Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Report on Jessica Watson's yacht collision

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has released a preliminary report on the collision between Jessica Watson's yacht Ella’s Pink Lady and the bulk carrier Silver Yang off Point Lookout, Queensland on 9 September 2009. While media reports have questioned the wisdom of a teenager solo sailing, what comes through in the dry technical language of the report is of a skipper acting calmly under pressure.

After the collision the report says the skipper, seeing the mast was about to collapse retreated to the cabin, assessed the yacht was still seaworthy, radioed the Silver Yang that assistance was not required, reported the incident and returned to port.

Ella’s Pink Lady was equipped with an Automatic Identification System to detect other ships electronically, a radar, a radar enhancer (to make the yacht show up better on radar). Navigation equipment included fixed and hand-held magnetic compasses, four GPS units, an integrated electronic chart-plotter/radar display and a laptop computer with a back-up electronic charting system. Also there were two VHF radios, a high frequency (HF) radio, an Inmarsat-M satellite email/telephone and an Iridium satellite telephone.

At 0151½ on 9 September 2009, in a position about 15 miles east of Point Lookout on North Stradbroke Island, Queensland, the Australian registered, single-handed yacht Ella's Pink Lady collided with the Hong Kong registered bulk carrier Silver Yang.

At the time of the collision, Silver Yang was en-route to China and travelling at a speed of about 9 knots on a northerly heading. Ella's Pink Lady was under sail on a voyage from Mooloolaba, Queensland, to Sydney, New South Wales. The yacht was making good a course of 144°(T) and a speed of about 7 knots.

Ella's Pink Lady was dismasted as a result of the collision, but the skipper was able to cut the headsail free, retrieve the damaged rigging on board and motor the damaged yacht to Southport, Queensland.

The ATSB investigation is continuing.

From: Abstract, Collision between Silver Yang and Ella’s Pink Lady off Point Lookout, Queensland, 9 September 2009, ATSB, 268-MO-2009-008, 20 October 2009

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Sunday, October 18, 2009

Design Set for Canberra Class Landing Helicopter Dock Ships

Artists Impression of the Canberra Class Landing Helicopter Dock ShipsAccording to "Shape of things to come: Spain's new projection ship readies for sea" (By Nick Brown in Janes, 9 September 2009), the design of the Canberra class LHD ships for the Australian Navy has been finalised. The ships will have the same overall structure as the Spanish Juan Carlos I, they are derived from, but with different electronics and fitout. The ships will have an Australian specific bridge layout. The communications and combat management systems will be similar to the Anzac frigates. The hulls for the Australian ships are being made in Spain, but will be fitted out in Melbourne with a locally made "island".

The Australian ships will retain the transport capabilities of the Spanish one, including the ability to carry 144 ISO 20 foot containers. As an example, the ship could carry a modularised five story building, similar in to the 5 story 70 apartment building currently being assembled at the ANU in Canberra from shipping containers.

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Saturday, October 03, 2009

Paddington Reservoir Gardens

Paddington Reservoir GardensThe Paddington Reservoir Gardens were opened in Sydney 29 March 2009. This is a sunken garden in what was an 1880's underground water reservoir, across the road from the Paddington Town Hal. I thought I would plan a day out in Sydney to visit the gardens (and compare it with Istanbul). As it is Saturday there are the Paddington Markets from 10am. Also the City of Sydney Library at Customs House there is "Remodelling Architecture: Architectural Places - Digital Spaces" with digital design work by young architects. Then a visit to Sydney's Paddy's Markets for some fresh produce would be good.

To get around to all those, I have planned the journey using the excellent, but badly named Transport Info 131500. This provides public transport information for Greater Sydney (with Newcastle, Central Coast, Wollongong and the Illawarra). With this you put in the landmark or locations you want to from and to and the service plots a route by bus, train and freey, taking into account how long it takes to walk between stops.

In this case I am starting from the Annandale Post Office and going to Custom House Square Sydney after 10:30am. The system recommends:

Option 1 : 37 minutes

Mode Details
Map this walk Walk to bus stop Annandale, Booth St Nr Johnston St - 96 metres
Map this bus trip Take the 470 bus*1 (Sydney Buses)
Dep: 10:36am Annandale, Booth St Nr Johnston St
Arr: 11:03am Sydney, Bridge St Nr Loftus St

Map this walk Walk to Custom House Square Sydney - 224 metres

Notes

1 Wheelchair Accessible
Not all landmarks are in the system. As an example "Paddington Reservoir Gardens" is not. But "Paddington Town Hall" is:

From: Custom House Square Sydney

To: Paddington Town Hall

When: Saturday, 3 October 2009

Leave after: 12:00pm...

Option 1 : 31 minutes

Mode Details
Map this walk Walk to bus stop Sydney, Phillip St Nr Bridge St - 312 metres
Map this bus trip Take the 333 bus*1 (Sydney Buses)
Dep: 12:14pm Sydney, Phillip St Nr Bridge St
Arr: 12:32pm Paddington, Oxford St Nr Ormond St

Map this walk Walk to Paddington Town Hall - 128 metres

Notes

1 Wheelchair Accessible ...

You can slow the walking speed, if set to "high" the system tends to suggest trips with 900 m or more of walking between stops. There is also an option to minimise the walking and for wheelchair accessible services.

The maps are lacking in detail compared to those from systems such as Google Maps, but do show the essentials. The service could benifit from having a simplived version for mobile devices.

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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Hawkei Australian Light Protected Vehicle

Thales Australia has released images of a mock-up of its Hawkei Protected Mobility Vehicle proposed for the Australian Army under the LAND 121 Phase 4 program. This is a smaller vehicle than the Bushmaster and designed to replace un-armoured Landrovers.

The Hawkei is claimed to "... become a fully integrated node on the network centric battlefield" with C4I (Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence). However, apart from having sufficient electrical generating capacity, it is not clear how a vehicle could have C4I fundamental to the design. Computer and telecommunications change much faster than vehicle designs. If the Hawkei had C4I closely integrated, the design would be obsolete with eighteen months.

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Sunday, July 12, 2009

Common electronic system for multi-hull Australian warships

In Naval Systems (Proceedings of the US Naval Institute, June 2009) Edward J. Walsh describes the electronic core mission system to be used on the Australian designed USN Navy littoral combat ship Coronado (LCS-4). The Coronado will be the second trimaran LCS for the UN Navy, following the USS Independence (LCS-2), which began sea trials recently. He reports at a simplified version of the same electronic system will be used for the Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV). The JHSVs are designed by the same Australian company, Austral, as the LCS-2 and LCS-4.

