October, 2011

Yes, it’s Melbourne Cup time, “the richest two mile handicap in the world” since 1861. So, it’s obligatory to find a horsey topic. In SuperFreakonomics, their follow-up to the highly successful Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner relate the Parable of Horseshit, or how the car and public transport saved New York from asphyxiating under [...]

On the face of it, The Green’s case for the reintroduction of tram conductors looks pretty convincing. They say that for a net cost of just $6-9 million p.a., 1,000 conductors could be placed on all of Melbourne’s 500 odd trams from the first service to the last. The Green’s proposal rests firmly on the assumption [...]

From Wednesday’s Crikey newsletter (gated), in the Tips and Rumours section: Vic government tunnels under greenies. A Victorian political spy reckons the Baillieu government is about to resurrect the East-West road tunnel underneath Royal Park at the expense of the Labor government’s planned Melbourne Metro scheme. It’s “a big up-yours to all the inner-city greenies that gave [...]

There were an astonishing 972 reader comments by 5.30 pm Tuesday on this story in The Age by journalist Carolyn Webb, Bali: why bother?, bemoaning the unwanted attentions from street touts she attracted on a visit to Ubud earlier this month: Single women, especially, cannot walk more than 10 metres without being shouted at, approached, [...]

This important article makes two key points about cycling in Australian cities: The main danger to cyclists comes from drivers The key reason people don’t cycle more is concern about safety on the roads The article reports on research by Marilyn Johnson, a research fellow at the Monash University Accident Research Centre. She attached a [...]

This is not a joke – this is a real graphic from the SA Motor Accident Commission’s new marketing campaign aimed at discouraging young drivers from doing irresponsible things like speeding or drink-driving. The core idea is life is very bad without the ability to drive. You might, for example, end up having to walk, [...]

The report in The Age that the Government is considering a 10% real increase in public transport fares has generated an intense negative reaction from readers. If the Government went ahead with the touted increase, the paper calculates that combined with CPI increases, the cost of a weekly zone one myki pass would rise from [...]

There is an interesting new article on The Conversation by Deakin University’s Dr Jan Garrard, which asks the important question: Why aren’t more kids cycling to school? Dr Garrard analyses the key warrants for increasing the proportion of children who cycle (and walk) to school; identifies the main obstacles; and sets out some actions that [...]

New research by the Victorian Department of Transport (DoT) shows Melbourne’s tram system provides access to 34% of metropolitan jobs, whereas trains only give access to 15% (see first exhibit). The analysis found trams also give better access to housing – 17% of metropolitan households are located close to a tram stop compared to 8% [...]

The Melbourne Urbanist will be travelling for the next couple of weeks and is unlikely to be in a position to put up any new posts while on the road. You can still read the extensive archive and leave comments. Transmission will resume around the middle of October.