The Activity Centres Need Good Non-Radial Connections Too. A framework to find key gaps in activity centre public transport

And a more detailed breakdown of the rationale + method here (last week's blog post):
open.substack.com/pub/adambain...

You can explore the full results here (map works best on desktop):
adambain014.github.io/VicTrainPatr...

Some activity centres do well across the board, but a many down badly once you look at cross-suburban connections.

I went through and assessed all of them based on how good their public transport connections are in each of the four cardinal directions (north/south/east/west).

The results are pretty mixed.

The Victorian Government is rolling out major upzoning around “train and tram” activity centres, with their location justified by access to public transport
But I started wondering. How well are these centres really connected if you look beyond just trips to and from the CBD?

Bottom 10:

Top 10 activity centres by public transport connectivity:

The Activity Centres Need Good Non-Radial Connections Too. A framework to find key gaps in activity centre public transport

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I believe we should be using the framework of the “four-pointed star” to assess whether activity centres are truly pt connected, rather than assuming that pt is one and done by a decent CBD connection.

Read more here, in my latest post: open.substack.com/pub/adambain...

Take High Street Thornbury as an example.

North–south? The 86 tram - frequent.
East–west? The 510 bus - decent, but only every 20 mins.

Sure, there is frequent transport in Thornbury, but not in all four directions.

Density push to allow for 20-storey towers in Melbourne's north The Victorian government has released its final planning controls for 25 activity centres in Melbourne, with tweaks meaning lower height limits in parts of Kew and Oakleigh and higher heights in parts...

🧵1/3 Some thoughts on the government's activity centres:

It’s great they’re being built next to public transport.

But there’s a big gap in the plan: non-radial connections.
Most trips aren’t to the CBD

www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03...

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The north of the CBD is ultra-dense, and the Sandringham Line is a density hotspot.

Read how I got these numbers, and if they correlate with patronage here: adambain1.substack.com/p/densest-tr...

And for an interactive map, visit: adambain014.github.io/VicTrainPatr...
(Screenshot of map below)

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Melbourne's railways traverse vastly different areas, from semi-rural Wattle Glen to the dense CBD. I thought it would be worth finding out which stations have the densest catchments.

Via where exactly? Improving Melbourne Train Information

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I devised a way to pick out which station a service should be said to be going "via" - More in my latest Substack post:

open.substack.com/pub/adambain...

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This passenger information display says "via Metro Tunnel"

Well, I'm on the platform at Town Hall, of course it's going via the Metro Tunnel!

If only there was a more relevant station to put after "via"...

Fixing the Age's tram patronage analysis Chart crimes, and misleading statistics

adambain1.substack.com/p/fixing-the...

How Rail Patronage Changes Across the Day A collection of charts explaining Melbourne's rail usage

New blog post up:
open.substack.com/pub/adambain...

New bus route in Croydon

I'm an atheist but every now and again I think God is real because Celibidache never bothered with butchering Mahler like he did ... everything else

There are people that will tell you this show is an attack on the integrity of LOTR when it couldnt be furthet from the truth. This series is tolkeinesque to its core - in a way more than the films. But I can see lore bros getting really confused if they dont watch to the end. Watch it to the end!

Highlights were Charlie Vickers as Sauron - my god that man plays a good villain. Costumes were incredible, sets were fantastic and the score by Bear McCreary was outstanding. The only issue I had was it was cutting between too many storylines but it all sorta worked out in the end.

Finished watching LOTR: Rings of Power.
Season 2. Very enjoyable series with a great ending. Honestly was smiling the whole way through episose 8.
Score: 7/10

This is a very 2nd account kind of post maybe I need a second account on here too

I have the Sibelius Karelia Suite stuck in my head but its not even my favourite Sibelius. I would rather the lemminkainen to be stuck in my head or one of the symphonies