By the time Tony co-founded Lonely Planet Publications in 1973, he already had the travel bug. And ever since, travel and discovery have been at the heart of his life and career.
Melbourne has a new subway line – the Metro Tunnel – running through five new stations and currently having a soft opening, before the schedule launches full tilt on 1 February 2026. The new Parkville Station will probably be the most useful new station, since it’s at the University of Melbourne which badly needed a handy Metro station.
▲ The Town Hall Station
The two new central city stations might look slightly redundant since the Town Hall Station is only a couple of hundred metres from Flinders St Station and the State Library Station is right beside the Melbourne Central Station. In fact you might find it easier to enter the State Library Station from Melbourne Central rather than from its own entrance. The Metro Tunnel line, however, runs in a different direction than the other lines through Flinders St and Melbourne Central.
Unfortunately to use the new line you still need the horrible old Myki Card. Transport Victoria have announced that they are introducing ‘tap and go’ technology to Melbourne. Tomorrow? No, they are testing it in 2026 and at some point in the future you’ll actually be able to use it. But didn’t they start testing it in 2023 at some stations? Well yes they did, but clearly three years of testing wasn’t enough, there’s more testing to be rolled out in 2026
◄ My hated Myki Card
Hasn’t anybody asked them about this before? Well yes, for one person I asked Transport Victoria why we couldn’t use contactless cards in Melbourne when London introduced the technology in 2014. So that’s 10 years ago.
And I did get an answer, ‘we’re working on it and hope to introduce it soon.’ Which in Melbourne seems to be in 10 years time. So for over 10 years I’ve been able to use my Australian ANZ credit card to pay for public transport in London, England. But not in Melbourne, Australia. Absurd isn’t it?
Once upon a time Melbourne was a regular ‘most liveable city in the world’ title holder. How could you be a ‘most liveable city’ and at the same time operate the world’s most-visitor-unfriendly-travel-card? I suggested that in 2013 and 13 years later my opinion hasn’t changed. Never mind, the new Metro Tunnel Line reportedly took lots of lessons from London’s very popular Elizabeth Line. In London I often use the Elizabeth Line even if it means travelling a bit further because it’s so fast and convenient. Perhaps Melbourne can also learn from London how to get rid of the Myki Card.
▲ The Elizabeth Line at Bond St.in London
Since it opened in 2022 the Elizabeth Line quickly became the busiest railway line in the UK although technically it’s not part of the London Underground network. It runs out to Heathrow Airport – but so does the Piccadilly Line – and even further to Reading. It’s popular and has won architectural awards as well as being so busy. Check my August 2024 posting about riding the London Tube.
I left Singapore at the end of March 2005 to travel to Shanghai via Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and through China stopping in Macau for a travel conference and Hong Kong. I intended to stick to travel at surface level – buses, trains, boats, whatever came al...
I've had quite enough of Putuoshan after a few more hours wandering. Too many temples (some of which feel like they've been built just to fill in time for tourists) and far too many crowds of tourists. The white-cap brigade marches down one side...
Rather overrated, off the coast of Zhejiang and about 150km from Shanghai in a straight line, this island is supposed to offer a glimpse of Old China with colourful temples, arched bridges and fishing boats. In fact it offers a glimpse of New China tourism with multip...
Another grey day. Since I've arrived in China I've rarely seen blue sky. Is it the fearsome pollution New China is famous for? Or have I just hit a stretch of bad weather? Today it's actually raining, but usually it's simply grey, overcast without ever getting beyond ...
A big statue of Mao overlooks the main square in the centre of Fuzhou. There aren't many left - or perhaps there weren't actually that many to start with. In Eastern Europe, Lenin, Stalin and Marx were quietly taken down and hustled away, in Iraq Saddam was violently ...
Someone is looking after me today. I'm running late and all I know about my bus is that it will be outside the Kowloon Tong MTR (subway) station. I get there at 7.25 for the 7.30am departure and it's a big station with lots of exits. I sprint up the stairs at the firs...
I've got a final morning at the PATA conference, followed by lunch with some friends at Fernando's, a classic Portuguese seafood and barbecue place on the beach. I'm a little concerned about finding a taxi back towards the centre of Macau to catch the ferry to Hong Ko...
I'm in Macau for the Pacific Asia Travel Association's (PATA) annual conference, a get-together of people from airlines, hotels, tourist offices, tour operators, travel agents and assorted other travel people from all over the region. There are panel discussions a...
Today is the day I have to make it to Macau. And I do, but only just. At 8am I'm on the bus from Wuzhou to Zhaoqing, with about 30 seconds to spare. It's an interesting three-hour ride to this city, about halfway to Macau. Just before I arrive I discover that it ha...
Nanning's bus station is conveniently adjacent to my hotel, and worryingly empty. Sure enough, they can sell me a ticket but there's a new station out of town. 'You must hurry,' the ticket seller told me, pointing out the connecting bus to the other station. ...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013