Re: [Vic] Age: Train fare pledge dumped

[james_shugg@my-deja.com]

In article <931ejk$rnt$1@nnrp1.deja.com>,
  Vaughan Williams <ender2000@my-deja.com> wrote:
>
> > I just wonder whether the potential population base in rural
Victoria
> > is enuf to make a profit making rail service viable.
> > Australia is generaly by world standards sparsely populated for the
> > size of the country,and this is the case in Victoria as well.
>
> Sweden has twice the population of the state of Victoria and is three
> times the size. It has excellent regional public transport.

... and a totally different philosophy about what the public sector
should provide, and how it should be funded. Very high taxation rates
allow for exceptionally generous social security and arguably over-
engineered infrastructure. In Victoria, you (as a group) have tended to
vote for the opposite (and I don't just mean 8 years ago, but over
decades), which means infrastructure and service provision has perhaps
been less than adequate.

In neighbouring Norway, Oslo, a city of barely half a million, has a
200 kmh high speed train to the airport that does the 20 min journey
every 15 minutes or so. That would be nice in Melbourne, but Aussies
just don't have the Scandi philosophy (nor the North Sea oil revenue!).


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