Re: [Melb] Airport Heavy Rail Connection Needed!

[David McLoughlin <davemcl*PISSOFFSPAMMERS*@iprolink.co.nzzzzz>]

Derick Wuen wrote:
> 
> David McLoughlin wrote
 
> >I really HATE the high taxi fares on this side of the ditch. We have had
> >taxi deregulation for years now and our major cities have dozens of
> >competing taxi companies, with so many cabs on the road that most of
> >them wait hours for fares. That means they also charge really high
> >fares.

> Are you sure there isn't a market regulator or a cartel, errr, cooperative
> of taxi owners propping up fares to sustain the dozens of companies waiting
> hours for fares?

None whatsoever. In Auckland, many of the taxi drivers are illegal
immigrants or refugees from Fiji who drive taxis for fairly unscrupulous
operators. Many of these drivers have little knowledge of the city, and
thus park on the airport ranks for hours to get fares from people who
have to direct them to their destinations.

There are a few taxi companies, mainly those which were around before
deregulation, who have owner drivers who know the city and who maintain
high standards of vehicles, dress etc. If I ever have to take a taxi I
always use them.

But the fly-by-night, shabby taxis which now predominate have the same
fares as the good ones! Many an unsuspecting visitor to Auckland gets
into one of these cabs at the airport ranks or the city ranks, where
they crowd off the "decent" companies which mainly rely on phone called
fares.
 
> 
> This includes finding a substitute for taxis to the airport which has a high
> import substitution capability. Heavy rail!

There have been proposals over the years for light rail lines to
Auckland and Wellington airports but nothing has ever come of them.

Tullamarine certainly needs a rail link joined to the suburban system.
Surely Melbournites must be envious of the Sydney and now Brisbane
airport rail connections?

On the other hand, JFK airport in New York City doesn't have a rail link
to Manhattan even though the A Train subway line to Far Rockaway passes
very close to the airport.... IIRC from my last visit, they are now
building some kind of rail link from JFK to Jamaica Station on the Long
Island Rail Road in Queens, but that would still entail having to change
trains to get to Manhattan or anywhere else, and it is not part of the
NYC MTA and its unified fare structure.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand