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Sent: Saturday, 24 September 2022 at 03:30:58 pm AEST
Subject: Thurs.24.3.22 daily digest

Roderick

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Thurs.24.3.22 Metro Twitter
Flinders St: still with a lane closed for tunnel works? [reopened by July]
Pakenham line: All trains will not stop at Hallam until the last train of Sun 1 May (level-crossing work).
8.38 Delays up to 30 minutes due to equipment faults in the Hurstbridge to Greensborough area.
- 9.11 Services may be altered/cancelled as we recover the timetable. Services may be altered/cancelled as we recover the timetable.
- 9.36 minor and clearing
15.01 Mernda line: Major delays due to a trespasser issue near Croxton.
- 15.09 clearing
- 15.48 What does “major delays AND Clearing” mean? Are there delays city bound right now? Son has first ever shift at MCG so don’t want to be late. Is this issue going to resolve quickly? Any info appreciated
15.50 Hi Tish, we have had multiple trespasser issues along the line, resulting in delays up to 30 minutes for citybound services. These delays are slowly clearing as the situation is now clear. Is there a specific service you're interested in?
- The 4.28pm train from Epping (city bound)
- that service is currently scheduled to operate and should be close to schedule. Please continue to check our website or app for the very latest service information.
- 4:03 Thank you
- the service that arrives at Epping at 4:28pm, has left Mernda on-time.
Pakenham/Cranbourne lines: Buses replace trains Caulfield - Westall from 20.30 until the last train (works), adding 40 minutes.

Leave the car keys at home. We need to get back on public transport. The Age's View March 23, 2022
One of the most striking features of the COVID-19 lockdowns in Melbourne was the quiet. With little traffic on the roads, the city went eerily silent. That is now a distant memory as many people prefer to use their car over public transport.
Melbourne traffic is almost back to pre-COVID-19 levels – the proof is in the congestion – despite large numbers of people still working from home and the cost of fuel heading well north of $2. It has been a much slower return to public transport. The latest data from the Transport Department shows the network experienced its sharpest increase in patronage since 2020 last Thursday. The figure hit 63 per cent of the pre-COVID baseline – a 9 per cent rise from the same time the previous week but still far behind the return to cars.
Passengers leave a tram in the CBD on Sunday.CREDIT:CHRIS HOPKINS
Fear of catching COVID-19 is clearly a major factor in people’s hesitancy. But the risk is not what it seems. Professor Catherine Bennett, chair of epidemiology at Deakin University, believes being inside a shop or cafe for longer than 15 minutes could pose a higher risk of transmission than being on a train, tram or bus, where face masks are still mandated.
It’s an argument that needs to be heard loud, clear and often. Environmental advocacy groups have spent years trying to convince people to leave their cars at home when getting around the city. If we are to kick our reliance on fossil fuels, and rescue our roads from gridlock, leaving our vehicles in the garage will play a big part. Close to a million Tesla electric vehicles may have been sold last year, but it will be at least a decade before the new technology dominates the car market.
The state government has made a start at luring people back to public transport. Fares were frozen last year and increases this year were below inflation – they rose 2.3 per cent for the city and 1.1 per cent in the regions. The government also temporarily reduced off-peak fares to minimise crowding earlier in the pandemic.
The Victorian Greens want to go further. They are calling for public transport to be made free for an initial one-month period and for that to be regularly reviewed depending on prices at the bowser. While free anything usually attracts a crowd, some question whether offering public transport at no cost is worthwhile. Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said the people most affected by high petrol prices lived in suburbs with poor public transport services and would not be helped by the Greens proposal.
So if not free, then what? Dr Jonathan Spear, chief executive of independent advisers Infrastructure Victoria, suggested this week that there was room to lower fares for some underused public transport services. With people tending to avoid the office on Mondays and Fridays, maybe there is room for discounts on particular days.
Appealing to the hip pocket, however, is not a panacea. After being encouraged for so long to keep a safe distance from each other, for some the thought of getting on a crowded train is anathema. Bringing patronage up again will take time, but it could be fast-tracked by a concerted campaign by the state government and public transport operators to encourage people to leave the car keys at home. It would be a win for the environment, a way of relieving our congested roads and, quite possibly, a chance to save a few dollars.
RELATED ARTICLE The Greens say free public transport could help ease cost of living pressures. Push for free public transport as petrol hike hits cost of living
<www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/leave-the-car-keys-at-home-we-need-to-get-back-on-public-transport-20220322-p5a6qg.html>
* Could start by investing more in infrastructure!
* We’ll save even more money wfh. On a packed train squeezed together during a highly contagious variant and less chance of infection because of a mask? We’re not stupid mate

