An interesting side effect of the problems we are having in Sydney with our train network at the moment is that the streets around where I live are currently empty !
Usually there are cars parked along every street – both residents and commuters who drive here to enjoy the free parking and short walk to the railway station – where they catch the train to work.
Now, given that not only are those commuters not catching the train and thus not parking near the station, but also the local residents are choosing not to leave their cars at home and catch the train – indeed everyone is actually driving to work (and creating chaos on the way). The result is almost empty streets !
I only comment because it struck me as odd when I drove out of the garage this morning to drive my wife to work and noticed that there were almost no cars parked on the street. Took me a bit to work out why – but it makes sense now.
The whole Sydney train thing is a complete debacle. A system that relies on staff working overtime to have enough drivers to drive the trains is just plain stupid in my opinion. With so many staff on long term sick leave – or forced to take leave because of the new rigorous health checks they are subjected to (and so they should be !) – their staffing is already depleted. And now they expect their staff to work a “reasonable amount of overtime”. I can’t imagine anyone is actually only working a “reasonable amount” at the moment – there’s such a shortage of drivers that they’d almost need to be working around the clock.
The answer ? EMPLOY MORE DRIVERS, you idiots.
I also think the public transport system in Sydney needs a couple of billion dollars thrown at it. Normally I wouldn’t consider throwing money at a problem a worthwhile exercise – but in this case, the system is so run down and in such a sorry state, that I think it simply needs to be pulled apart and restructured into something that works. We need to be looking to our neighbours in Singapore, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai (the list goes on and on) – to see cheap, efficient rail networks that actually work !!! It is actually a pleasure using the trains in these places – they work.
If only the state opposition wasn’t such a bunch of wusses, they’d romp in the next election. I think it’s the same problem everywhere – the current party stays in power only because of a lack of strong opposition. *sigh*. I hate politics.
All this is why I am so glad I work from home !!!
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