Waking up in Geelong

Victoria is now onto lockdown #6 and the pandemic has no end in sight – so here’s another round of COVID-19 related public transport observations.

Cleaning

“Hygiene Theater” is still an everyday operation on the Melbourne rail network. Wiping down the handrails may make some sense.

But a ‘hygiene team’ wiping down bus stops is just stupid.

Especially given that the most common litter at railway stations now seems to be discarded face masks.

Face masks

The messaging around the wearing of masks has ramped up, with signage at stations.

Bus stops.

And flyers onboard trams.

Ticket offices at railway stations advice that masks are available.

And Authorised Officers have disposable face masks to hand out.

But some of the signage is poorly thought out – the plague of stickers applied to V/Line’s VLocity fleet makes it impossible to see out the train door.

A similar situation occurring on their older locomotive hauled stock.

And advertising covered trams are now *completely* covered in stickers – the ‘wear a face mask while travelling’ stickers have token section of uncovered windows on each door.

Check-in QR codes

In June 2021 the roll out of Service Victoria check-in codes across the public transport network commenced.

Locations like Sunshine station have a generic location covering the entire stations, while larger stations such as North Melbourne and Flinders Street Station has a unique QR code per platform.

Tram stops have also received QR codes, which feature address, stop number and TramTracker ID.

Messages of kindness

With the bottom fallen out of the outdoor advertising market, ooh!Media started running ‘Be kind to those on the frontline of the COVID-19 crisis’ advertisements on their otherwise empty digital media screens at railway stations.

Transdev has been running ‘Thank you frontline heroes’ / ‘We are all in this together’ / ‘Flatten the curve’ messages on their empty buses.

And PTV ran ‘Thank you for being patient and kind. It’s never okay to abuse transport staff’ campaign.

And a nifty lift

After years of waiting for a reliable and accesssible way to access the station, Watergardens station has received three new lifts, one of which has a nifty feature – it’s 100% contactless.

Just walk up to it, and the lift call button will light up.

A a lift will arrive automatically, taking you up to the concourse.

Amazing!

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