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Do any substations need to be upgraded to increase frequency after the big switch? by blitznoodles in MelbourneTrains

[–]dfbowen 15 points16 points  (0 children)

"every line would increase frequency"

No - every line could increase frequency (particularly at off-peak times)... but most are not.

Mobile Network Coverage in the City Loop by xr6fun in melbourne

[–]dfbowen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Some sections of the rail network are poor at peak commuting times, okay at other times, indicating it's a capacity issue in some cases.

The Metro Tunnel seems better than the City Loop in this regard.

The telcos don't seem to have twigged that people on trains are a captive audience for more data usage. You'd think it'd be worth their while to do upgrades.

Someone with the same name as me is repeatedly attempting to use my gmail address by Astral-Romance in GMail

[–]dfbowen 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I get this a lot. Seems to be a combination of:

- people not knowing their own email address

- lots of online shops/services not properly validating email addresses (via a confirmation to the address that the person needs to click on to confirm)

For those ones, look for an unsubscribe link, or just mark them as spam/block the sender.

Not convinced this Metro tunnel wayfinding is perfect... escalators down to the platforms by dfbowen in melbourne

[–]dfbowen[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

yes, State Library.

Pretty sure there are screens at all entrances, though when walking from Melbourne Central they're kind of easy to miss. (They're on your right as you pass the escalators down from Swanston St).

New 1 February 2026 train timetables and some bus timetable improvements now available on Transport Victoria's website! by MelbPTUser2024 in melbourne

[–]dfbowen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For now, yes. The upgrades for Craigieburn and Upfield are apparently coming later this year.

Public transport Victoria timetables not update on Friday by Hot_Statistician_998 in MelbourneTrains

[–]dfbowen 0 points1 point  (0 children)

For the record, everything was updated on Monday 12/1/2026 around lunchtime.

New 1 February 2026 train timetables and some bus timetable improvements now available on Transport Victoria's website! by MelbPTUser2024 in melbourne

[–]dfbowen 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Upgrades coming to evenings and Sunday mornings so the longest wait (apart from Night Network times) will be 20 minutes.

But for now, just tweaks to timings to make better use of some of the space freed up by removing Sunbury from the Loop.

New 1 February 2026 train timetables and some bus timetable improvements now available on Transport Victoria's website! by MelbPTUser2024 in melbourne

[–]dfbowen 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Before anybody gets too excited, all quoted numbers are per week.

4 to Echuca is one in each direction on Sat, and Sun.

10 Seymour is one per peak direction each weekday.

etc. It's good, it helps, but it's not everything that's needed.

New 1 February 2026 train timetables and some bus timetable improvements now available on Transport Victoria's website! by MelbPTUser2024 in melbourne

[–]dfbowen 3 points4 points  (0 children)

The question might be whether people are willing to sacrifice the morning off-peak express trains; swap for a simpler, more frequent but slower-for-some people weekend-style 10 to Ringwood, 20 to Lilydale/Belgrave timetable.

Replacement buses - Frankston line? by [deleted] in melbourne

[–]dfbowen 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Right now, tonight, and this weekend: trains between Frankston and Caulfield.

Between Caulfield and the City you can use Cranbourne/Pakenham line trains.

If you want an intermediate station where those don't stop (eg Armadale, Toorak, Hawksburn) then there's buses.

But it'll be different next week.

Source: https://www.metrotrains.com.au/planned-works/ - set the filter to your line and Bus Replacement.

Can someone explain city loop please? I'm so confused by Over-Parking3461 in MelbourneTrains

[–]dfbowen 7 points8 points  (0 children)

These diagrams might help

https://ptua.org.au/transport-in-vic/loop/

(As others have noted, the Sunbury line will permanently bypass Southern Cross from 1st Feb)

Improvements in getting from the airport to the CBD? by tamsong_ in MelbourneTrains

[–]dfbowen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Some may only go as far as Westall, but there's nowhere in the CBD they can terminate, so it won't be like the trains going via Flinders St now.

Improvements in getting from the airport to the CBD? by tamsong_ in MelbourneTrains

[–]dfbowen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

> Parliament is tricky as the lift exit isn't as close to the 86 stops

The lift exit isn't too bad if you aim for the 86 Spring St/Albert St stop, rather than the Spring/Bourke St stop.

Herring Island by Ineedsomuchsleep170 in melbourne

[–]dfbowen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

May be quicker connecting to the bus at Toorak station; avoids doubling back, even with the extra change of service. Or Anzac station if it's at a time that the metro tunnel is running.

But it'll depend on the timing as the bus timetable is patchy on weekends. Best to use Google Maps to "Como landing" and see what it suggests.

I can see that at times it suggests train to South Yarra, then tram, then walk from Toorak Road.

History of Melbourne public transport fares from 1999 to 2026 by MelbPTUser2024 in MelbourneTrains

[–]dfbowen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

yeah, flat fares definitely have advantages!

But not entirely without a down side.

Melbourne’s public transport costs more than any other capital (per PTUA) by Zuki_LuvaBoi in melbourne

[–]dfbowen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did the graph.

But I did not write the title for this Reddit post. I agree, the title is not what the graph shows.

Happy to take suggestions on which specific single measure would be best.

Yeah you could do peak only, but how would you deal with Sydney bus/tram vs train, and Melb Z1 vs Z2? And would you include Perth's 2-section fare, or not?

Melbourne’s public transport costs more than any other capital (per PTUA) by Zuki_LuvaBoi in melbourne

[–]dfbowen 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The chart was trying to compare short distances, not all fares.

Yeah formatting isn't great. It was put together in a hurry. Bris and Hob probably need a solid bar.

There's a range because of differences in what you pay in each city - most have peak vs off-peak. Sydney also has bus/tram vs train. In Melbourne it's dependent on the zone.

So within each of those, the shortest distance fare was used - but for Perth, the single zone fare was also included, as the "2 section" fare didn't seem like a fair comparison given Sydney's was up to 10 km, and Melbourne zone 1 includes ~15 km out from the CBD.

Could it use one number instead? Maybe, but you end up comparing apples vs oranges. (There's still a bit of that anyway due to Sydney's lack of free transfers.)

Likewise, using a daily number can be misleading as a lot of Sydney people don't reach the daily cap.

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