@danielbowen@mastodon.social
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danielbowen

@danielbowen@mastodon.social

Transport blogger / campaigner and spokesperson for PTUA / professional geek.
Opinions are all my own.
Boonwurrung country, Melbourne, Australia

This profile is from a federated server and may be incomplete. Browse more on the original instance.

danielbowen, to random
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

For anybody who uses , you may want to disable auto updates for the app (if it's not too late) - the new revamped S2 app breaks some important features including accessibility, search of local music libraries, alarms... and so far there's no official way to revert to the old version. https://www.stuff.tv/news/why-the-tale-of-sonos-revamped-app-is-a-cautionary-one/

danielbowen, to Canberra
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

The ACT government has announced MyWay+, which will enable bank card fare payments, will be implemented by November. https://canberradaily.com.au/myway-coming-to-act-public-transport-by-end-of-year/

danielbowen, to iPhone
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

This is 2.5 years old. Is 89% maximum battery capacity about what I should expect? 📱🔋

decryption, to random
@decryption@aus.social avatar

i wish i was as cool as this guy

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@decryption I bet he goes through a lot of mouses.

danielbowen, to random
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

I wrote this in March - I'm glad I did, because it helped my thinking around the issue of transport and the cost of living crisis.

If governments really want to provide relief to household budgets, more station car parks or discounted public transport fares make little difference.
To make a big impact they need to provide options that make PT/walking/cycling good enough that a household can run fewer cars.

(Vic Budget day is tomorrow)
https://danielbowen.com/2024/03/16/transport-in-a-cost-of-living-crisis/

danielbowen, to london
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

Sadiq Khan wins another term as Mayor of , despite the opposition to his policies to fight traffic and car pollution 👍 https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-68952475

danielbowen, to random
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

Blog: Armadale station - Almost a decade has passed since structural issues were found, but not as lot has happened
https://danielbowen.com/2024/05/04/armadale/

ThermiteBeGiants, to random
@ThermiteBeGiants@aus.social avatar

Lonsdale Street, despite being a major trunk route for buses travelling through the Melbourne CBD, has curbside 2-hour parking on weekends within the designated bus lane along it - and is a loading zone too, apparently. It should be a clearway 24/7, there’s no excuse even if it is paid parking.

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@ThermiteBeGiants @timrichards yeah. If Lonsdale St still had trams, they’d be in 24/7 tram lanes. There’s more buses along there than trams on most of the tram streets. It should absolutely have 24/7 bus lanes.

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@ThermiteBeGiants @timrichards yep! Cable trams to Spencer St (West Melbourne) and to Lygon St - now all run by buses. https://transitmap.net/melbourne-1934/

danielbowen, to random
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

Blog: Old photos from ten years ago, April 2014, including this pic of a press release from 1997 found during a clean-up, announcing the very first official public transport web site for Victoria, "VicTrip".
https://danielbowen.com/2024/04/30/old-photos-from-april-2014/

tom_andraszek, to goldcoast
@tom_andraszek@mastodon.social avatar

My morning Gold Coast train was cancelled. The next one in 30 minutes. Lots of high school students will be late for school today.
No point taking the 725 bus as it takes 54 minutes to go from Coomera to Helensvale vs 5 minutes by train. The TX7 bus is more direct, but it doesn't run that early, and it still takes 47 minutes.

The almost direct TX7 bus route.

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@timrichards @tom_andraszek Sadly most of Brisbane's rail lines are stuck at 30 minute frequencies outside peak hour. It's a bit odd that they think it's adequate. (Not that Melbourne's 20 for most stations is adequate either.)

danielbowen, to melbourne
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

A bit of expectation management at this tram platform stop ♿️😐

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@timrichards I think you're right, every CBD street now has some low-floor services, apart from Flinders Street (except during special events) and the short segment of Spring St that's only served by the City Circle.

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@timrichards Unfortunately I suspect it’s permanent. I don’t think Yarra Trams is very keen on it.

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@timrichards Isn’t that covered by the 70/75 or 30, depending on which street you’re on?

danielbowen, to melbourne
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

ok yeah I can see why some of the locals nickname Highpoint as Knifepoint.
(Hope the people involved are doing okay.) https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-26/second-stabbing-at-highpoint/103771114

timrichards, to random
@timrichards@aus.social avatar

For the life of me, I will never figure out why the 86 trams coming from Docklands on Wednesday afternoons are so full. I board at the third stop in Docklands and the seats are mostly taken by then. This one is packed! Who are these people?

Cc @danielbowen

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@timrichards Very good question!

danielbowen, to random
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

Anybody got a view on good Windows DVR software these days? Preferably open source, to work with an old Elgato/EyeTV USB stick.
I previously used NextPVR. Seems mostly reliable but the old version I used to use had a confusing interface.
All I want is live TV (broadcast signal) viewing and recording. I don't really want media library management and the other bells and whistles that sometimes get packed into these things.

danielbowen, to melbourne
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

Tram of the Year!
(We need more low floor trams though)

timrichards, to melbourne
@timrichards@aus.social avatar

Which is the worst Melbourne tram, and why is it the C-class?

cc @danielbowen

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@timrichards I reckon the D class gives the C a run for their money. Especially those weird seats over the wheel arches.

danielbowen, to melbourne
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

Ten years ago this month the new (now current) rail map draft was released into the wild. It took a few revisions, but eventually it replaced the old (horrible) one.
https://danielbowen.com/2014/04/16/new-train-map-coming/

danielbowen, to australia
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

Can they really do nothing about the endless phone spam/scams?

danielbowen, to melbourne
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

The tactiles (including yellow line) at some stations are a shocker. This is Malvern.

timrichards, to random
@timrichards@aus.social avatar

This is my first time on the new Vlocity train to Albury. The seat reservations have their pluses and minuses; I chose a forward-facing seat in a set of four, so that's good.

I miss first class though, nice to have some extra space. Next time I assume I could make use of the $10.60 fare cap and buy two tix next to or across from each other?

Cc @danielbowen

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@timrichards I can see why they've pushed towards DMUs (Diesel Multiple Units, eg not loco hauled), but It's kind of a shame they've decided to standardise absolutely everything, including removing 1st class. Given how badly they staff the buffets, I'm sure they'd prefer not to have those either.
I guess you could book multiple seats, though it's probably not good etiquette given how crowded some services get - especially on weekends.

danielbowen,
@danielbowen@mastodon.social avatar

@timrichards ugh.

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