The Mass Transport of Western Melbourne.

admin · The Mass Transport of Western Melbourne.

Back in early June 2008 while visiting Melbourne for a long cold couple of weeks I met with a well known rail and bus fan from Railpage. He took me on a photographing tour of western Melbourne. The weather on that day was horrible I nearly froze to death. Plus I ended up getting sick from that day out. However it was worth it as I got good variation of bus, tram and rail pictures.

1. This is a shot of a route 96 tram. Taken as it was passing though the stop at Bourke and Swanston Streets. Tram unit number 5017.

2. This is an image of a 1st class intercity express bus laying over at the route 401 stop near Swanston Street. Taken looking towards Swanston Street from a car park in the middle of the road. No idea where this bus was going as no route or destination was displayed.

3. This is a shot of the new route 401 limited stop route. Taken after it arrived at North Melbourne metro station. Bus number 401 – 43. Bus type Volvo low floor. In Terms of frequency this is the best bus route Melbourne has got. Why it stops at 7pm I don’t know when 1am would have been more suitable.

4. This is a shot of an N class Loco. Taken as it was passing though Broadmeadows metro station at speed on an outbound intercity service. Loco Number N470.

5. This is an image of a route 409 bus. Taken at the very quiet Footscray Bus Terminal. Bus number 409 – 24. Bus Type Volvo high floor. The windows on this non aircon bus seem very small and high up it must get very stuffy inside.

6. This is a shot of a route 219 bus. Taken as it powers though the Footscray bus terminal. Bus number unknown. Bus Type Scania low floor.

7. This is a shot of a route 220 bus. Taken as it waits for passengers at Sunshine Bus terminal. Bus number 220 - 343. Bus Type unknown but it appears to be some type of Merc O405.

8. This is an image of a route 400 bus. Taken as it waits for passengers under the road bridge at Sunshine Bus Terminal. Bus Number Unknown. Bus Type Volvo low floor. This route seems to have rather plain buses when compared to others.

9. This is a shot of a Velocity DMU set heading out of Sunshine Metro station. Taken from the railway reserve just outside Sunshine Metro station. DMU unit number 1121.

10. This is a shot of a P class Loco with new H type carriages on an outbound service. Taken from trackside near West Footscray Metro station. Loco Number P16.

11. This is an image of 2 metro trains passing each other at Middle Footscray Metro station. Taken from a footbridge near West Footscray Metro station. Why these stations are so close to each other I have no idea, it can’t be more than 500 meters between them. The left train is a Siemens Metro train and the right train is a Comeng Metro train.

12. This is a shot of a route 410 bus. Taken on the main road not far from West Footscray Metro station. Bus number 410 – 26. Bus Type Volvo high floor. I do prefer these high floor buses to the low floor buses. The low floor buses just don’t seem right when compared to a good high floor.

13. Here is a shot of the new trams from Europe that I took while waiting to start this trip. These trams do look very good even better than the other tram picture I took.

In conclusion, It was an interesting all be it very cold day and it allowed me to get a photograph of every mode of Melbourne’s mass transport in a single trip. As far as I know there are no mass transport boat services in Melbourne. As this trip was completed mostly in off peak the Melbourne mass transport system was very quiet on all vehicles ridden. Again slow operating speed of buses and low frequency made this journey quite long but it was good.

I hope you find the pictures and vehicles shown to be of interest if you view this please post some comments and feelings about the pictures.