Home » Posts tagged 'transit' (Page 3)
Tag Archives: transit
Melbourne’s transit system
One thing I always look forward to whenever I am traveling is to try out the public transport system of the cities I am visiting. My first day in Melbourne gave me an opportunity to familiarize with the city’s transportation including the trams and bikeways. Following are some photos I took as I went around the city center on-board their trams. I actually purchased a myki card but discovered a bit later that tram rides were free when you’re within the zone defining the city center. You only need to swipe or tap when you leave the zone where transit will charge the corresponding fares to your destination.
Tram passing by the stop where I decided to stand by to take a few photos while familiarizing with the network map.
Melbourne transit network map and information on priority seats
Inside the circle tram that goes around the city center
Typical transit stop
Vintage tram
Tram crossing an intersection
Modern transit vehicle
I found Melbourne’s transit to be quite efficient and the coverage was comprehensive enough considering the city was walkable and bicycle-friendly. This meant people had many options to move about and this mobility definitely contributes to productivity. More on transportation in Melbourne and Sydney in future posts.
–
Some articles on walking, biking and transit for wellness
Here are a couple of recent articles on walking, biking and transit:
Walk, bike, and transit benefits boost people of all incomes [McAnaney, P. in Greater Greater Washington, June 13, 2017]
“Bikes are happiness machines.” Behind the Handlebars with cyclist extraordinaire Joe Flood [Maisler, R. in Greater Greater Washington, June 7, 2017]
I posted these partly for future reference but also to promote walking, biking and public transport. These are essential elements for mobility anywhere and governments should ensure that people have these as options for traveling about and not be dependent on automobiles for transport.
–
San Diego Buses
I took a lot of photos of transport in San Diego and among these are of buses. The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System operates a variety of buses that included articulated ones. These have fixed routes and designated stops. At each stop, there is information on what buses (i.e., routes/route numbers) stop there. Here are a few photos of buses in San Diego.
Articulated bus in downtown San Diego
The contraption in front of buses are racks for bicycles
Bus stop in downtown San Diego
Information on bus routes, destinations and fares at bus stops – you can pay as you board the bus or purchase a ticket, pass or compass card in advance.
A bus serving the La Mesa-Downtown route via University Ave. – this is the bus you take from downtown San Diego to San Diego Zoo
Bus interior shows few seats and much spaces for standees – enabling the vehicle to maximize its passengers
The interior on the rear half of the articulated bus
San Diego is a city of just under 1.4 million people with a transport system that’s able to serve the demand for transport over the distances covered by its buses and trolleys. Compared to Philippine cities, San Diego’s transit system is one well oiled machine. Of course, it is more expensive if you convert dollars to pesos but then if you account for the standard of living (including living costs and salaries) and the quality of service provided by the trolleys and buses, then you have something Manila and other major cities in the Philippines would be envious of. Can we have something like San Diego’s transit system in the Philippines? We can but (and that’s a big ‘but’) it needs a lot of work and commitment to set-up and make something like this work.
–
San Diego’s Compass Card
Whenever I am in a new city, I try to learn about their transport system. This includes finding out if they have some conveniences with respect to public transport like a transit card that you can use for various modes of public transport. Examples of these are cards in Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan that you can just reload (top up) and swipe or tap at terminals found in most if not all public transport. In Japan, you can even use their cards to purchase items at convenience stores or vending machines.
San Diego has what it calls the Compass Card, which you can use for the trolley and bus services. You can purchase a card from the Transit Store or at any of the machines located at the trolley stations. The Compass Card can be used to load day passes (instead of purchasing paper passes).
Compass card vending and reloading machine – you can also purchase special tickets here like the 1-day Pass that basically allows you to have unlimited use of the trolley and buses within the day of purchase.
Compass card front shows also the private sponsor/partner of the MTS – Albertsons
At the back of the card are information on the use, care and expiration of the card.
Timetable and route information for the San Diego trolley
A close-up of the route map for the San Diego trolley’s three lines.
More detailed information on the Compass Card can be found in this link. I will write about the trolleys in succeeding posts.
–
Caught (up) in traffic 