TT 215: Finding old website material for past PT service changes

Executives and their subservient operatives who implement rebrands work in the 'here and now'. They may be forced by their masters to be ahistorical philistines who trash posterity as they roll out the new corporate image. 

Especially if it includes a renaming, rebrandings often break website links and remove important material. Thus making it harder for both insiders and others to reconstruct and understand history. That can lead to mistakes being made and no one having the background to call them out. 

This is particularly topical for public transport administration and operation in Victoria. This is because, unlike in some more sensibly run states, every change of government in the last half century has involved at least one, and sometimes several, rebrands of its public transport. I documented the consequent online history of this here (though that item predates the currently happening PTV to Transport Victoria rebrand). 

Fortunately, for those studying what happened under previous brands, much online posterity is captured in the Internet Archive Wayback Machine. This is an amazing tool, provided you know previous website links. 

To save you the trouble, here are some links to start your search for timetable and network history. 

Buses

HISTORIANS NOTE: PTV's website removed older (2021-2024) bus news items in Nov 2024. Compare:

* Nov 15 2024 archives (items back to Aug 2021) https://https://web.archive.org/web/20241115043745/https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/about-ptv/improvements-and-projects/bus-and-coach/ * Nov 27 2024 (items back to Jul 2024) https://web.archive.org/web/20241127042532/https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/about-ptv/improvements-and-projects/bus-and-coach/

For a bit earlier see: 

* Aug 17 2021  https://web.archive.org/web/20210817052610/https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/about-ptv/improvements-and-projects/bus-and-coach/

* March 5 2021 (items back to Feb 2020) https://web.archive.org/web/20210305031909/https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/about-ptv/improvements-and-projects/bus-and-coach/

* March 17 2020 (items back to March 2019) https://web.archive.org/web/20200317090928/https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/about-ptv/improvements-and-projects/bus-and-coach/

Want even earlier? Information on the large number of 2000s era bus upgrades is here.

Trains and trams

You can do similar for trains and trams here:

Trains https://web.archive.org/web/20201001000000*/https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/about-ptv/improvements-and-projects/train-and-rail/

Trams https://web.archive.org/web/20201001000000*/https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/about-ptv/improvements-and-projects/tram/

Stations:  https://web.archive.org/web/20201001000000*/https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/about-ptv/improvements-and-projects/train-stations/


Current versions of the abovementioned pages can be found at: https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/about-ptv/improvements-and-projects/

Want even earlier? The most important train, tram and bus service changes in the 2009 - 2018 period are described in items I retrospectively added. Some of these link to archived Connex and Metlink website stories. 

See other Timetable Tuesday items here