Austal are using a similar trimaran hull for the lower cost Multi-Role Vessel and so the same core mission system would be an option for these vessels. If the MRV was purchased by Australia, that would provide some commonality with UNS systems, as well as between different classes of Australian ships.

The Austral design for the LCS is competing with the Freedom class mono hull design by Lockheed Martin. The Israel Navy has abandoned plans to acquire Freedom class ships and is now reported to be looking at the more conventional German Kedah class ships, as used by Malaysia.

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Saturday, July 11, 2009

Self contained data center modules

Simon Rohrich from Elliptical Mobile Solutions sent me a message to say they released a self contained data center module in April, which is much as I described in my blog. Their Relocatable Adaptive Suspension Equipment Rack (R.A.S.E.R.) is a ruggedised 42U cabinet which can be moved with equipment in place. Cabinets can be used outdoors and be added side by side as required. From looking at the diagram of the unit, it appears to be a sealed rack mount cabinet with an air conditioner mounted on the side. This could prove useful for the mining industry, as well as military applications.

For more general business and government use, they have smaller cabinets which still allow the equipment to be moved but are not designed to be operated outdoors. Some of these, such as the Campus Self-Propelled Electronic Adaptable Rack (C-S.P.E.A.R.), have there own electric motor for moving the equipment. But a standard electric pallet truck would be more practical.

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Saturday, July 04, 2009

Micro Luxury Cars to Reduce Carbon Emissions

Aston Martin Cygnet Commuter Concept CarWith the Cygnet commuter concept car, Aston Martin have come up with a very clever way to reduce the fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions of their car fleet. The Cygnet is based on a Toyota iQ city car, with with a Aston Martin nose and luxury interior. At about twice the price of the iQ, the Cygnet will still be cheap for an Aston Martin and could be included as an optional extra with a DBS, DB9, Vantage, or a Rapide.

The V12 Vantage has a combined fule economy of 16.35 l/100km. The fuel consumption for the iQ is 4.3 L/100 km. So if one Cygnet is sold for every Vantage, the average fuel consumption will be 10.325 L/100 km, a reduction of 37%. Assuming that purchasers only drive their Vantage on weekends and use the Cygnet during the week (and drive the same amount every day), the consumption would be 7.743 L/100 km, a reduction of 53%.

A cynic might suggest that the Cygnet will not achieve any fuel saving, just sitting in the owner's garage unused, while the larger Aston Martin is driven. However, those drivers are likely to soon find that a city car is faster, has more luggage carrying capacity and more pleasant to drive in the city than a large grand tourer. A small car, such as my Daihatsu Sirion can easily navigate traffic and find small parking spaces. The low power of the 1 litre engine is irrelevant where speed rarely get above 80 kph. With only one or two people in the car there is sufficient room and the hatchback provides more load capacity than a large four door car.

If the Cygnet proves popular, there are numerous other small City Cars available which luxury makers could use to build their own small car from. A small luxury can might be commonly included in the purchase price of the larger luxury cars, in much the same way a branded keyring is.

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Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Bicycle Hire Schemes for Sydney

According to Sydney Cyclst, University of Sydney is conducing a survey to see if a bicycle hire scheme is feasible. The Brisbane City Council have done a deal with JCDecaux for a bicycle hire scheme in Brisbane. JCDecaux is the company which maintains bus shelters in Sydney, in return for advertising rights. They would therefore seem the leading contender in any Sydney bicycle hire scheme. However, the JCDecaux system is complex, requiring significant capital investment and maintenance. A simpler option might be used for Sydney.

The JCDecaux Velib scheme in Paris uses an electronic kiosk for renting out the bicycles. This is lower technology and less flexible than the DB system "call-a-bike" I observed while bicycling around Berlin. With DB (the German national railway company) there are electronics on each individual bike, so you can leave it anywhere, rather than having to check it back into an electronic kiosk.

It may be that something in between the JCDecaux and DB systems would suit Sydney. Perhaps like the GoGet car share scheme would work. GoGet equip their cars with electronics to allow car sharing and have designated car collection points in Sydney. But there are no electronics in the collection points, just signs and only limited electronics in the cars. Instead you book via the Internet. This way GoGet do not need to install complex roadside equipment and maintain it.

For bicycles, it may be possible to set up collection points with a sign and bicycle rack. Each bicycle would be equipped with limited electronics to allow rental. The bookings would be done via the Internet or a mobile phone. If it can be assumed that the hirer has a smart phone, then very little electronics is needed on the bicycle.
The University of Sydney is considering establishing a bike hire scheme to help staff and students get around campus and to demonstrate our genuine commitment to sustainability and reducing our environmental footprint.

Thank you for offering to take this short survey, the information you provide will help us to establish an effective bike hire scheme.

While you will need to provide your contact details if you wish to be entered into the draw to win a 32gb iPod Touch PLUS an iTunes pre-paid card with $100 credit, none of your answers will be used to identify you. ...
From: Survey, David Carr, Director, Card Services, Unviersity of Sydney, 2009

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Friday, May 29, 2009

Brisbane ferry WiFi

According to news reports the University of Queensland is expanding its WiFi network, including onto the City Cat ferries which carry students and staff from the Brisbane CBD to the St Lucia campus. According to Brisbane City Council, which runs the ferries, WiFi has been fitted to the ferry Yawagara and the others will be fitter in the next few weeks. Other passengers can also access the WiFi with an account from UQ's network service UQconnect.

The university is also installing six Cisco TelePresence teleconference studios. These are the same systems being installed in federal government offices around Australia. As well as being used for teaching, research and administration accross university campuses (and so reducing energy use from travel), this would allow the university and government people to have joint events. The systems could also be used to avoid face-to-face contact during a flu pandemic.

One negative aspect of the university network plans are proposals to use thousands of idle PCs for grid computing. While it might seem tempting to use PCs in unoccupied student labs to run computing intensive tasks, this is a waste of energy and will generate greenhouse gas pollution. Dekstop PCs are not designed to run computation intensive tasks and will use an excessive amount of energy. Instead specially designed servers should be used for this. The best thing to do with a desktop computer when it is not needed is to turn it off to save power.

If UQ wants to be able to use off-peak computing power, it should replace the desktop PCs with Thin Clients: low cost computers with only enough processing power to run the user interface. They then should install central servers to run the user's applications. These servers can then be used for computation intensive tasks when not needed for students in the labs. As well as saving electrical power, this will cost less to purchase.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Austal Multi-Role Vessel

Austral Multi Role CorvetteAustal have proposed a long range, high speed, patrol ship called the Multi-Role Vessel (MRV). This is essentially the Independence-class littoral combat ship (LCS), which was designed for the US Navy, but with the expensive weapons and electronics removed to make a lower cost, long range multi-purpose ship for military and policing purposes.

