Went out for drinks with friends last night at Lane’s Edge bar, Bourke Street Melbourne. Caught the train from Collingwood. Missed the first one waiting for someone in front who was having trouble with ridiculous Myki ticket machine. Should count myself lucky – got the next one about 20 minutes later (housemate recently missed a train back from Greensborough at 10pm – and there were no more so he was forced into a cab). Despite government advertising & assurances, public transport in Melbourne is third rate by any standard (got talking about this last night). A common defense is our ‘lack of population’, especially when comparing train systems in Europe. Indeed, this is a very poor defense. Take Berlin, population 3.44 million. No matter what station you’re at, trains leave every 2-3 minutes, 24 hours a day. Ticketing is simple & cheap. So everybody uses public transport all the time as second nature.
Map of Berlin’s train system. Note the ring rails & comprehensive interplay between lines, making for relatively easy travel north-south/east-west anywhere in the metropolitan area.
Back to Melbourne: Population 4.1 million – trains leave unpredictably and often 20 – 30 minutes apart (when they’re not cancelled without notice). Melbourne is also a wealthier city by GDP. It’s as though for the past 30 years we’ve failed to notice (or care) about a gradual & incremental slip behind the rest of the world when it comes to public transport. Tragically, Melbourne has become a city choked by traffic congestion as more and more commuters are forced onto grid-locked roads. The government’s answer: Shelve all new rail projects and build MORE roads. Why is it that the most economically sensible, socially and environmentally responsible transport solution is so horribly ignored in Australia’s 2nd largest & fastest growing city?
Fires out.
March 28th, 2014 on 1:35 pm
I wonder if the public have any idea of how governments ‘sell out’ to private enterprise to get anything done? How many people know that the reason we don’t have a trainline to the airport is that the government gave the toll operator a 10 year guarantee there wouldn’t be a train so that can collect the tolls?
I went to school in Ferntree Gully and from the early 70’s I drove past signs on FTG Road that read “Site of the future Scorsby Freeway”. That was eventually Eastlink that opened in July 2008 and of course it’s not a “freeway” it’s a Toll road!
Governments of the day have also talked for 40 years about extending the tramline to Know City. It took that that long to extend it from Burwood to Vermont but it’s still well short of Knox. Now suburbs are moving further and further out. There is talk of ‘spur lines’ for all of the new suburbs beyond Werribee so they will maybe see them around 2050 if all goes well.
Hong Kong is similar to what you describe in Berlin. Miss a train and know that the next one is just 4 minutes away. All airconditioned and clean. Their Octopus Card is what our Myki was ‘supposed’ to be where you can use it at shops like 7-11, vending machines and phones. A visitor can buy one with $50 credit at the start of a visit and cash in the balance when they leave with no surcharge for the card like here.