My memories of the 1950s and 1960s aren't good. Everything totally
anti-tram. Okay, the MMTB was positive, keeping an ageing fleet and worn
out infrastructure going somehow against vicious press and political
opposition, but everywhere else the executives and pollies were proud of
shutting down anything that ran on rails. The slogan was "You can't stop
progress".
David Walker
On 21-Nov-20 7:05 PM, Roderick Smith wrote:
> I don't regard 'legacy system' as a put down: I put that term in the
> same category as 'heritage'.
> However, today's politicians, bureaucrats, managers and engineers are
> completely incompetent, particularly in the world of design.
> Their total priority is management convenience.
> Engineers can't do anything unless a whole route is shut down.
> Managers can't do anything except telephone bus companies.
> Their total skill is in writing slogans, spin and propaganda, moving
> into the world or outright lies (not just verging on it).
> Merging road and public transport has done nothing: two disparate
> organisations which can't cooperate in any way, under a minister who
> can't make them, having failed to get the disintegrated VLine/Metro
> split to cooperate.
> The difference between the minister for washing machines and any
> minister for transport is that the former knows something about washing
> machines.
> Providing proper transport interchanges or frequent services isn't the
> even on the agenda. 'Turn up and go' has to be a reality, not just
> something spouted by a sock-puppet minister.
>
> Today's two announcements from Victorian Labor are as bad as all of its
> previous decisions, but were loaded with spin.
> 'Travel by train from the cbd in under 30 minutes, for a ripoff fare'.
> That is the Sydney disease: ordinary service at premium fares.
> The bus does it in less that that, and the train could have done it in
> 23 min, but won't.
> Meanwhile, zone 3 fares got reduced to zone 2, and zone 2 got reduced to
> zone 1.
> Unfortunately, no other party is any better than Labor.
>
> Roderick Smith
>
>
> On Saturday, November 21, 2020 at 5:50:33 PM UTC+11 Mal Rowe wrote:
>
> On 21/11/2020 16:47, pn1 wrote:
> > Yes; older tram enthusiasts generally look down with disdain at
> today's decision makers; men and women who are mostly of following
> generations. Such people are seen not to have the quality of those
> of earlier eras; people who worked for the MMTB and similar
> organisations throughout Australia.
> >
> > Those of us in the older age group can feel thankful of being
> able to experience a tramway world that is invariably considered
> better than that of today.
>
> I'm not in that category.
>
> I see a high level of skill and much greater knowledge and technical
> capacity than I ever achieved in many young engineers.
>
> There's nothing much to criticise in the teams that brought us
> Melbourne's E class trams or those who have designed the life extension
> program for the rest of the Melbourne fleet.
>
> My impression is that the problems that have appeared in several cities
> (including Sydney) who have 'started from scratch' in building light
> rail are largely due to some of those involved being unwilling to do
> their research properly - seeing light rail as like heavy rail but
> smaller.
>
> Melbourne learnt the hard way that you can't outsource responsibility
> for quality - the C and D classes were the result of the attempt and
> the
> E class is the result of learning the lessons.
>
> Mal Rowe - not at the rose coloured glasses stage of looking back yet.
>
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