The MRV is a trimaran with one large hull in the middle and two outriggers. This gives a wide area accross the three hulls at the rear for cargo and a large helicopter flight deck on top. The wider hull projecting at the front provides good sea keeping and space for weapons and sensors. The slim outer hulls allow for high speed.
The Austal Multi-Role Vessel can provide offshore and littoral war fighting roles, border protection tasks, long range counter-terrorism and counter piracy operations, support to special forces and missions in support of security and stability in the immediate neighbourhood surroundings.

The Austal Multi-Role Vessel (MRV) utilises the unique and proven Austal Trimaran platform coupling high speed and superior seakeeping performance with unparalleled deck space.

From border patrol to ASW to humanitarian relief missions the Austal Multi-Role Vessel (MRV) is the truly reconfigurable seaframe.

See Also:

Features

Multi-mission helicopter capability
Large flexible mission / logistics deck
Open architecture systems network
Systems packaged mission modules
  • EEZ border patrol
  • Command & control
  • Surveillance
  • Humanitarian support
  • Theatre hospital
  • At sea replenishment
  • Force transportation
  • Special forces support
  • Amphibious operations
  • SAR
  • ASW

From: Multi-Role Vessel, Austral, 2009

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Monday, May 25, 2009

Open source consortium building car entertainment platform

The GENIVI Alliance is a non-profit consortium launched in March 2009. It aims to produce open source car entertainment systems based on Linux. Members include GM, BMW, Intel and Peugeot Citroen. Given cutbacks in the automotive industry it might be a good time for a cost-saving open source approach, as an alternative to initiatives like the Microsoft Ford Sync.

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Monday, May 18, 2009

Influence Squadrons for the Australian Navy

In "Buy Ford not Ferrari" Commander Henry J Hendrix, US Navy (Proceedings of the US Naval Institute April 2009) argues that the US could deploy more smaller naval units, in place of large Carrier Strike Groups (CSG). This may make a good model for the Royal Australian Navy.

In place of a large nuclear powered aircraft carrier, Commander Hendrix's "Influence Squadrons" would be formed around an America class amphibious assault ship (confusingly know by the acronym LHA(R)). Protecting the LHA(R) would be a guided missile destroyer. In support would be a littoral combat ship, Joint High Speed vessel and a high speed vessels like the M80 Stiletto.

What makes this relevant to Australia is that while such a small nation cannot afford the US style CSG, the Influence Squadron is well within its capabilities. Several of the ships proposed have been ordered by the RAN. Other of these ships are Australian designed, some built in Australia and some overseas.

The LHA(R) is similar in concept to the two Canberra class Landing Helicopter Dock ships ordered by Australia. Although the Australian ships are smaller than their US equivalents, they are still capable of operating V/STOL fighter/attack aircraft. The Aegis equipped Spanish Álvaro de Bazán class frigates ordered by Australia will have similar guided missiles to a US destroyer.

The Joint High Speed Vessel mentioned by Commander Hendrix is USS Swift, which was made in Hobart by Incat. New US JSVs will be made to a West Australian design by Austral. One of the two Littoral Combat Ship designs for the US Navy, the USS Independence (LCS-2) is also from Austral.

While Australia has no ships like the M80 Stiletto, such a vessel could be built using the same high speed multihull technology developed by Incat and Austal and others. It is rumoured that the Chinese Type 022 Houbei Class Missile Fast Attack catamaran is based on an Australian multi hull design. The Type 022 does not appear to exploit the stealth characteristics inherent in the multi-hull design, but this could be added in an Australian designed ship.

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Sunday, May 03, 2009

Additional Victorian Wireless Network

The Victorian government has selected Nokia Siemens to build and operate a $150m wireless voice and data network for communications to urban trains. The system will use GSM-R, a variant of the GSM protocol used for old mobile phones in Australia. The GSM-R network will be separate from the mobile phone network, having its own cell towers and handsets.

The new system will not be compatible with the radio systems used by interstate trains in Victoria, nor with those used by other state government services particularly emergency services used for rescue in railway accidents. It appears likely a separate radio system will also be required for Victorian trains outside the Melbourne urban area.

It does not appear that installing a separate radio network just for trains in Melbourne is a good idea. Similar coverage and reliability could be provided by a combination of publicly provided networks, including the 3G phone networks installed by Australian telcos. As well as not needing the installation of any base stations, this would also allow for operation in rural areas, inter-working with other operators and with emergency services.

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Monday, April 27, 2009

Chastwood to Epping Rail Line in Sydney

Macquarie University StationGreetings from the Chastwood to Epping Rail Line in Sydney. This line opened a few months ago, eighty years after planning began. The Chatswood station seems surprisingly unprepared for this, with just a paper sign stuck up to show which platform to use for the service. The Sydney 131500 Transport Information Service has the service listed. The train stops at Macquaire university, which is much easier a trip than last time when I went to talk about energy saving nearby by bus. I was able to post this from the underground train using Optus/Virgin's 3G wireless data service switching between HSDPA and UTMS. The train ride was a very smooth and quiet ride with new carriages.

ps: Of interest at Macquarie University is the co-generation plant next to the library, the Macquarie University E-Learning Centre Of Excellence (MELCOE) and the falafels.

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Sunday, April 26, 2009

Cambridgeshire Guided Busway

The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway (UK), when completed in late 2009, will be the longest guided bus system in the world. It will use similar technology to the Adelaide O-Bahn Busway, which is currently the world's longest. The guided busways combines the features of a bus and tram. A concrete track is being laid, mostly along the right of way of the disused Cambridge and Huntingdon railway. Small wheels on new buses will allow them to be guided on the track, but also run on ordinary roads between sections of track. This has advantages over a tram, which can only run on track, not ordinary roads. The use of the guideway allows for two tracks (one in each direction) to be laid in a smaller space than a roaidway. However, the system has disadvantages: busses have internal combustion engines (not electrically powered as with most trams) and so create local pollution and then have a lower carrying capacity than multi unit trams.

I have attempted to map the route of the bussway. Note that the route is only approximate and the timings are incorrect (these are based on Google maps estimate of walking speed). Also I attempted to use Googles "my maps" feature, but could not work out how to import the directions.:

View Larger Map

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Saturday, April 25, 2009

What to see in Cambridge

The University of Cambridge (England) has invited graduates of the Australian National Unviersity to visit Cambridge in July to help celebrate the 800th Anniversary of the university. There is a week's program of talks and events organised at Madingley Hall, home of the Institute of Continuing Education, which has a garden by 'Capability' Brown), but I thought I would suggest a few of my own, based on a couple of visits to the Unviersity and its environs.