Agreement unblocks free Sydney train fares. Phoebe Loomes March 24 2022
An agreement between the rail workers union and NSW government allows free fare days for commuters.
Planned weekly disruption across Sydney trains has been averted after the transport minister and unions agreed to free fares for commuters.
It comes after a long-running dispute between the NSW government and the Rail, Tram and Bus Union boiled over into a complete shutdown of the rail network last month.
Last week, calls from the union to implement Fare Free Fridays or face ongoing industrial action led Transport for NSW to warn commuters to expect at least two weeks of interruptions.
However, NSW Transport Minister David Elliott on Thursday said he had reached an agreement with the unions to stop industrial action over Fare Free Fridays, which had been due to begin on Friday.
"I will continue to work with the RTBU to activate a proposal that will benefit the people of NSW in the weeks ahead," Mr Elliott said.
"The Union and I are committed to offering Fare Free Days that see commuters, their families and small businesses get the most economic benefit from public events.
"The decision avoids any major disruption to services tomorrow."
Some disruptions may still impact commuters including delays due to the recent weather events and staffing issues related to COVID-19.
"I look forward to working with the RTBU in good faith over the next six weeks, as we meet each week, to negotiate new Enterprise Agreements."
It comes after the government issued an order to shut down all trains across Greater Sydney in February, amid a long-running dispute over their workplace agreement.
The decision inconvenienced thousands across the city on Monday morning, leading the RTBU to call for free fares to compensate commuters after the days of interruptions on the network.
"The people of NSW deserve a safe railway and some free travel as compensation for the mess the NSW Government put them in," RTBU NSW secretary Alex Claassens said last week.
"The NSW Government has refused to deliver on basic safety asks as part of the current enterprise agreement negotiations.
"That's why rail workers have been forced to take protected industrial action in the first place."
<www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7672773/agreement-unblocks-free-sydney-train-fares>

More than 3200 bus drivers set to to walk off job as TWU ramps up pay dispute. Kieran Rooney March 24, 2022
Thousands of bus drivers around Victoria have threatened to walk off the job amid escalating tensions over a new pay deal and better working conditions.
TWU Victoria Tasmania assistant secretary Mem Suleyman and members during the 2018 bus strikes.
Victoria’s bus network could grind to a halt and spark commuter chaos as more than 3200 drivers threaten to walk off the job.
The issue is set to create an unwanted problem in a state election year after bus disputes sparked headaches for Labor in 2018.
The militant Transport Workers Union is negotiating new pay deals with every major passenger bus company in Victoria and is proposing to strike as it pushes for wage increases, improved conditions and a better work-life balance.
Rolling strikes would create chaos for hundreds of thousands of bus commuters and gridlock for drivers as more people are forced to use cars.
The negotiations includes the states biggest passenger operator Kinetic, which replaced Transdev on a new contract with the state.
TWU Victoria Tasmania secretary Mike Mcness.
Other votes for protected industrial action are at Ventura, CDC and Dysons, with more than 3200 bus drivers represented across all businesses.
If workers at all companies walk off the job at once during these negotiations, it could be one of the biggest strikes in recent memory.
Union members are currently voting over the strike action, with results known next month, but it is expected the protected industrial action will receive popular support.
The TWU is seeking to replicate negotiations held with trucking companies last year in which they secured inflation guarantees that boosted wages alongside the consumer price index.
Since then, labour shortages, supply chain pressures and the conflict in Ukraine have pushed up the CPI and delivered larger pay increases to workers in these sectors.
TWU state secretary Mike McNess said wages need to keep up with the rising cost of living.
“These are the claims of the essential bus drivers who have fronted up every day of the pandemic,” he said.
“They have risked their own health and the health of their families to make sure that Victorians kept moving.
“In turn, they are asking for fair conditions and financial security for the future.
“Bus operators and the Victorian government know that TWU members have been integral to essential public transport services continuing throughout the pandemic.”
Kinetic’s southern executive general manager, Daniel Head, said the company remained committed to negotiating a fair deal.
“Since we took over operations of the Melbourne Bus Franchise only seven weeks ago we have been meeting with the TWU regularly and in good faith,” he said.
“We respect the industrial process and everyone’s right to participate in protected action, but only after negotiations have failed to reach an agreement.”
In 2018, the government had to scramble at the 11th hour to intervene in multiple bus pay deals and avoid a damaging series of shutdowns before it went to the polls.
Disgruntled bus operators also drove buses around Melbourne attacking Premier Daniel Andrews.
<www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/more-than-3200-bus-drivers-set-to-to-walk-off-job-as-twu-ramps-up-pay-dispute/news-story/1f0185bc3347d450b31051f88d9778b7>

