Author: Philip Mallis
Melaka’s abandoned monorail
Exploring abandoned things is always fun. One of the most niche and interesting ones that I’ve come across is the former monorail system in Melaka (or Malacca) in Malaysia. We have our fair share of abandoned monorails here in Australia. Sydney stopped using theirs in 2013. This left two monorail systems on the Gold Coast…
Announcement: new Supporters Portal
A few days ago I announced a new website – what I’m calling a ‘Supporters Portal’. Basically you can sign up for a small monthly amount ($5 or $10) and receive access to some bonus features. These include early video access, work in progress updates and extra footage / photos. There is also a free…
Another bad week for PTV communications
Regular readers of this blog will know that one of my hobby horses is transport wayfinding and communications. This week unfortunately provided yet more examples of how far we still have to go before we have a consistent, intuitive and accurate information system for public transport in Melbourne. In the space of just the past…
Penang to Kuala Lumpur KTM ETS high speed train review
Malaysia is one of many countries rapidly expanding its rail network. One of its recent flagship projects is a new high-speed train service running along the west coast. This is called the Electric Train Service (ETS) run by the national rail operator, Keretapi Tanah Melayu (KTM). It runs an impressive 755 kilometres from Padang Besar…
How to stop a fire alarm
For the past few months my home has been plagued by a persistent nearby fire alarm. The first time this happened was around 12 months ago. It went off for a few hours in the evening before stopping, and I thought not more of it. But then it happened several more times. Most memorably in…
20,000 subscribers
Some time yesterday morning the number of subscribers on my YouTube channel ticked over from 19,999 to 20,000. I hit 10,000 just over eight months ago in July 2023 and I really wasn’t expecting to get here so soon. I’m very humbled and thankful to everyone who has supported and helped to grow the channel.…
The abandoned railways of Piraeus
Last year I went travelling to several places on the other side of the world. One of these was spending a couple of weeks exploring Greece. The entire country is a treasure trove on almost every conceivable topic and I’ll be doing a series of posts to share the things I found and experienced along…
Wrong and missing PTV information for Easter 2024
This is part of the continuing series about the improvements that are badly needed to the passenger information provided to public transport passengers in Victoria. Here we’re going to look at the 2024 Easter long weekend. This is a period where travel demand is particularly high. It’s the start of school holidays and people are…
Bus stop misdirection and how I nearly missed my flight
I have previously written about the importance of accurate public transport information. Unfortunately this is all too common and can cause serious problems for passengers trying to navigate the network. I present my recent experience as a brief case study on this topic. A simple bus stop I had to reach Melbourne Airport. As usual,…
