Re: Slow Melbourne trams

Please, try and avoid comparing Melbourne with South-Central Los Angeles.

I don't think Melbourne needs to be compared to anywhere really, as has been said, the real competitor in Melbourne to PT is cars.

If I want from Bundoora to go to the rugby at Olympic Park on a Saturday afternoon and I have to catch the 86 tram to Spring Street in 40 minutes, walk 10 minutes to the 70, 5 minutes ride to Olympic Park and 5 minutes walk, not to mention 5 minutes waiting for the 86, another 5 for the 70 all up totalling 2 modes and 65 minutes, vs. a 35 minute drive to the car park next to the ground, PT isn't going to win, especially given the people that tend to be coming home from the football on a crowded tram with you.

I must admit when I went on Saturday, we drove to Ivanhoe and caught the train as a compromise, and it was comparable to driving all the way, although for the 3 of us, it wasn't in any way cheaper, even allowing for 2 concession fares ($10.20 all up vs. $5.50 for parking and probably another $5 for petrol).

I am sure there are far worse examples (such as when I used to travel from Greensborough to Swinburne near Glenferrie station. It took me anywhere between 70 to over 120 minutes. It didn't help having a friend who drove and took 25 minutes to get home.)

PT probably doesn't need to be cheaper than driving, but it does need to be faster, more frequent, cleaner and better perceived. Whilst we have pollies that think that spending $55 million on PT compared to $1000 million on a freeway is significantly spending money on transport (and compared to the usual standard, it probably is), we will never get very far. It's like Jim Hacker in Yes Minister/Yes Prime Minister, although he may win the odd small battle, he will never be in a position to win the war against beauracracy. Or in our case against the motor car.

Apologies for my ramblings, but it is a bit of a hobby horse of mine...

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