Lilydale station open space design under fire from locals.  Kimberley Seedy March 24, 2022 Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader
The level crossing removal project in Lilydale is again under scrutiny, with fears for people with a disability after ramps weren’t included in the design.
The new open space at Lilydale station has come under fire from locals, joining a long list of controversial buildings and spaces across Melbourne.
The Lilydale level crossing removal project is under fire again, after the design for the new station failed to include ramps.
The elevated platforms can only be reached via stairs or lifts, with many residents concerned about what will happen to people with a disability if the lifts break down.
“As someone who has a family member with a disability it’s an absolute joke not to have included ramps,” Michelle Chamberlin said on the Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader Facebook page.
“Not well thought through at all. Hopefully some of our local MPs take this on-board for any future developments.”
“Absolutely no planning in this station at all – the stairs kill my knees and there is no way I would use that claustrophobic little lift,” Kim Dight said.
Public Transport Users Association spokesman Daniel Bowen said ramps from street level to the platforms have the advantage that they can’t break down, but he understood they were not always practical.
“Where they can’t be provided, it’s critical that lifts are reliable and spacious, and that any problems are quickly reported and resolved to ensure passengers who can’t use stairs and escalators don’t get stuck,” he said.
According to the Level Crossing Removal Project, the lifts at the station are built to adhere to accessibility requirements and allow people of all abilities to access the station and platforms. Back-up generators have been installed to ensure the lifts can still operate in the event of any power failures.
It comes after a new public open space under the station has been compared to “a fast food joint from the 80s,” with its orange and yellow colour scheme coming under fire from locals.
And motorists and local traders have also reported traffic banking up for longer along Maroondah Highway after the removal of the crossing, and the introduction of traffic lights in its place.
The space beneath the new Maroondah Highway rail bridge was recently unveiled, following the removal of the Lilydale level crossing.
The Level Crossing Removal Project team have described it as an informal meeting space that fits the heritage and colour of Lilydale’s historic environment.
But locals are not convinced, with more than 300 people commenting on the space on the Lilydale & Yarra Valley Leader Facebook page.
“The 70s called and want their colours back,” Michael Levin wrote, while Bev Moore said “it looks like a fast food joint from the 80s”.
“The colour is disgusting. What part of the Yarra Valley says fluoro orange?” Tania McCallum said.
Others raised fears about drug users and unsavoury characters using the open space.
Level Crossing Removal Project program director Steve Brown said community consultation overwhelmingly supported the inclusion of an informal gathering space at the new Lilydale station, with more than 500 pieces of feedback received.
“The open space colours reflect tones of the Coldstream stone used in the station cladding and the red-rusty look of the bridge architectural screening, with three different versions of this colour scheme presented to our Stakeholder Liaison Group, which includes members of the community,” Mr Brown said.
“The final vibrant colour scheme reflects feedback from this group.
“The colourful open space will benefit Lilydale locals for decades to come, providing a place to meet and move through the new station precinct.”
The Lilydale space is not the only design that has left Melburnians scratching their heads over the years. Check out some of most controversial developments.
* Not everyone is a fan of Fed Square.. It’s become a popular meeting spot in the heart of the city, but not everyone is a fan of the grey jagged building design of Fed Square, once named among the ugliest ten buildings in the world. The attraction has been mired in controversy for years, undergoing a redesign before its belated opening in October 2002.
* The Kubix apartment development opposite Knox City Shopping Centre. The design of the Kubix apartment towers opposite Westfield Knox has come under fire from many residents, who aren’t happy with its unusual colour scheme. Concerns over the look of Knox’s high-rise buildings prompted the local council to come up with a $50,000 initiative to entice developers to come up with better designs.
* Vault, also known as the Yellow Peril, caused a public outcry when it was commissioned as the centrepiece for City Square in 1980.
A lone pedestrian walks past the Yellow Peril sculpture at South Melbourne in 2020. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw
* The Pixel building in Carlton.  The first carbon neutral building in the world was unveiled in Carlton in 2009, but not everyone is a fan, with one Reddit user labelling it one of Melbourne’s ugliest buildings.
More Coverage
Secret train station pub facing uncertain future
Traffic ‘disaster’ after level crossing removal
Roadside sculptures eyesores or eye-catching?
<www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/outer-east/lilydale-train-station-open-space-design-under-fire-from-locals/news-story/a719dfe8b3bd8c81314de3f7ea1ac9ec>
* As with all LXRA/PTV station designs: harsh and garish, with no vegetation.  Painted concrete is uglier than lipstick on a pig.
* Replacing train lines with traffic signals is just dumb. The change in traffic flow is disproportionate to the investment cost.
* Fed Square was imposed upon Melbourne in haste and is one of the least attractive and least workable public places we have. High heels get caught in the spaces between the tiles, for example. Visually, it reminds me of a snotty handkerchief dropped on the ground. Disaster Dan’s train stations, similarly imposed on the users, must be the ugliest in any city anywhere. If Lilydale is also hard to access, that’s yet another DanTouch stuffup. His visually ugly legacy plus reckless public spending should warn voters off the Socialists in November. Our credit rating will be threatened if this continues.
* High heels are terrible, the least functional shoe on earth. They should never be the yardstick for measuring whether a location has value or not. 
* When Labor undertakes anything, they stuff it up.  Please Victoria, vote them, their incompetence and arrogance out in November. 
* Lilydale crossing, tick! Well done Dan, nothing but issues with this one, perfect planning from your government again!
* The problem with Lilydale station is that the traffic banks up along Maroondah Hwy way more than when the boom gates were down
* So all the inclusivity rhetoric from the Andrews Government is exposed to be just rhetoric. They really are the Australian Liars Party!
* Love the Hotel on East Link
* So council stumps up $50,000, but they have the final say. So if they don't like what is is being proposed, then why approve it??
* You can't please all the people all the time. And some people are so petty that you can NEVER please them. Move on to more important things.
* Who cares, there is bigger problems in the world to worry about than this!
* People who can't use stairs when the lift is broken will care for one
* Why worry, in no time it will be covered in graffiti and may even become a tourist attraction!
* Sounds like the ideal place for another drug injecting site.
* No votes for Dictator Dan out here, so we get what we're given.

