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Geelong Station: A neglected unwelcoming gateway.

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Train stations serve as symbolic landmarks that define a city's character and welcome travellers with a sense of place and identity. Geelong Station, a heritage-listed gem, unfortunately, stands as a stark example of neglect. Despite its historical significance and architectural charm, the station suffers from a lack of pride, maintenance, and upkeep.  The once-grand structure now bears the scars of time, with visible damage, vandalism, and signs of poor workmanship obvious. As a frequent traveller from Waurn Ponds to the Geelong CBD, I recently had the opportunity to observe the state of Geelong Station while waiting for my train. During my 15-minute wait, I encountered numerous instances of neglect and poor care. Waiting Room The waiting room is ridden with stained carpets. An exchange library, once a unique initiative now stands abandoned. Holes in the walls aren't hard to find. A drinking fountain was removed from this spot over 2 years ago, The skirting boards have still n

Journey Planning & Service Confusion in Regional Victoria

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Alan Thomas has recently published an excellent map that shows all the various "bus" and coach routes that connect regional Victoria's various cities and towns. An impressive feast considering how difficult it can be to find information about these services.  Map showing regional public transport services in Victoria [ Alan Thomas ] It's really disappointing that it takes the will of an independent and passionate advocate to produce such things as the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) should really step up and do it officially.  Aside from V/Line train services, journey planning can get very complicated in Regional Victoria. This is due to the multitude of planning tools that exist in the V/Line and PTV silos of information. Those not familiar could think we have two isolated networks as opposed to one integrated one.  Many problems could be solved by better integrating V/Line information into existing PTV tools. Currently, the majority of V/Line tools provid