The first tip is to take with you, borrow or hire a bicycle (the basement of Kings College has some bicycles which look like they were forgotten a hundred years ago). I took my own folding bicycle on one visit and found it a very practical way to get around the city centre. There are bicycle paths by the river and some of the one way streets have a bicycle lane in the reverse direction.

There is an excellent double-decker tour which covers the inner city and also gets out to the countryside around Cambridge. The locals frown on this sort of tourism, so best to quietly go off and do it by yourself. One place the tour stops is the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial at Madingley.

A walk along the banks of the River Cam at dusk is a must. Time it right and you can see the choir crossing the bridge to King's College Chapel for evensong at dusk (also worth attending). A punt on the river is entertaining, but the river gets crowded with tourists, so if possible get an invitation to use a college punt from their own private lawns instead of the tourist punts.

The Cambridge University Press Bookshop is worth an half hour browse. There are numerous research organisations and companies clustered around the university facilitates. Do some research before you go and get an invitation to visit. Microsoft's research institute was interesting, but you need and invitation.

Lunch or dinner at "high table" is entertaining (skip breakfast it is not very good in the average college). The high table is where the college elite and guests sit, a few cm above everyone else. Just be careful to sit where you are told and be ready to explain what you do and be able to drop some names. Trinity College puts on a good lunch and King's College was good for dinner.

The Cambridgeshire Guided Busway has not yet opened (so Adelaide's O-Bahn Busway is still the world's longest) but you can take a ride on the test buses.

By the way if you aren't an ANU alumni, but have some academic connections, you may be able to talk your way into the colleges. Just look for someone you know, who knows someone at Cambridge. I found that with a Linked in search there were 111 people I was connected with, who were Cambridge graduates, 12 of whom live within 40 km of the university and 3 who work or research at it. Also keep in mind that the university is just a loose consortium of colleges, who are always looking for guest speakers from faraway places. Even if one will not let you in the door, another may well. Once I had one introduction, I found that opened other doors.

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Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Travelling the world's longest Guided Busway

Glenelg to Adelaide Tram at Glenelg
At 12 kilometres, Adelaide's O-Bahn Busway is the world's longest and fastest guided busway. As I was visiting Adelaide to give a talk, I thought I would take a ride before it is eclipsed by the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway (ANU Alumni have been invited to visit Cambridge in July). My hotel was near the Glenelg Tram so I decided to include that in the journey. The tramway runs 12.3-kilometres from the city CBD to the coast south of Adelaide in a straight line. The tram system was refurbished in 2006 with Flexity Classics vehicles from Bombardier and improved track and stops. The network was extended further into the CBD in 2007.

The trams have raised platforms and good separation from traffic (the trams run on their own right of way for most of the trip separated from roadways). Adelaide has a well integrated ticketing system with one ticket working on buses, trams and trains. I was able to purchase an all day ticket from a conductor on the tram. The bus drivers also sell tickets and the trains have coin operated ticket machines. Tickets are validated at the start of each ride with machines near the entrances on the vehicles. Unlike the inconvenient and dangerous Melbourne system, there are no ticket vending machines on the trams.

While the trams are only a few years old, the fabric of the seats are starting to show signs of wear. There appears to be no padding in the seats at all, with thin cloth laid over a very hard plastic shell. A few mm of padding would make the seats a lot more comfortable. The windows of the trams have been covered with advertising on the outside which limits vision through the perforations in the ads. Commuters are unlikely to notice this, but it is annoying for tourists who want to see the view.

The ride of the trams is much better than the old class H trams (which are run on weekends for the tourists) but is still bumpy in places. The few hundred metres of track at Glenegle has a nasty vibration, which made my teeth hurt, and needs work. However, the discomfort is rewarded when the tram comes to a stop at the end of the line in sight of the ocean, with a cafe on one side and a mall on the other.

There are bicycle lockers provided at some stops and bicycles (and surfboards) are not permitted on the trams. The stops are well laid out and designed for long vandal resistant life. There is a sponsored mural near the depot at Glandore.

The section of the line in the Adelaide CBD and at Glenelg is free, providing a very useful service for short journeys. Unfortunately this results in overcrowding of the trams in the CBD. However, this was not as uncomfortable as the loading on the Istanbul tram.

Some of the stops were by request, with an automated announcement advising when the passenger needed to push a button to request a stop. One problem with this is that, unlike a bus, there appeared to be no audio or visual feedback to indicate that the stop request had been received, leaving me wondering if the tram was going to stop. Overall this was an excellent service which should be expanded.

Adelaide O-Bahn Busway

Unlike the trams, which run down the streets of Adelaide, the busway was much harder to find. Google's trip planner advised me to take buss M44 and indicated which stop it left from in the city (in the same street the trams leave from). It would have been useful if the planner indicated what tram stop the bus sto was near, as this is a very long street with a lot of bus stops. Eventually I found the stop and checked the bus had a guide wheel. The wheel looks like one from a children's tricycle, mounted horizontally just behind the front door of the bus. This is linked to the front wheels of the bus and steers it automatically on the busway. I cancelled my ticket in the machine as on the tram. The buses for the buss way look very old and in need of replacement, reminding me of some in India. In particular the articulated buses look very worn (there are technical problems in replacing the articulated buses).

The buses travel slowly through the city traffic, indistinguishable from any other bus (apart from looking a generation older). They then divert onto the busway, past a warning sign to motorists and over a "sump buster" to catch those which did not heed the warning. The busway looks like a children's toy wooden railway rack enlarged. The track is made of concrete sections laid on concrete sleepers. There are gaps between the sleepers where you can see the ground underneath. There is a disconcertingly small lip on the side of the track for the guide wheel. The track for the opposite direction seems very close (with the windows on the right die of the bus limited to only opening a few cm, presumably for safety). It would appear that if the guide system failed the bus would be derailed, colliding with an oncoming bus or plummeting off the bridges into the river, but the other passengers seemed unconcerned.

The busway follows the Adelaide River Torrens Linear Park away from streets, making it feel like a trip in the countryside. The buses travel at 80 to 100 km/h and stop at three interchanges: Klemzig Station, Paradise and Tea Tree Plaza. At each stop the bus leaves the busway and returns to running on a regular road. As a result the busway itself is not very apparent to the commuter.

For a system that has been in use for twenty years, the o-bhan is in good condition. The interchanges look a little dated, the buses look past time for retirement, but the track system looks like it could go on for ever. Adelaide should keep this system.

There is a problem with a slightly bumpy ride with the joins between the sections of concrete track (much more frequent joins that with steel tram lines). These bumps have caused problems with uncomfortable oscillations in new designs of articulated buses, but are also uncomfortable on regular buses. It should be possible to overcome this problem with a computer controlled ferromagnetic damper added to the bus suspension.