Thurs.24.3.22 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'.  New tech to unjam citytraffic.  IAN ROYALL
REVOLUTIONARY traffic-busting technology will be deployed in Melbourne in a three-year program to ease congestion and improve road safety.
A 2.5km stretch of Nicholson St between Alexandra Pde and Victoria Pde will be covered by the Intelligent Corridor system, which uses sensors and real-time data to reduce traffic jams.
The technology has been tested on about lO0km of roads in Fitzroy and Collingwood. The system is being rolled out by Austrian technology firm Kapsch TrafficCom in partnership with the University of Melbourne and Department of Transport.
The Intelligent Corridor uses thousands of data points to predict how traffic will flow. Extra sensors and measuring equipment have been installed at key intersections on Nicholson St.
The Australian Integrated Multimodal EcoSystem, or AIMES, is the world’s first system for testing connected transport technologies on a large scale.
AIMES director Majid Sarvi, a professor of transport engineering at the University of Melbourne, said the Intelligent Corridor would provide a model for cities to ease congestion, which was estimated to cost the Australian economy $l6.5bn every year.
“In Melbourne alone, 492 people lost their lives in crashes at urban intersections — with more than half of these being pedestrians, cyclists or motor- cyclists — between 2006 and 2019,” Professor Sarvi said.
“Our Intelligent Corridor will use the latest technology to better manage traffic and make our roads safer.”

Thurs.24.3.22 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'.  Draft development plan amendment, CBD North Precinct, Melbourne CBD
CYP Design & Construction is the consortium contracted to design, build and maintain the stations and tunnels for the project.
The CBD North Precinct Development Plan was approved by the Minister for Planning in April 2Ol8. Following this approval, detailed design on State Library Station has continued.
CYP Design & Construction has prepared an amended draft CBD North Precinct Development Plan, which includes site layout plans, architectural, landscape and public realm plans, for the works required at State Library Station in Melbourne’s CBD.
This draft plan demonstrates how the works will be delivered in accordance with the approved Environmental
Performance Requirements and the approved Urban Design Strategy for the project.
Have your say
The amended draft Development Plan is available for public inspection and comment at engage.bigbuild.vic.gov.au from
Thursday 24 March until 5pm
Thursday 14 April 2022. Any person may make a submission on the plan.
To learn more, see metrotunnel.vic.gov.au or call 1800 105 105.

Thurs.24.3.22 Melbourne 'Herald Sun'.  Letters.
JONATHAN Spear (YV, 23/3) says "blaming bike lanes for trafficjams is flawed logic" and  more road space leads to more cars and more congestion. Taking this logic to the limit, no roads, no cars, no congestion problem, I suppose?
Same logic to oppose freeways?