Finally!
I wasn’t the only person in the crowds at the new stations today to be thankful that the five-year wait is over.
And I don’t understand why yesterday’s newspaper insisted on rehashing old criticisms of the project (both in its editorial and from “experts” who’ve clearly never been to London or New York). Sure it ain’t perfect — Mandurah and Rockingham stations are in lame locations, and 7-zone default fare WTF? — but the southern line is the fastest city railway in Australia and on par with the best suburban services I rode on my trip (like Hong Kong’s KCR East).
And a five year delay is something Sydney-siders can only dream of, what with ERG’s efforts (what is it, seven years late and nothing to show for it but the government finally saying”no more chances, you’re fired!” And apparently all the posters are still up – presumably, as a friend of mine observed, because there’s not enough money to remove them).
Also hi, and welcome back =)
PS – if you have a copy of the weekend’s Fin handy, take the time to go through the Pierpont awards. They are delightful in their scathingness =)
Around San Francisco, ERG’s attempt to deploy smartcards has been similarly delayed, less for technical reasons than for petty infighting between the six agencies that run their public transport (“what? you want transfers from your trains to our buses? surely we should get a cut of your fares!”). My understanding is the Sydney contract (when it was eventually signed in 2003) involved something similar with their rather complex fares …
Also.
You still read the fish and chips rag?