B4 you go-go: Melways Map 59
You can divide the people of Melbourne into two categories: those who love trams and those who loathe them.
I definitely fall into the loathing category…for a number of reasons, namely:
- They are slow.
- They slow other traffic down.
- When they stop, all the traffic behind them in both lanes has to stop to allow passengers to cross the road to embark or disembark.
- Tardy passengers running to catch a tram as it pulls away are just as likely to run straight across the road in front of your car.
- Many tram drivers have power and ego issues and use the trams’ bells to explore those issues. I swear the next time a driver ding-dings me from behind when I’m waiting to turn right across oncoming traffic, I’m going to stop my car across the tram-tracks, get out and ‘discuss’ the driver’s dinging issues with him. (Of course, I won’t do this. But I like to think I would.)
- Trams are big. And heavy. Any altercation involving another vehicle and a tram is not going to end well for the other vehicle (unless perhaps if it is an all-terrain armoured tank).
But.
And it is a big BUT.
Trams are an integral part of the Melbourne culture and significant to the city’s unique identity, so I would hate to see them disappear. I’m prepared to tolerate them in a peaceful co-existence. (Though, please, enough with the dinging…)
Crossing the B4 grid square of Map 59 of the Melways (it took me a while, but I got to the point of this post finally) is the No.8 tram line. When I first arrived in Melbourne in the early 1990s, I used the No.8 constantly: along to work on St Kilda Road, into the city, home again. Of course, back then it was all rattling old ‘W class’ trams – none of the new-fangled ones you see nowadays.
