bondi Junction and Parramatta to clean high touch areas, including Opal Card readers and stop buttons, in preparation for the next service. He said that about 700 extra cleaners have been hired since March.
* 14.05 Opinion: Normalising working from home will be the death of society. For some time now I've been convinced the technological revolution is partly geared towards killing off society under the guise of convenience, writes Michael Koziol. We've seen it already in the advent of delivery apps like Uber Eats that pump food in and absolve you of the need to leave the house and interact in the public sphere.
Now we're seeing it in the push for working from home to become the norm and replace the office – as well as the daily commute, lunchtime shopping and the hundreds of micro interactions that make up a day.
There is a cold utilitarianism behind this idea that we can all save time and money by having people stay home and Zoom in to meetings. What corporations might save on floor space and desks and upgrades, the rest of us will lose in the death of society as we know it.
Separating our home life from our work life helps to set boundaries and discourages the erosion of our leisure time.Credit: Louie Douvis
Read the full piece here. 
* 13.39 Parents are being urged to drive their children to school to minimise the potential spread of COVID-19 on the state's public transport network after the state government ordered students back to classrooms from Monday. 
Bracing for more motorists on Sydney's roads, Transport Minister Constance said parents driving children to school should also be particularly careful around school zones and observe 40km/hr speed limits. 
"Parents, please if you can, drop your kid at school. Alternatively, if your kids can walk or ride a pushbike, please do so.
"We have an enormous risk associated with the public transport network and the spread and community transmission of COVID-19."
The government has announced strict new social distancing measures for the public transport network.
It is limiting buses to 12 people and train carriages to 32, forcing hundreds of thousands of Sydneysiders to reconsider how and if they will return to work as coronavirus restrictions lift.
The government will provide additional parking for workers at Moore Park from Monday.
The state government ordered students back to school full-time from Monday. Credit:Kate Geraghty
Read more on the extra services being added to the city's transport network in this story.
* 11.05 The Victorian government has announced a string of changes to its lockdown restrictions today. These include reopening beauty and personal care services and easing limits on the number of people who can attend weddings, funerals and religious services.  The government has also indicated restrictions could be further relaxed from June 22 - if community transmission remains low and testing rates stay high throughout the state. 
Here are some of the key developments that will come into effect across Victoria from June 1:
•Gatherings at private homes can now be up to 20 people, including the members of a household. For a family of five, that means 15 visitors.
•Public gatherings (indoor and outdoor) will increase to 20 people.
•Overnight stays will be allowed in both private residents and hotels.
•Campgrounds, caravan parks and tourist accommodation allowed to reopen, as long as shared bathroom and kitchen facilities are not used.
•Beauty therapy, tanning, waxing, nail salons, spas, tattoo parlours and massage parlours may reopen with up to 20 patrons.
•Cafes, restaurants and pubs may serve meals for up to 20 people.
•Galleries, museums, zoos, historic sites, arcades, drive-in cinemas and outdoor amusement parks will reopen with up to 20 patrons per space.
•Weddings will be allowed up to 20 people, plus the celebrant and couple.
•Funerals can increase to 50 people (indoors and outdoors).
•Religious services may increase to up to 20 people, plus those required to conduct the ceremony.
•Bootcamps can increase to 20 people, plus an instructor.
•Auction houses, real estate auctions and open house inspections can increase to 20 people.
•Libraries, youth centres and other community facilities allowed to reopen with no more than 20 people in a single area, plus those needed to operate the space.
* 10.36 Victorians allowed 20 people in their homes, overnight stays
Victorian residents will soon be allowed to have 20 people inside their home and stay overnight in other accommodation, as the state government announced significant changes to ease lockdown restrictions. 
Premier Daniel Andrews said from midnight next Sunday, May 31, Victorians would be allowed to have a total of 20 people in their home. For a family of five, this means 15 visitors.
video: Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews press conference Outdoor gatherings can also increase to 20. Overnight stays can resume at private residences and accommodation.
Victoria reported one new case of coronavirus on Sunday. Another case was reclassified as a duplicate. The current tally of positive cases in the state is 1603.
A nineteenth person died with coronavirus in Victoria on Saturday and there have been 174,000 tests carried out since May 11.
"I don't want to labour the point too much, but it really is critical," Mr Andrews said.
"The more people that get tested, the more options we have, to not make changes based on guesswork, but instead to make changes based on what the data is telling us."
"With so few community transmissions and so much testing, we are now able to further ease restrictions in many different sectors."
<www.smh.com.au/national/coronavirus-updates-live-jobkeeper-extension-urged-after-error-as-global-covid-19-cases-surpass-5-2-million-australian-death-toll-stands-at-102-20200523-p54vt1.html>

Mind how you travel on public transport
Sun.24.5.20 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'
PASSENGER numbers on trains, trams and buses will not be limited as coronavirus bans are lifted and many Victorians return to work over the next fortnight.
Despite fears COVID-19 can spread if people are sitting or standing in proximity to an infected individual, the Sunday Herald Sun has been told there are no immediate plans to cap numbers on public transport.
The Department of Transport said doing so would likely create crowding in other places, such as on train platforms, and at tram and bus stops.
However, it said extra services outside peak hours could be put on to give commuters a choice of travelling times and reduce congestion.
“We’re doing everything we can to prepare the network for people to start to travel again safely,” a spokeswoman said.
“We’re encouraging everyone who must travel on public transport to use common sense
— don’t travel if you are unwell, practise good hand hygiene, cough into your elbow and, where possible, keep your distance to other passengers.
“We’ve increased cleaning across our public transport services, we’re running a full timetable and we’ll continue to monitor the network as more people catch public transport.”
As most people were still working from home, the number of people travelling on trains, trams and buses was much lower than normal, which meant there was still plenty of space, the State Government said.
It did not rule out introducing further measures as more restrictions were eased and more people started commuting to work.