Re: Airport rail link

["Dave Proctor" <daproc@spambait.ozemail.com.au>]

"Michael" <usenet.spam@gunzel.net> wrote in message
8FE6A07DBgunzelT333@139.130.239.94">news:8FE6A07DBgunzelT333@139.130.239.94...

> Seems so. Our hypocrites in Parliment on one hand tell people to not drink
> and drive, while on the other hand, don't provide any reasonable
> alternative. The government still seem to have a car mentality as far as
> getting home at night goes. The Nightrider bus idea is great, but why not
> make it a train instead? There would certainly be enough passengers for a
> 45 minutely train service through Saturday and Sunday morning.

Hourly or half hourly, not 45 minutes - make them six-car trains hourly if
necessary. It is easier to remember "20 mins past the hour" when drunk,
compared to "20 past 12, 5 past, 10 to 2, 25 to 3,....." - you get my point.

I can remember the Nightride buses to Penrith when totally plastered (which
is often) - 5 past the hour, all night, every night.

As for running trains Sat and Sun mornings, trains the rest of the week, I
think you need to have consistent journey times, consistent services. If the
patronage is greater on weekends, run extra buses, including some express
buses to the outer destinations. For those who use the buses to get to and
from work, they need consistency in scheduling and performance. Trains some
nights, buses on others, does not provide this.

I also agree with you it should become part of the Metcard system (shall we
place validators on the buses??????? <g>)

> Nightrider
> buses, with a standard Met fare structure, and running along normal
railway
> routes would be fine Monday morning through Friday morning.
>
> And despite our "public transport activists" beliefs, security guards ARE
> needed on night services. Armed preferably.

Not if they are like Sydney security guards - I would not trust most of them
with a toy pistol, let alone a real gun with real bullets.

Dave