mastodon 4.8.0-nightly.2026-10-06Transport blogger / public transport advocate / campaigner and spokesperson for @ptua@mastodon.social / professional geek.
Opinions are all my own.
Boonwurrung country, Melbourne, Australia
It took 30 years to completely eliminate the 40 minute waits between #Melbourne suburban trains. But it's finally done, and we've got a much more useable rail network as a result. Bring on more improvements!
Blog: https://danielbowen.com/2026/08/23/the-end-of-metros-40-min-waits/
James Pinder sentenced to two years and eight months jail for corruption in awarding train cleaning contracts. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-09-03/vline-chief-executive-james-pinder-jailed-facing-deportation/107113940
I know I'm not the only one who thinks #Melbourne train line names need simplification. Here's my blog from three years ago today, where I proposed letters (to avoid clashes with trams, and also to ease the transition from terminus suburb names) https://danielbowen.com/2023/08/24/letters-and-numbers/
No need for the police to waste time on this; the commenters on Facebook have it solved: the bloke is innocent because he's old and white. Case closed.
A quirk for #Melbourne #Myki concession users: you may see a 1 cent fare occasionally. This is because the half-price discounted fare is currently $1.42 (eg rounded down), but the daily cap is $2.85. So if you travel on a third fare in one day, it'll cost 1 cent.
Pulled together what we know about the Coalition's Melton/Wyndham Vale train proposal into a blog post here: https://danielbowen.com/2026/09/02/bi-mode-trains-for-melbs-west/
From 8 years ago, Traffic light programming, and the tale of the Magic Laptop 🚦💻 https://danielbowen.com/2018/07/24/the-magic-laptop/
Upgrade works at Brunswick depot mean dozens of trams are stabled in Royal Park, causing route 58 to close. I hope there's a good reason why they didn't store them at the near-empty new Maidstone Depot instead. #Melbourne #YarraTrams
Xtrapolis 2 trains coming soon. Looking good! #Melbourne #PublicTransport
uh oh. Does this mean I'm a robot? 🤖
Ashamed to say it took a major catastrophic disaster to discover I've been pronouncing Nepal incorrectly. Seems it's not Neh Paul, it's Neh Pahl. Or something like that.
Oxfam and CARE Australia are among many AU charities providing aid into the region. If you can, consider donating.🇳🇵
Hot take: very good to see the pollies thinking about the future of the V/Line fleet, and wanting to do something for western #Melbourne rather than just more VLocities.
However, Guy's idea of running the new trains on suburban tracks to the City would be *very* challenging. https://vic.liberal.org.au/media-releases/2026-08-31-more-trains-more-seats-and-greater-capacity-for-melbournes-west
Most escalators out of service at Town Hall station this morning due to power issues. A bit more exercise than I expected! #Melbourne #MetroTunnel
Auditor General report on the Suburban Rail Loop just dropped, and the stand out revelation is a secret levy on public transport fares, the cumulative effect of which would mean fares end up about 45% higher. https://www.audit.vic.gov.au/report/delivering-suburban-rail-loop/
It seems new G class tram 7006 has entered service, running on route 59 today!
Blog: Lots of pics of the new #Melbourne G-class tram, coming soon https://danielbowen.com/2026/07/29/g-class-trams-coming-soon/
Vale Bill Oddie 😢 #TheGoodies #FunkyGibbon https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cjejw8pq5elo
Okay I've finally pushed out this blog: Free public transport is easy to say and easy to sell, but the effects and benefits are complex https://danielbowen.com/2026/04/17/the-great-experiment-april-free-fares/
Who Gives A Crap put their prices up recently. They now charge $63.50 for a box of 48 rolls of tp, which is 50 cents more expensive than Woolworths at $10.50 for a box of 8.
And I don't need to find space to stockpile 48 rolls! Are they trying to kill off their delivery business? 🚽🧻
Most people understand a video like this isn't meant to be a direct city comparison, even if Barcelona and Melbourne have very similar populations. The question is, can we learn from other cities?
Read more on the blog: https://danielbowen.com/2026/07/21/bcn-vs-mel/
I have so many thoughts on free public transport that it’s taking a while to figure out what I want to write. In the meantime here’s a blog post on slow internet speeds on trains. https://danielbowen.com/2026/04/07/slow-internet-on-trains/
Technically accurate. #TownHallStation #Melbourne
Someone was busy on the trams today #Melbourne
