Articles: Trams

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

Pet project was just a Cliche idea

Pet project was just a Cliche idea
Melissa Fyfe
February 27, 2011

DENNIS Cliche has left his mark on Melbourne's tram network. During his four years as Yarra Trams boss, the silver-haired Canadian boosted superstops from 10 to 400. TramTRACKER, the mobile and internet application, was a triumph. And he is remembered as a true champion of the city's humble tram.

And then there are his dogs, Mocha and Jake. Perhaps you've seen them around.

Mr Cliche, who now heads ConnectEast, the owner of the EastLink tollway, loves his dogs and has immortalised them in the city's public transport network. Mocha, a poodle, has been depicted in the artwork on the No.5 Bumblebee tram. And the public face of tramTRACKER is modelled on Mr Cliche's beagle, Jake.

Mocha's existence is not widely known in public transport circles. Indeed, Mr Cliche, who declined to comment for this story, is known to be concerned that Mocha, if publicly outed, could find herself - in the language of myki - touched off.

Mr Cliche's consortium of French and Australian companies lost the multibillion-dollar trams contract to Keolis, a French company, in 2009.

Whatever Mocha's fate, Jake's appears secure. The brown-and-white beagle face of tramTRACKER, with his little thumbs-up paws, is everywhere across Melbourne, reminding commuters to use the service, which estimates the arrival of the next tram.

Mocha is much less of a star, gracing only one of the five Bumblebee trams running on the No.96 line from East Brunswick to St Kilda beach.

The government is negotiating to buy the five bright yellow Bumblebee trams, which were rented for about $10 million from the French town of Mulhouse in 2008.