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Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Two Sides of Japan Model Railway

City section of the Two Sides of Japan Model RailwayThe Canberra Model Railway Club held its Expo 2009 last weekend. Highlight of the event was the "Two Sides of Japan" display in N Gauge, showing not only bullet trains speeding across the countryside, but a Japanese city with electronic display signs and light rail. Unfortunately while there is a web site detailing how this was built, there are no photos doing the finished layout justice.

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Saturday, March 21, 2009

Sydney to Canberra Hybrid Fast Train

On 12 February 2009, the UK Government announced that Hitachi trains from the Agility Trains consortium would replace the InterCity 125 trains used between UK cities. This is of relevance to Australia, as the XPT trains used between Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne are derived from the old UK trains. The new Agility Trains may therefore be suitable for use in Australia

Agility Trains will run at 201 km/h and one version will be a hybrid, capable of operating on electricity and diesel. This could be very useful for Australia: the train could run on the electrical supply in Sydney, then change to diesel for the country run to Canberra. While not as fast as Very High Speed trains, such as the TGV (320 km/h) the Angel trains would not require new track or overhead wiring. It should be noted that Queensland's electric tilt train is also partly made by Hitachi.

Very high speed is not needed to make the train trip from Sydney to Canberra by train feasable. At present the rail journey takes more than four hours, at an average speed of about 65 km/h. The new trains could be run from Sydney central station, stopping at Sydney airport and on to Canberra in under three hours. If the trains were equipped with power points beside each seat for laptop computers, as is being done on the refurbished Thalys and WiFi access, as on the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, it would be attractive to business and private travellers.

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Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Sydney CBD Metro

The New South Wales Government has announced that work will commence on the $4.8B Sydney CBD metro. Unfortunately, as with previous metro proposals , this seems to be an ad-hoc one off proposal not part of a plan for Sydney.

The NSW Government released "City of Cities: A Plan for Sydney's Future" in December 2005. It aimed to plan for a population increase of 1.1 million by 2030, balancing economic growth with social and environmental issues. Whatever the plan's flaws, it is better than no plan.

The City of Cities plan included a $8B North West-CBD-South West Rail Link. There3 was no CBD Metro in the plan. However the Strategy for Transport included criteria to assess transport proposals: enhanced liveability, economic competitiveness, fairness, environmental protection and governance. These could be applied to the CBD Meto to see if it would be of value to Sydney. The metro announcement makes no mention of a long term large scale plan, only short term details:

The 7km CBD Metro is the first step towards a metro rail network for Sydney. It will run underground from Central to Rozelle via Town Hall, Martin Place, Barangaroo/Wynyard and Pyrmont. A station will also be safeguarded for future development at White Bay.

The route alignment is subject to further development and some modifications may occur as new information is obtained (particularly information related to major services and building basements).

The platform depth at the stations will range from approximately 20 to 35 metres below street level. The tunnel depths will be further determined as the design progresses.

Objectives of the route

The proposed route has been selected based on the objectives listed below and in consideration of a number of significant constraints, particularly in the CBD.

  • Provide for stations to be built at optimal locations
  • Take account of operational requirements for customer experience and maintenance
  • Minimise impacts on future CBD developments by following road alignments as far as possible
  • Minimise impacts on existing structures and basements
  • Minimise impacts on existing underground infrastructure
  • Utilise the Interim Metropolitan Rail Expansion Pitt corridor through the CBD (as identified in the Infrastructure SEPP) as much as possible
  • Safeguard the Interim Metropolitan Rail Expansion West corridor through the CBD (as identified in the Infrastructure SEPP) and other underground infrastructure
From: The Route, Sydney Metro, NSW Government, 2009

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Friday, February 06, 2009

Driverless PodCars for Zero-carbon City

Media reports indicate that driverless "PodCars" will be trialled in Abu Dhabi's Masdar carbon neutral city. The PodCars are about the size of a small van and battery powered. The will run on dedicated roads and be computer controlled. There have been numerous proposals, (including Australia's Austrans), trials and some installations of "personal rapid transit " driver less small vehicle public transport systems, but with limited success. These systems require extensive infrastructure, with a dedicated right of way, either for roads, rail lines or monorails. In the case of Masdar City, the proposal is to run them under the city. The system is reported to be from Systemica.

Power is supplied either via wires along the track, as with conventional trams, or via batteries. Battery power results in lower speed, at odds with the streamlined appearance of the pods.

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Sunday, January 18, 2009

Google Public Transport Map to Reduce Carbon Emmissions?

Google has added Transit maps for public transport to its online maps. In Australia there is coverage of Adelaide (Adelaide Metro) and Perth (Transperth). There are also walking directions, as an alternative to directions for car drivers in the maps. This could be very useful for familiarising drivers, and those used to taking taxis, with public transport alternatives, reducing fuel use and carbon emissions. Where the Google transport maps are done in cooperation with the local transit authority, they are very detailed. Sydney's excellent Trip Planner, provides a similar service, but is not integrated with Google.

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Wednesday, January 07, 2009

Sydney CBD to Parramatta West Metro

According to media leaks, joint state and federal government study has been conducted into a West Metro between the the Sydney CBD and Parramatta in western Sydney ("Get ready: high-rise suburbs coming", January 6, 2009 and "Subway a highway to high-rise hell, say opponents", January 7, 2009, by Linton Besser and Wendy Frew, Sydney Morning Herald). The West Metro, underneath Parramatta Road would cost $8.1 billion. Like the proposed and cancelled North-West metro, the scheme is not for a European style metro, but a heavy underground railway.

The proposal appears far more feasible than previous abandoned Sydney railway plans. The planned stops at locations such as Leichhardt appear much better thought out than the previous metro (see map from Paramatta Council). The project would depend on funding from the Federal Government's Infrastructure Australia. The carefully worked out process IA has for selecting projects should help avoid the failures of previous NSW government rail and road projects.

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Sunday, November 30, 2008

Fast track Sydney transport with web enhanced planning

A Leichardt Council Transport Forum was held at the Leichardt Town Hall, 22 November 2008. This proposed a fast planning process for public transport in Leichardt and Sydney's inner west using experts and the community. I suggest that the Internet could be used to gain wider public and expert input into the process. Also the political realities of NSW suggest that upgrading the bus system should be included as a sub-optimal but politically feasable option.

The Meeting

Speakers were: Dr Gary Glazebrook from UTS, Dr. Michelle Zeibots, Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS and Councillor Jamie Parker, Mayor of Leichardt Council. As well as the listed speakers, there were people from EcoTransit Sydney present.

