Re: [Vic] Age: Train fare pledge dumped

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

"Maurie Daly" <mauried@tpg.com.au> wrote in message
3a552cac.17328517@can-news.tpg.com.au">news:3a552cac.17328517@can-news.tpg.com.au...

> All true but it simply isnt the way that the world works.
> Wouldnt it be great if all the Airlines cooperated with each other and
> didnt waste their time and effort running planes on duplicated routes
> and trying to poach each others passengers.

They do co-operate by and large - tickets issued on one airlines paper are
valid on 95% of airlines. So if I buy a ticket on QANTAS, issued on QF
paper, BA will accept it from Singapore to London (as long as the rules of
the fare I have bought allow it to be used on other carriers).

And have you heard of the big alliances? Star and OneWorld are the two
biggies, around 10 of the biggest airlines in the world all working together
to ensure that profitability is maximised.

> In the Telcos case ,rather than having mass duplication of telephone
> exchanges that arnt needed or 3 sets of mobile phone infrastructure
> when one would do wouldnt it be great if they all got together and
> came up with a single fantastic cheap product that would make everyone
> happy.

Already happening (sort of) - there are only three Telcos with local call
product that is their own - Telstra, Optus (in their cabled areas) and
Orange One (in their CDMA areas) - the rest is Telstra being resold. As for
the mobile market, they already co-operate when it comes to tower locations,
with all three carriers often sharing the one location for base stations.

> The sad fact of life is that the private sector exists to make money
> and for no other reason.

So what is your point?

> If public transport is privatised ,then the effect is to simply turn
> it into a money making scheme for the operator.
> The issue of providing an affordable quality form of transport for the
> public is simply lost.

Not necessarily. InterCity in the UK was making a profit before it was
privatised, and it provided a quality service. Quality and profit are *not*
mutually exclusive terms.

> The private sector doesnt exist to provide public infrastructure
> at its cost , although its fairly obvious that some Govts think that
> it does.

They went in with their eyes open, assuming they conducted due diligence
operations. If so, they would have known exactly what the revenue was, the
ridership was, the costs were, etc. They cannot say that they did not know
what was happening.

If they did, and said they would raise fares, then the previous government
is to blame. If they didn't, and they went in with intentions to raise fares
but kept it quiet whilst the government made all sorts of pronouncements
regarding CPI increases, then they are cheats and spivs of the highest
order.

> If the Vic Govt is unhappy with the way that NXP or indeed any of the
> private operators are runing the railways ,then they can always buy
> out the franchises,and go back to the good old days.
>
> Its quite amazing that when in opposition the existing Labor Govt in
> VIC totally opposed the rail privatizations of the then Kennet
> Govt,but when in Govt wont do anything about it.

Contracts are contracts, whether they are between two private companies or
between a company and the government. good faith alone says that they should
let the contracts run their course.

Dave