[NSW] Sydney transport woes???

["Hubert Lam" <hubert@imap4.com>]

After my experience today I am a firm believer that Sydney's transport is perhaps much better than
what the press calls it to be.

My travels today started from home (Burwood). Had to go to West Ryde to get some books, then to City
to get more books.

Here's the "log" of today:

8.15 out of the house
arrived at station 8.25
train for Hornsby scheduled for 8.27, according to SPI, was 1 min "late" (arrived 8.28).
train does not stop at stations between Strathfield and south of Parramatta River, arrived West Ryde
12min after boarding (around 8.40)
book bought, walked to 520 bus stop at 8.50. Bus scheduled for 9.01
Merc Benz O405N arrived at 9.06, whilst during the 15 min wait for the bus there weren't any trains
departing for the city so far as i observed.
Bus sped along T3 lane on Victoria Road, experienced the biggest joyride on a bus in my whole
life...all the lights were somehow green! Some people on intermediate stops were annoyed about the
bus not stopping, as Dave Proctor noticed on his travels on 520 previously
Bus exited Western Distributor-Anzac Bridge Freeway at 9.40 (seriously though, West Ryde to City on
a relatively fast train would still take 25-30min.) Got off at Town Hall.
The last transaction of the day complete. Began walking to Wynyard Station from Dymocks City
Superstore.
Slow Penrith via Olympic Park arrived spot on time
Arrived Burwood at 10.25, according to SPI, 1 min "late" (due to South Line via Fairfield train
holding the Penrith train at Ashfield)

So in 2 hrs I managed to go from Burwood to West Ryde (12 min)
West Ryde to City (35 min)   <-- presents serious competition even to a train running fast on the
Main North from Meadowbank to Strathfield
City to Burwood (15 min)

Don't think it can be done by car. And since I'm still eligible for child's rate of fare, here's the
fares I paid...

Burwood & West Ryde return $2.20 (peak return child ticket, not that I needed the return journey)
West Ryde to City on 4 dips of Blue travelten ($1.88, to exact amount)
Wynyard to Burwood $1.30

Total of around $5.40, for travelling 50km around Sydney, or about 50c/km (double the fare the
adult)

So I guess most whingers are basically UNLUCKY when they get dirty/late/cancelled trains. Myself
being a whinger about trains at times, found nothing to whinge about today at all, but rather more
to compliment CityRail and State Transit.