Commuting to the inner city or the city in peak hour is a chore and it’s getting worse (though they are in the middle of major works to Hoddle Street to make that flow faster). Transport choice may be a bit dull, and even a bit hard to get your head around, but it is and will increasingly be a modern luxury.
We both worked in the city. We regularly walk to work through the Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens (to the Eastern end of the city). I ride directly or via the Yarra bike path except when I’m feeling lazy or it’s wet in which case I take the bus or the train. The route to my bit of the city takes you through Exhibition Gardens, a daily delight.
On a nice day I have been known to pull out my laptop and mobile and work on a bench in Exhibition Gardens on my way to work.
I once managed to ride door to door in under 10 minutes, but it usually takes 15 minutes to get to Queen and Lonsdale Streets. I don’t need to shower or change on arrival. Indeed for many years, before I gave them up, I rode in my suit. If we forget something at work we need in the evening, we just drive in and get it: a 20 minute return trip.
We get the kids school in Clifton Hill on the train — 2 stops, 4 minutes plus a beautiful walk through the Darling Gardens next to the Collingwood Leisure Centre with its indoor pool and gym. Then I either ride into town or take the 86 tram. That route is equally good for Clifton Hill Primary School and Spensley Street Primary School and St. John’s. In fact, the kids are just about ready to ride to school along the Yarra bike path and then down Ramsden Street.
Collingwood Station (timetables here) is just a few paces away. For the purposes of this ode, my son and I timed it, and worked out that, walking briskly, one can get from the couch to a seat on a moving train to town in under two minutes. And it’s a double value station: it takes trains on the South Morang (formerly Epping) and Hurstbridge lines which join at Clifton Hill, as well as the very occasional steam train special which is a much looked forward to thrill in our family.
Once you’re on the moving train, you’ll be at Flinders Street in 8 minutes, after four stops the last of which is the MCG’s stop, Jolimont. In the other direction, the South Morang line takes you north through Northcote and Thornbury and the suburbs north of that. The Hurstbridge line takes you through other bits of Northcote, east to Alphington and Ivanhoe, out to Eltham and beyond to Hurstbridge. Richmond Station services 8 other lines and is just a bit over 2km down Hoddle Street (take the 246 bus down, or ride a bike); no need to go into town to catch just about any train, though Parliament Station is only a few hundred metres further.
Also in the Collingwood Station precinct is the Town Hall, Collingwood Library, the police station, a stunning 1866 bluestone vicarage, and Gahan’s Reserve.
Proximity to public transport and car sharing is absolutely insane. Here’s a local area public transport map. But if you’re not clued into all the transport options (it took me years to notice all the buses, which I had never previously used in Melbourne), all you need these days is the free City Mapper app which is a revolution for public transport users in those cities of the world lucky enough to have it.
You can have a car or two as well of course: it’s always possible to park right outside the house or next door because it’s a permit zone. You can get the hell out of here in the blink of an eye: you’re on Hoddle Street (70 kph!) in one minute, the M1 entrance is just 3 km south down Punt Rd / Hoddle St, and the Eastern Freeway entrance is just 1400 metres north up Hoddle St. It only takes us 45 minutes to get to Sherbrooke Forest on a weekend morning, for example.
Four carshare providers operate in the area: Flexicar, GoGet, GreenShareCar and Car Next Door. We used GoGet, as did some other people. There is ample supply of cars so you don’t need to plan too much and you only have to walk 50m to get one (e.g. at the Town Hall, or in Gipps Street). You definitely don’t need to buy two cars (or any car in fact: you’re so close to everything, it’s probably cheaper to Uber).
Consider your options for getting between here and town:
- Walk or cycle the streets and parks. More residents of Yarra ride to work than any other municipality, per capita. There are always yellow Obikes with helmets you can grab within 50m (especially at Collingwood Station), if you feel like riding but don’t have your bike with you (a ride costs about $2). And undercover locked bike storage is sorted at 41-43 Raphael Street as well as at Collingwood Station.
- Cycle along the Yarra bikepath (<2 minute ride away; a really good fast 30 minute ride if you do the whole thing, much less if you cut down to the river in Richmond instead of going back via Hawthorn). It’s a stunning way to get to work and to get regular exercise.
- Take any of the buses which come from the eastern suburbs (e.g. Warrandyte, Doncaster) off the Eastern Freeway (302, 303, 304, 305, 309, 318, 905, 906, 907, 908) and go down Lonsdale Street: a 20 minute airconditioned trip, door to door. If you have to wait more than 90 seconds for a bus in peak hour you’ll be feeling ripped off.
- Train: 4 stops, 8 mins.
- Take the 12 or 109 trams along beautiful Alexandra Parade from Victoria and Hoddle Streets (5 mins walk). They go through Collins St past the casino to Port Melbourne (this is also the route to the private schools of Kew and Hawthorn, Ikea, and to Box Hill, Camberwell and Burwood).
- Walk to the corner of Gertrude St and Smith Sts (12 mins) and take the 86 tram to Bourke and then Spencer Streets (10 mins to the city), Etihad Stadium and the docklands, (the 5th stop is Parliament Station and this is also your route to Clifton Hill, Northcote, and Thornbury).
- Take a cab or an Uber: $9 – $15 (cheaper than public transport if there’s a couple of you) to / from Queen and Lonsdale Streets.
MCG? We sometimes walk. Otherwise take the train 3 stops to Jolimont.
Carlton and Melbourne Uni? It’s a beautiful walk to the Uni (3.4 km, a bit more than 30 minutes’ brisk walk). Or walk 850 m (7 minutes) to Johnston Street and take the 200 bus, which will also get you to Smith St, Brunswick Street, Rathdowne Street and Lygon Street. (The 966 night bus does the same job in the wee hours of the morning.)
St Kilda? Take the no. 12 (St. Kilda) tram from the corner of Hoddle and Victoria Streets (5 minutes’ walk) or the 78 tram from the corner of Church and Victoria Streets (1.1 km, 10 mins) down Church / Chapel St through Richmond and South Yarra. Or take the 246 bus down Hoddle Street: 350 m. (You’ll come to love buses even if you don’t know you do yet, even if you presently intend to drive everywhere, because there are so many of them.
