From: u8706558@cs.uow.edu.au (Sean Volke)
Subject: Re: I wish petrol were taxed more
Organization: The Shell
Distribution: aus
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 01:15:37 GMT

hughm@tplrd.tpl.oz.au (Hugh McGuinness) writes:


>In article <1992Nov3.075345.18393@cs.uow.edu.au>, u8706558@cs.uow.edu.au (Sean Volke) writes:

>|> [he travels]
>|> Sydney to Wollongong (75k each way) every day. It's a 2-hour round
>|> trip by car, 6 hours by public transport, and who knows how long by bicycle.
>|> In my case the car is the only practical alternative.
>|> 

>I find the 6-hour round trip by public transport a bit hard to swallow.
>I used to live at Spingwood and commuted to Sydney every day.  This trip is
>80km and the train took 1.5 hours each way.  I seem to remember
>Wollongong being electrified and using exactly the same interurban double-deck
>trains, so where does this extra 1.5 hours for each trip come in?  If it's
>due to slow public transport at each end then it's either _very_ slow or the
>total trip is much more than 75km.

Ok if you're going to get picky about it. I actually live in Bankstown, not
Sydney itself. For me to get to Wollongong I have a :

		15 minute walk to station,
		40 minute train trip Bankstown to Central
		1.5 hours train trip Central to Wollongong
		20 minute walk station to uni.

Throw in waiting time between trains and you have your extra 1.5 hours.
This is of course assuming all trains run on time all the time. There are
usually several delays each week lasting anything from 5 minutes to an
hour or more. For example each year the SRA decide to do major trackwork
on the wollongong line which makes for a very long trip. I remember a
couple of years ago when some people were killed at Coledale because a
rail embankment collapsed. For several months afterwards I had a 7-8 hour
roundtrip every day. And if I caught the train at the wrong time then I'd
have get off at Waterfall, transfer to a SRA provided bus, travel by bus
to Thirroul and wait for another train to take me the rest of the way.
Now I have a car life is a lot easier. The trips are short. The stress is
low. And I feel alot more relaxed when I get to the other end. My costs are
alot higher too but I compensate by having a low capacity car (1200cc) which
is fairly reliable and doesn't eat much petrol. However my petrol bill is
still $50-$60 a week. I think it's a small price to pay when you take into
account the other savings.

>Maybe it would be worth buyibg a foldable bicycle and riding to and from
>the stations at each end of the trip...
Nyah, I'd rather walk. that way it's one less bike full of parts not all
of which are recyclable. 8)

>hugh
>-- 
>Hugh McGuinness | hughm@tplrd.tpl.oz.au, hughm@tps.com | (612) 413 6941
>Telectronics Pacing Systems, 7 Sirius Road, Lane Cove 2066 NSW Australia
>Hardware person | I talk to the trees.. that's why they put me away --T.F.Eccles
-- 
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