More Trains and More Services - And PT Is Cheaper All Year

from the official govt announcement yesterday
www.premier.vic.gov.au/more-trains-...

only took nearly a year but indeed we are getting closer to abolishing some of Melbourne's most laughably bad frequencies. the combination of a fuel crisis and an election year can be a powerful motivator.

10 minute all day frequencies and bus reform next to seal the deal? 👀👀 nah, just kidding... 👀

the Auckland downtown ferry terminal with modern glass skyscrapers looming behind it, which is superficially kinda similar to the view at Sydney's circular quay

ah circular quay is so beautiful

the entrance to Manukau train station, passing directly through the atrium space of a large mixed use university building

the large mixed use Manukau Institute of Technology building that the station is built into

direct bus access for the most frequent routes right at the front door of the station, with a large bus station on the other side of the road

lovely painting celebrating Auckland's first electric trains, which started running just 12 years ago in 2014. the painting features the Auckland Transport logo and the EMUs which now operate the entire network

Manukau station being built directly into a university building is pretty incredible stuff. you love to see it

forgot how good some of these options are and I'm chuckling over my dinner

proprietor of a successful small plumbing business in Bonnie Doon, Victoria

been enjoying it a lot! plenty of great urban design around the CBD and lots of lovely little pedestrian spaces. the bus network is bloody great, getting around has been a breeze. bit of a shame how much of the rail network is closed at the moment but I'll definitely be coming back when CRL opens

happy to say I've managed to tick most of these off incidentally already! have been out on the western line to Swanson this morning but heading back to the hotel before riding the outbound TamakiLink (rode it inbound yesterday, but it was pissing down rain so no good views)

light streaming in from the entrance of a lava cave

looking up at a gap in the ceiling of the cave where trees are growing through

looking deeper into the cave than I went. it's an actual bona fide cave guys, rocks and all

the lava caves were awesome too

Rangitoto island viewed from the ferry, it's a very heavily forested island gradually rising up to a volcanic cone in the centre

rocky basalt lava fields slowly being taken over by native vegetation after decades of concerted pest control efforts

the Auckland CBD, north shore and harbour bridge viewed from Rangitoto Summit

looking out over the bare green hills of Motutapu Island, Rangitoto's neighbour separated by a tiny channel and a causeway

I don't often get the chance to climb up a 600 year-young volcano, but Rangitoto being only a 30 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland makes it possible

various industrial buildings with small plumes of smoke coming out of chimneys that is the NZ Steel steel mill

the beautiful Waitangi Falls surrounded by huge trees and lush vegetation

the beautiful Waitangi Falls surrounded by huge trees and lush vegetation, there's a massive tree perched just on the edge of the waterfall, with it's roots being the only thing holding the cliff together

the destination of the water coming over the falls: the Waiuku river estuary

and afterwards we realised there's a lookout for a steel mill AND a nice waterfall just 10 minutes away. great way to spend a day out

A photo taken from the open passenger car as it passed through a dense pocket of trees

rolling hills interspersed with fences, trees and farmhouses

departing from the Victoria Ave terminus at Waiuku, with the rear 4 carriages visible on the curve

the views are pretty par for the course for this kind of peri-urban branch line, but it's got that undulation that can make even boring NZ landscapes look so good

A DBR class diesel locomotive hauling a consist of an open passenger car and 3 normal passenger cars past a crowd of people on the grassy mound that is the Shakespeare Road stop. The train reversed back around the curve to let us get our shots

the train approaching from around a curve, framed by huge trees making an arch over the railway line, and long grass in the foreground

the train approaching, with the bright yellow front end standing out brilliantly against the greens and blues in the background

the rear of the train passing through the stop and under the road bridge before reversing back. there's a lovely scene of some kids and an adult watching with excitement from the bridge

rode the lovely Glenbrook Vintage Railway on Sunday, which would be a fairly stock standard branch line heritage railway, except it included a photo stop where the train reversed so we could get some good pics. almost impossible to do back home!

I leave on Friday morning, was visiting a friend of mine this weekend but the next few days are just general city/transport exploring. enjoying it a lot so far!

a photo taken from north head lookout on Auckland's north shore, looking out over the Auckland skyline

photo of the streetscape at the bottom end of Queen St in the CBD, with a sign for the beginning of the Waihorotiu Path which is a nice raised shared path

A very bulbous tram at the aviation Hall terminus of the Museum of Technology and Transport's heritage tramway

A photo of Emily Place Reserve in the CBD, which has been completely taken over by huge gnarled tree branches that are between 10 and 70cm off the ground. It looks very otherworldly

Auckland I am in you

admittedly I only know a little bit about this project, but given US loading gauge and stuff I would've expected most of these tunnels to be a separate bore for each track anyway? so if this is just their plan to get *something* operational it might not preclude future duplication

many other very worthy additions too
www.nfsa.gov.au/sounds-of-au...

the beep of the PB/5 pedestrian crossing button has been officially recognised by the National Film and Sound Archive as part of their Sounds of Australia collection for this year. you love to see it

always thought he didn't have the skills to be a landmine detector dog, but he wouldn't listen

turning up bright blue to work the next morning

of course, like any major rally in the CBD, it meant that trams had to terminate short as they couldn't run the full length of Swanston St. Here they are down at City Square

plenty of Australian Education Union staff out for their first major strike in 12 years in Melbourne. government needs to pay teachers properly!

and here we freak out about overstaffed systems having 2 staff for a 6-8 car EMU

A Brisbane original EMU bound for Ferny Grove at Coopers Plains station

the luxurious carpet and linoleum interior of the EMU, with couch like seats

ain't that the truth

absolutely marmin' that is

no matter which exit I take I end up under the towering stacks of datacubes at the Cyberport

bsky.app/profile/mmbb...

it's like a submerged tube tunnel but without the submerging bit, incredible

you wouldn't believe the engineering that goes into a tunnel boring machine cutterhead that can cut through water like that

in about 3 months

this submission quoted in this Marcus Wong post suggests allied Mills has ~30% national market share and Kensington is 20% of their operation, so about ~6% of all national flour milling I guess?
wongm.com/2019/10/grai...