Tubbs Have Nightmare - About New Road!
Oh yeah, just what Sydney needs, another friggin big-arse road, no doubt one we'll have the pleasure of paying 3 bucks for everytime we take our Toranas onto it. Besides, are people really in such a mad rush to go to Sutherland - or, as it's non by non-Sutherlandeans, "The Shoyer"?Carr, NSW ALP, the Libs, councils, pretty much everybody shouts down Sydney's Lord Mayor (and everyone's favourite fag-hag) Clover Moore when she even hints about alternative transport options other than cars, deriding her as some hippie or lefty green nut. But jeez, as someone who both drives and regularly uses public transport in this city, I know which one I would like to see improved.
The trains currently suck here, that's a given. But think about it: Sydney now has an extensive rail network (in which they're investing $1bn to improve), buses everywhere, ferries, jet cats, light rail AND a monorail. Is it really such a terrifying commo concept to want to expand on what we have in public transport, thereby minimising further atmospheric carbon monoxide poisoning, not to mention Sydney's murderous road rage which is only getting worse? Is it such a crash-hot idea to demolish 200 homes and a golf course for yet another slab of concrete? Town planners can think outside the square - the proposed Parramatta-to-Sydney-in-11-minutes train tunnel is a fine example. It may sound too incredible to ever come true but then I imagine folks thought the same thing about the Monorail.
Costa overturning Scully's original ban on the road exemplifies the difference between short and long-term vision, not to mention Costa's supreme arrogance, bull-headishness and adeptness at saying "hey, fuck you everybody!" when things aren't going his way. The trains became so much worse under his reign as Transport Minister, so now we can look forward to an increase in all the above-mentioned scenarios now he's Road Minister. Yippee ki fucking yay.
posted by Sam @ Wednesday, March 16, 2005
2 Comments:
I think Scully's decision to put an outright ban on the F6 extension was rather short sighted. It's not so much a question of whether people want to get to the Shoyer but one of a link to Wollongong, especially if more port facilities are moved from Port Jackson to Port Kembla.
I don't mean to favour road investment over public and alternative transport, but in time Sydney will need a complete system of radial and orbital arterial roads as opposed to our current hodge podge collection of motorway standard roads that start and end in the middle of nowhere.
You've got to remember that buses use roads too. By all means slap a toll for private vehicles, firstly to pay for construction and operation and secondly to put controls on demand for that road's use. Maybe even waive the toll for bus operators.
Also, you mention that while Costa held the transport portfolio, CityRail became so much worse. I think rather that he was just unfortunate victim of timing. It wouldn't have mattered who was the Minister for Transport in 2003/4 - heck, it could've been a Liberal Government - and we'd still be in the same mess. Underinvestment and mismanagement has hovered over the NSW railways since the 1950s and now it's a snowball that can't be easily stopped.
And in the Transport portfolio, you'd need arrogance and bullheadishness - people who work in the industry, particularly in an organisation as old as the NSWR, generally aren't as open to change. ONe would need to be forceful to effect any sort of change.
I don't want to seem as though I'm shitting all over you're entry because I love your blog!
But one more thing - the monorail is just a tourist toy. I mean seriously, who uses it to get to work? :oP
It's cool Michael - I don't think you're shitting on my blog, in fact you've put forward a couple of ideas I hadn't really given thought to. I go down quite regularly to Kiama and the south coast population growth obviously warrants continued investment in infrastructure, but personally I always prefer to catch the train down than drive there. I'm like Miss Marple in that regard :-)
I also take your point that the Minister for NSW Transport needs to have some mongrel in him but I still reckon Costa was going too far which is why Carr reshuffled him. But the problem will regardless still be there, as you say, and likely get worse when the Libs win the next election and are even more belligerent towards the union.
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