The forum discussed issues including the Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill Light Rail extension and the Iron Cove Bridge Duplication (also known as the Victoria Road upgrade). However, rather than proposing to deal with transport projects piecemeal, the planning experts proposed that the local councils get together with the community and planners to produce an overall plan. Such a plan could include public transport options which the NSW state Road and Traffic Authority (RTA) is unwilling to consider.

Proceedings were delayed for 20 minutes while we waited for the Mayor to arrive. Given that the expert transport speakers were present, this was an unnecessary waste of the time for the forty or so people present. The Mayor is obviously a busy person and I suggest he issue instructions that events not be held up waiting for him to arrive.

The Mayor opened the event by mentioning what was discussed at the local government summit recently in Canberra. He noted that NSW local government people were concerned about the lack of public transport planning in NSW. He claimed to have raised this with the PM and others at the event. He then expressed concern at the proposed and then cancelled Sydney metro and the new proposal a few weeks later. There was also a proposal for a $250m coordinated bike route in NSW.

Unfortunately this was all presented very rapidly by the Mayor, like a political campaign speech. There were no details provided to back up the claims made, nor any written text provided. While the Mayor sounded sincere, given the poor history of transport planning in NSW, much more is needed for a credible presentation. Leichardt Council needs to cite evidence when presenting proposals, for those proposals to have credibility.

Inquiry by design

Dr. Zeibots provided an excellent "Big picture" overview of transport planning for Sydney. Dr. Glazebrook went into more detail on light rail proposals for the inner west. Both were able to back up their proposals with credible evidence.

Dr. Zeibots advocated better planning using a process called "Inquiry by design". With this the usual years of planning and public consultations are compressed into about five days. The planners, experts and community representatives meet at the site to be planned, talk to locals and draw up options.


Some notes on the talk:
  • The County of Cumberland scheme 1951 planned radial motorways for Sydney. This has been largely followed with Sydney's tollways. Unfortunately Sydney's 21 century transport is being planned using a 50 year old last century plan. Due to the cancellation of the Johnston creek extension to the motorways, Marrickiville and iron cove motorway tunnels are being considered by the RTA internally without adequate public consultation.
  • Analysis of the traffic of the M4 shows that it did not greatly reduce the traffic on the existing great western highway and the total traffic of the two combined was much higher.
Enhance with the Internet and Political Realism

The meeting was useful and the inquiry by design process appears feasable. However, I suggest that the planners could usefully incorporate the Internet in their process and also inject some political realism.

Use the Internt for public and expert input to planning

The planners propose a process over a few days where the experts and community come together. However, not everyone concerned is able or willing to give up five days of their time. Only about forty of the many thousands of residents gave up a few hours for this meeting.

Therefore I suggested after the meeting to Dr. Zeibots that Internet and web tools could be used to enhance the meeting process. Experts and residents could be provided with the materials which were to be provided at the meetings and invited to provide input. As the process progressed, what the meeting came up with could be put online and the community invited to have input. This would allow wider input with minimal extra effort.

Between 1996 and 1998 I provided some web pages about planning for the Dickson p precinct of Canberra. Normally the Draft Master Plan would be displayed at the local library and perhaps an item about it placed in the local newspaper. By placing a copy online many more people could see it.

As part of the Federal Government's 2020 Summitt process I orgnaised a day long local summitt on open source with Senator Lundy. This made use of the Austrlaian developed Moodle free open source Learning Management System. Moodle was used to prepare the program for the day, solicit input and to report on the day. UTS has the Moodle system installed. This could be used to provide an online forum for a planning process. I have also used Moodle live in a classroom and it could be simiarly used to organise and present materials to people at a live forum as well as online.

Take account of political realities

The planners seemed to be curiously naive of the political process. A transport plan for Sydney may increase the chances of better public transport, it would seem more likely to be adopted if it took into account political realities.

The NSW state government has produced a number of transport proposals, such as the North West Metro, which make little sense in planning terms. These are only understandable in political terms as a way to attract votes. After the cancellation of the North West Metro and the quick creation of another metro proposal, there can be few who believe such proposals are being created through any rational planning process. Clearly these proposals are being up up in order to meet short term political aims, not the long term public interest.

Therefore any proposal put up by others needs to take into account the political issues and meet short term political needs of the government. As an example, projects which can be started quickly at low cost and employ people in NSW are more likely to receive political support, than those taking decades and using imported equipment. An example of such a project would be expanding the MetroBus recently introduced in the Inner West. The buses can be made in NSW, the bus lanes they need to run on can be built by NSW workers. The NSW government can apply for federal funding to create hybrid, large, fuel efficient buses.

Buses are not as good a long term transport option as trams and metros. However, buses which are actually purchased are a better option than trams which may not be approved and metros which are never built.

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Friday, November 21, 2008

Leichhardt Transport Forum, 13 November 2008

A Leichhardt Council Transport Forum will be held at the Leichhardt Town Hall, 22 Nov 2008. Issues include the Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill Light Rail extension and the Iron Cove Bridge Duplication (also known as the Victoria Road upgrade).
Start: 22 Nov 2008 - 1:30am
End: 22 Nov 2008 - 3:30pm

Planning and implementing transport in the inner west will be addressed by transport experts, Dr. Garry Glazebrook and Dr. Michelle Zeibots, and local transport groups. Topics for discussion will include the Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill Light Rail extension and the Iron Cove Bridge Duplication.

Venue: Leichhardt Town Hall
Norton St. Leichhardt

From: Leichhardt Council Transport Forum, EcoTransit Sydney, 2008
The RTA propose to build a new three lane bridge to the west of the existing four lane Iron Cove Bridge. My view is that a better option would be to not build a new bridge and instead devote two of the lanes of the existing bridge to buses. The funds saved on the new bridge could be spent on purchasing additional buses. This would have advantages:
  • Provides for far larger capacity at peak times than an additional bridge.
  • Less noise and vibration impacts on the local residents.
  • Does not require relocation of underwater utilities.
  • Does not require acquisition of private property.
  • No impact on Birkenhead Wharf that has heritage characteristics.
  • Safer, simpler alignment with the existing road.
An additional bridge would not be a good long term investment, as individual passenger cars do not have a future for peak hour city transport. An additional bridge will simply clog with additional cars at peak time. Buses can carry many times the number of passengers per unit of road space as cars. The new Sydney MetroBus has shown how a well resourced bus service can be popular.

Rail transport would be preferable, but the NSW government has been unable to prepare a credible rail transport plan, with unworkable schemes such as the North West Metro. The city will therefore have to make do with buses for the foreseeable future.

