Travelled from Bendigo to Balnarring on Public Transport on Sunday and found the experience initially fascinating, it was the Bendigo Swifties preferred form of transport it seemed, and eventually excruciating. Missed the connection to the Stony Point Line due to an unfortunate death on the Frankston line which meant slow packed buses from Cheltenham to Frangers. Ended up on the bus to Balnarring, more than twice as long as the train trip which I missed by around 2 minutes, around 80 minutes. I was Pisssed because I hadn’t been on the Stony Point Train Line since before Covid and was looking forward to a piece of travel nostalgia. Only feral issue was in Frangers, had to be Frangers didn’t it, when a young woman on a scooter, who I’d already seen flying about and screaming incoherently, clearly off her head on something, rammed the Balnarring bus front on just after the driver had taken off on schedule and then proceeded to hammer the scooter against the bus door. Fortunately the bus driver, who no doubt had seen it all before, ignored her and took off. There were cops nearby at the station, not sure if they got involved but probably wasn’t worth the effort to be honest.
Overall, set off from Bendigo at 1.26 pm and arrived home at around 7pm. Long day but I finished a Sci Fi novella on the way. Cost about $3.50 on my seniors Myki, good value I reckon.
Enjoyed this recent and surprisingly popular You Tube vid about the Stony Point line just before the trip and hope to take the said train soon.
Use to travel from Greensborough to Spencer St
Not a bad trip but long. Gets a bit freaky at night time though.
Dad moved out to Eltham. Shocking bus travel from the station to out Eltham suburbs…Research?. Ok train travel to and from Etham St to city and back.
Bused it from outside Eltham. Trained it from Eltham to Southern Cross. Trained it from Southern Cross to Seymour.
Also trained it Southern Cross to Warrnambool.
Considering fares in WA, Vic travel is alot cheaper, most times easier. And accessible when travelling from airport to city, then north.
Melbourne transport system is embarrassing, it’s all 19th century infrastructure. I recently visited Bangkok and their metro system is vastly better than anything in Australia. Not Japan or Singapore, Thailand!
The Upfield line I catch only runs every 20 minutes because it’s SINGLE GAGUE for the final few stops and trains can’t pass each other. What type of short sighted society builds a train line with just one set of tracks!
Similar to the Stony Point/Frankston Line which only has one track. Generally runs 2 Sprinter carriages which they uncouple to run separately during the day at times, allowing a more regular service, but otherwise if you miss it down my way you have to wait for it to go to and from Frangers. Even so ANY train service beats a bus service. For me the bus is an inferior back up. Fortunately the Stony Point Line has so far survived assassination attempts from the anti public transport end of the political system.
You clearly never travelled outside Bangkok. The MRT and BTS is decent, but the state railway of thailand is way behind Australia. The sleeper trains are decent but expect them to run a few hours late and the train from Kanchanburi is like a red rattler from victoria 30 years ago.
Sydneys public transport has sucked but the metro line in terms of efficiency is pretty good. This is just Australia though and it will take forever to build a proper network. One half built line isnt enough for how long its taken
I still can’t understand why theres no high frequency public transport to the beaches here.
Well I can - its politics, but its so far removed from the public good its not funny.
I was recently in Sydney, and it was so nice to be able to travel on their public transport system without having to buy a special ticket - simply tap the credit card or phone.
some amusing discourse taking place on twitter today, americans absolutely incredulous that the 100k capacity mcg is not surrounded by four million hectares of flat asphalt car parking, and australians blind to the normalisation of getting the train to the footy being due to our insane binge drinking inclination
I go up to Sydney for work every couple of months. I love the fact that I can jump straight on the metro at the airport, tap the Opal Card and be checked-in at the hotel in the city centre in about 25 minutes. No fuss-arsing around with taxis, Ubers, buses, queues, whatever.
Melbourne just cannot consider itself a truly international city until this is remedied. The infrastructure around our airport is appalling.
I guess everyone is different and has different transport needs but I go through to/from SYD anywhere from 20-30 times per year and I can count on one hand how many times I’ve used the Airport Link. It just doesn’t service my needs and looking at the how underused it is I’d suggest that many are of the same opinion. The usage rates are really quite poor but still nowhere near as bad as the Brisbane “Ghost” train. Will definitely be interesting to see how well the Melbourne one is patronised
We are lazy too and I’m guilty of it. Unless the train pulls up near my hotel, workplace etc or I have a hotel transfer or picked up by workmates there is no way I’m walking or catching a cab/uber for part journey.
The BTS in Bangers is a recent development. I lived there from 1993 - 2001, and they were only just beginning to build their train lines then. They are quick, clean and cheap so there is that. Singapore had an underground railway up and running about 20 years before the Thais even got started building. This is despite the Thais having plans for a mass transit system long before Singapore. The reason they didn’t get one built until long after Singers, was because the Thais kept changing transport ministers, and those ministers kept changing plans, depending on who offered the most money under the table. Corruption has always been alive and well in Thailand.
As for Vicrail? I took the 7.42 to Richmond last Sunday, along with a little dog in a carrier, to attend the annual Blitz charity game. My wife urged me to drive instead, but as a senior the little dog and l travelled for free. You can’t beat that. I had to wait 70 mins for the train back, but that was more than enough time to get a Souvlaki and coffee for lunch. I will be taking the train again Friday to go to the practice game against the Saints at Moorabbin. Sure beats driving and doesn’t take any longer. Maybe the little dog will come with me again.
