TIMETABLING AND TICKETING
- Upgrade bus frequencies, especially during non-peak times. Re-do the bus timetables so that buses leave 4-8 minutes after trains at most stations.

- Run trains 23/7 and increase frequencies during off-peak and weekends. This would be great to get rid of all the drunken louts who inhabit our CBD every Friday and Saturday night. Taxi drivers don’t want to go near them, so this is the next best way of moving them out of there.

- Don’t pulp the Short-Term Myki cards and actually phase out Metcard ASAP. It’s actually a drag on our public transport system due to the original Metcard contract (fixed number of machines).

RAIL INFRASTRUCTURE
- Remove level crossings on the Dandenong rail corridor especially, and get VicRoads to pay for 50%+ of it. Why? Because level crossings don’t actually increase train frequencies (they already have priority), but they vastly improve road (and train) safety.

- Replace the points at Clifton Hill where the Epping and Hurstbridge Lines meet with a flyover. Do the same for every other line that has this too, rebuilding stations where they have too. This would vastly improve train driver safety and allow for increases in train frequencies.

- Triplicate the Belgrave/Lilydale line from Box Hill to Blackburn to simplify train movements. There is space allocated for this already so it shouldn’t be hard.

- Replace all wooden sleepers with concrete ones and new ballast where needed. This is a really basic upgrade that isn’t very glamorous, but it allows trains to go faster and gives passengers a smoother ride.

- Purchase more trains, preferably more of the newer X’Trapolis units. This is an absolute no-brainer.

ORGANISATIONAL IMPROVEMENTS
- Consolidate all of our damned government public transport organisations.

- Bring back an independent public infrastructure planning commission. I’m sick and tired of Government’s past and present using vital upgrades for pork barrelling.

- Go in and smack Metro/MTM (and the unions to a lesser extent) around until they stop their squabbling.

PIE-IN-THE-SKY IDEAS
- Actually build the Eddington Report’s Metro-1 tunnel (the ‘Eddingtunnel’) and simultaneously quadruplicate the Dandenong/Frankston rail corridor.

- Abandon the current Rowville rail proposal and instead build a partially-underground extension of the Alamein line out to Monash University via Chadstone Shopping Centre and East Malvern Station (on the Glen Waverley Line). Run high-frequency shuttle buses from Stud Park to this station.

- Start planning to build a High-Speed Rail link from Melbourne Airport to North Melbourne or Southern Cross Station. This will have to be underground, so start planning now.

That’s all for the moment. There’s plenty more ideas out there I’m sure.

Train line from Huntingdale (through Monash University) through to Rowville and then also linking up to the Belgrave line. Although the 601 shuttle service fixes some of the problem of better connecting Monash University to public transport, there is still a greater need for connection to the rail network for those out in Rowville/Knoxfield area. Linking to the Belgrave line would further improve public transport to Monash University.

I would highly recommend the inner/outer train loops which have already been mentioned. It is ridiculous that, almost always (and certainly in my case), the fastest way for people to get around greater Melbourne is to go right into the city and out again.

Get the 703 Smartbus up to scratch – as a Smartbus it is supposed to be a premium service with more reliable services. This route abysmally fails in comparison of other Smartbus routes that I have used.

Finally, more Smartbuses should be implemented. Despite being a bit harsh on the 703 route, I still believe that the Smartbus concept is a good idea. More services, higher road priority, and I particularly like the real-time information at the larger bus stops (at least if my bus is late I know by roughly how much!).