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Thursday, November 06, 2008

Smart Cars Stacked in Sydney Again

Smart Cars Stacked in Railway SquareIn 2006 a company stacked six Mercedes "Smart Cars" about 12 m high in Sydney to promote their carsharing scheme. These schemes are becoming popular for people in the inner city who want occasional use of a car for short periods.

By the way the company doesn't normally park their cars in a stack in squares, they arrange to have reserved parking spots at locations around the city.

I was reminded of this recently, as the company sent me a note to say their web address has changed and on the web site I noticed they were going to do the car stacking stunt again. Has anyone see it in Taylor Square?

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Sunday, November 02, 2008

Istanbul Kadiköy to Kartal Metro

International Railway Journal's October edition features "Building Istanbul’s Kadiköy - Kartal Metro" as an online supplement. In May I saw the work under way from the window of the Thessaloniki to Istanbul Train. At the time I assumed this was some of the work for the Marmary Rail Tunnel, but it is work to link up other parts of Istanbul's public transport.

The IRJ's articale is also interesting for the way it is provided as an online suppliment to the print jounal. The article is listed in the table of contents of the print edition, with a note saying "online edition". Presiumbly this is desinged to encourage people to read the online version. The online version is provided using Nxtbook Media, with Adobe Flash. This provides a facsimilie of the print edition, which is hard to use compared to ordinary web pages and which takes a long time to load on a slow Internet connection.

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Bushmaster six wheeled armoured vehicle

Photo montage of a Bushmaster 6wd armoured vehicleThe Australian-built Bushmaster four wheeled armoured vehicle has proved popular with the Australian, Dutch and British military. Perhaps the makers, Thales Australia, in Bendigo, should stretch it by adding an extra set of wheels to make a six wheel drive vehicle.

The current Bushmaster is 7.18 m long, weighs 12.4 tonne and can carry 9 passengers. Adding two extra wheels would make it about 1.5 m longer and allow for four more passengers. This would also allow for more cargo, or for the vehicle to operate on softer surfaces with lower pressure per tyre.

There have been concerns about the off road performance of some of the Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles and their susceptibility to roll-over. As the Bushmaster has been designed as an armoured vehicle, it should be less susceptible to this problem than trucks with armour bolted on.

Normally a larger vehicle would require a larger engine, but the Bushmaster 6 x 6 could have a small electric motor and CSIRO UltraBattery added to make it a hybrid. As well as reducing fuel use, this woulda allow the vehicle to operate in stealth mode when stationary and at low speed, with the main engine off.

Oshkosh offer a Bushmaster 6 x 6 variant in the USA, but it is not clear if one has been built or tested. The image of a six wheeled Bushmaster on this page is a montage created from the Wikipedia photo of the Bushmaster.

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Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Data Centre in a Military Shipping Container

Sun, IBM and HP now offer data centres packaged in an ISO shipping container. This has advantages for large computing requirements, but the same technique could be applied on a smaller scale, using small containers. A container 1.3 m long, could hold a computer system with 8 processors and 192 TB of storage, costing about $1M. This would be enough computer capacity for a reasonable size company or government agency. A very large data centre could be built by stacking such containers in a low cost warehouse building.

As well as being available for smaller applications, smaller containers would also allow for easier transport, particularly by air and in small trucks. One suitable size container is the US military Joint Modular Intermodal Container (JMIC). The standard JMIC has dimensions of about 1.3 x 1.1 x 1 m. This could hold two standard 19 inch racks, each 16 units high, with space around the racks for cooling, power supplies, shock mounting and cables.

As an example one container could hold 2 Sun SPARC Enterprise T5440 Servers, with 8 UltraSPARC T2 Plus processors, plus 4 Sun Fire X4540 Servers with 192 TB of storage on 192 disks and 8 rack units of networking and peripherals. The unit would weigh about 900 kg, which is within the JMIC maximum gross weight. It would cost about $1M and require about 6 Kw of power. One such containerised computer would be sufficient for running a business or government agency.

The Gershon Report on Australian Government ICT identified 10,484 m2 of capacty in large government data centres in Canberra. This represents approximately 100,000 rack units, which would require 3,500 JMIC containers. For high density applications, the containers could be stacked six high using a fork lift truck in the pallet racks of a low cost industrial warehouse. One building 100 x 100 m (15 m high) could hold the computing requirements for all the major government agencies in Canberra. However, for operational reasons the equipment would likely be placed in several smaller buildings.

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Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Qantas Airbus Accident Caused by Computer Fault

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau in "Qantas Airbus A330 accident Media Conference" has reported that the aircraft's computers causing the aircraft to pitch down violently, injuring passengers on 7 October 2008. While the accident appears due to a faulty a Air Data Inertial Reference Unit feeding incorrect data to the computers, perhaps the computers should have been programmed to detect and reject the erronious data.
... The ATSB has scheduled the media conference this evening to coincide with the release of an Operators Information Telex/Flight Operations Telex, which is being sent by Airbus to operators of all Airbus aircraft. The aim of that telex is to:
  • update operators on the factors identified to date that led to the accident involving QF72,
  • provide operational recommendations to mitigate risk in the event of a reoccurrence of the situation which occurred on QF72.

... The aircraft was flying at FL 370 or 37, 000 feet with Autopilot and Auto-thrust system engaged, when an Inertial Reference System fault occurred within the Number-1 Air Data Inertial Reference Unit (ADIRU 1), which resulted in the Autopilot automatically disconnecting. ...

The faulty Air Data Inertial Reference Unit continued to feed erroneous and spike values for various aircraft parameters to the aircrafts Flight Control Primary Computers which led to several consequences including:

  • false stall and overspeed warnings
  • loss of attitude information on the Captain's Primary Flight Display
  • several Electronic Centralised Aircraft Monitoring system warnings.

About 2 minutes after the initial fault, ADIRU 1 generated very high, random and incorrect values for the aircrafts angle of attack.

These very high, random and incorrect values of the angle attack led to:

  • the flight control computers commanding a nose-down aircraft movement, which resulted in the aircraft pitching down to a maximum of about 8.5 degrees,
  • the triggering of a Flight Control Primary Computer pitch fault.

The crew's timely response led to the recovery of the aircraft trajectory within seconds. During the recovery the maximum altitude loss was 650 ft.

The Digital Flight Data Recorder data show that ADIRU 1 continued to generate random spikes and a second nose-down aircraft movement was encountered later on, but with less significant values in terms of aircraft's trajectory.

At this stage of the investigation, the analysis of available data indicates that the ADIRU 1 abnormal behaviour is likely as the origin of the event. ...

