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.
Driving through the Cotswolds district – England at its prettiest – we stopped off at Kelmscott Manor close to the River Thames and just outside the town of Lechlade-on-Thames and not far from Oxford, A couple of days earlier we’d stopped in Oxford to visit the wonder...
Albert Einstein is reputed to have stated that ‘Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.’ I’m regularly reminded of that statement – John Kerry, US Secretary of State, reminded me of that today with his comment...
Staying in Montparnasse in Paris a couple of weeks ago I made a last minute dash down the road to the Montparnasse Cemetery. ◄ I had a quick glance at the grave of Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. Then I stopped by Serge Gainsbourg’s grave ...
Driving through Oxford, Maureen and I stopped to look at the Pitt Rivers Museum. It opened back in 1887 after Mr Pitt-Rivers donated his 20,000 item ethnographic collection to the university. Since then the collection has expanded to 300,000 items, all the sort of t...
The Miles Franklin Award is ‘Australia’s most prestigious literary award’ (and worth A$60,000). This year it went to Questions of Travel, a novel by Michelle de Kretser. It’s Michelle’s fourth novel – her third, The Lost Dog – made the Booker Prize longlist. Questi...
Having looked at things in New York, Naples and Paris I’ll jump back to my April trip to Verona. I was en route to Trento and the Mountain Film Festival, but a stop in oh-so-stylish Verona is always worthwhile even if you’re not there for the opera in the Roman Arena....
Car sharing systems are all the go, I’m a card carrying enthusiast for Zipcar in London and I’ve tried out (and just rejoined) Flexicar in Melbourne. The French were fairly pioneering with bicycle sharing and their Velib system has been a big hit. So it’s hardly su...
▲ I’ve had a look at New York and at Naples so today it’s Paris, last week’s trip. Wandering through the Marais I noted this window display of Queen Elizabeths, each QE2 energetically swivelling her wrist in true British royal family fashion. ▲ Still in the Marais ...
In the spirit of Kim Jong Il Looking at Things and yesterday’s post on looking at things in New York, here are some things I looked at on my recent visit to Naples. ◄ Starting with a Star Best Café, that’s in the spirit of the Stars & Bucks Café I came across i...
I’ve just posted on the Kim Jong Il Looking at Things phenomena, so I’ll post some things I’ve looked at recently , starting with New York and continuing to Naples and Paris. Without me in the picture! ◄ Walking to the theatre one night on our recent visit who shou...
© Tony Wheeler’s Travels 2013