Related Documents: | Audio file of media conference, 14 October 2008 (18 MB)


From: "Qantas Airbus A330 accident Media Conference", Media Release, Australian Transport Safety Bureau, 2008/43, 14 October 2008

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Monday, October 13, 2008

Big Red Metrobus in Sydney

Yesterday I was in a hurry to get from Norton Street (Sydney's Little Italy) to the Sunday concert by The Song Company in the 2008 Spring Festival of Music Concert Series. In answer to my prayer, along came a big red new Metrobus. This is a new service which commenced operation yesterday and is being trialled for 12 months. As the name implies the service operates like a metro: there is no timetable, with buses instead arriving at set frequent intervals (every 10 minutes in peak hours, 15 minutes off peak, 20 minutes on weekends).

As the service had just been introduced there were two extra staff on board to hand out pamphlets and explain the service. The buses are claimed to carry more people that a standard bus, but looked the same to me. They are fitted with an electronic display showing the next stop and an automatic voice announcement. The bus I was on is a single unit, but articulated ones are also being used.

The pamphlet and the bus stop signs are an improvement on previous STA bus information. The metro style maps are easy to understand and to work out where to change to other transport. The roadside signs lack a countdown timer to tell you when the next bus is leaving, but the on-board staff explained that these signs are planned.

The buses do not accept cash and all tickets must be purchased before boarding. This will cause some inconvenience but greatly reduces bus loading time. It is also safer than the arrangement in Melbourne with trams (and buses in Thessaloniki), where patrons have to attempt to buy a ticket from a machine on-board a moving vehicle. There are newsagents and other vendors selling tickets near most bus stops.

The Metrobus is a cost effective and realistic answer to some of Sydney's transport problems, unlike the unworkable "North West Metro". However, there is a danger the Metrobus trial will fail due to a lack of investment. Some areas where it could be improved are:
  1. Usable Web Site: Sydney Buses provide a minimum of information about the service on the web in a difficult to read format. Instead of large, slow to download and hard to read PDF documents, the Brochure, Route Map, Download the TravelTen calculator should be provided in the form of web pages accessible by the disabled and usable on a mobile phone. The Wikipedia entry for the service provides better information than the official government web site.
  2. Next bus electronic sign: Each stop needs an electronic sign counting down to when the next bus leaves. These signs need to provide an accurate estimate. When I tried the Perth "Cat" system, the signs were so inaccurate as to be useless and discouraged patronage, rather than helping it. STA should invest in a reliable system which uses real time displays with wireless links to a GPS reporting bus. The signs could be solar powered in most cases.
  3. Next Bus Cafe: Electronic signs could be installed in cafes near the stops and the the staff encouraged to help patrons with bus information.
  4. Better road access: While the Metrobuses are new and have a good ride, the service suffers from the poor Sydney roads. The NSW government should repair the road surface along the bus lane for the Metrobus route to improve the ride and speed up the service. Bus priority traffic lights would further improve the service. Also the buses could be equipped with with traffic cameras, linked to the RTA Transport Management Centre, with a button for the driver to report a traffic problem. The RTA central controllers could then see and act on problems effecting the buses. An additional option would be to fit the buses out with mobile traffic infringement cameras, so that vehicles parked in bus stops and otherwise impeding the service could be issued with fines immediately.
  5. Electronic tickets: Sydney needs a workable electronic ticketing system, such as the Akbil system used by Istanbul Public Transport. Sydney has abandoned one electronic ticket system (Tcard) and is planning to install another system which will not work. Sydney needs to rationalise its fare structure before an electronic ticketing system will be workable. One option would be to propose the Australian Government fund a national standardised system and have it piloted on the Sydney Metrobus.

Name of stationStop numberLocations servedConnections

Market Place Leichhardt22WLeichhardt Market Place
Elswick Street21WLeichhardt
Cromwell Street
(Eastbound only)
20/21WLeichhardt
Leichhardt Town Hall20WLeichhardt, Norton Street Palace Cinema
Norton Plaza19WNorton Street Plaza
Norton Street18WNorton Street Italian Forum
Catherine Street17WSydney Institute of TAFE - Petersham College
Percival Road16WAnnandale, Stanmore
Johnston Street15WAnnandale
Bridge Road14WAnnandale
Denison Street
(Westbound only)
13/14WCamperdown, Annandale
Mallett Street13WCamperdown
Missenden Road12WRoyal Prince Alfred Hospital
Larkin Street11WUniversity of Sydney
Ross Street10WUniversity of Sydney
Sydney Uni (Footbridge)9WUniversity of Sydney
Sydney Uni (Main Gate)
(Westbound only)
8/9WUniversity of Sydney
Victoria Park8WUniversity of Sydney, Victoria Park, Broadway Shopping Centre
Broadway7WBroadway, Broadway Shopping CentreBus: Newtown, Glebe Point Road
Abercrombie Street6WBroadway, Ultimo
Unversity of Technology (UTS)5WUTS, Broadway, Ultimo, Haymarket
Railway Square4WRailway Square, Sydney Institute of TAFE, Ultimo, HaymarketTrain: Central Station
Bus: Northern Beaches
Rawson Place3WChinatown, Paddy's Markets, Haymarket
Chinatown
(Westbound only)
2/3WChinatown, Paddy's Markets, Haymarket
World Square2WChinatown, World Square, Town Hall
Sydney Town Hall1WTown Hall, Queen Victoria Building, St. Andrew's Cathedral, George St CinemasTrain: Town Hall Station
Park Street City1ETown Hall, The Galeries Victoria, Pitt Street MallMonorail: Galeries Victoria
Hyde Park2EHyde Park
Museum3EHyde Park, Downing CentreTrain: Museum Station
Bus: Bondi Beach, Paddington, Bondi Junction, Bronte
Brisbane Street4EWhitlam Square
Riley Street5EOxford Square
Taylor Square6ETaylor Square, St Vincent's Hospital, University of Notre Dame Australia
Albion Street7ESurry Hills, UNSW College of Fine Arts
South Dowling Street
(Eastbound only)
7/8ESurry Hills
Moore Park8EMoore Park, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Football Stadium
Cleveland Street9EMoore Park, Fox Studios, Entertainment QuarterBus: Randwick, Coogee
Robertson Street10EMoore Park, Centennial Park
Alison Road
(Eastbound only)
10/11EMoore Park Supa Centa
Carlton Street11ERandwick Racecourse
Ascot Street12ERandwick Racecourse
Todman Ave13EKensington
Addison Street14EKensington
Doncaster Avenue15EKensington
UNSW16EUniversity of New South Wales
Barker Street17EUniversity of New South Wales
Middle Street18EKingsford
Kingsford Nine Ways19EKingsfordBus: Maroubra, La Perouse

From: Metrobus, Wikipedia, 2008

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