Re: State Rail - No, State Joke. [NSW]

["Nobody" <dweebken@NOSPAM.yahoo.com>]

"Bradley Torr" <truenorth@one.net.au.SPAMTRAP> wrote in message
01c0e8b7$459f4960$255e65cb@default">news:01c0e8b7$459f4960$255e65cb@default...
>
> David Bennetts <davibenn@ozemail.com.au> wrote in article
> <ECVQ6.2506$Yr1.110366@ozemail.com.au>...
>
> > I've ridden a lot of trains around the world, my personal favourite is
> the
> > Paris Metro.  Trains are clean, fast and frequent.
> > They almost never stop in tunnels between stations.  New York used to
> have
> > the grottiest system, and it was unreliable.  Now it's been cleaned up.
> > London Underground always seems in a mess.
>
> That's because London itself is a chaotic mess! Thatcherisation (which
> continues unabated under New "Labour") doesn't help matters much either.
>
> New York also has a kick-a$$ mayor who, while being somewhat of a
Napoleon,
> has really cleaned up the city. Crime in NYC is at a low; urban
degradation
> is kept at bay and yes, the population of NYC is on the rise once again!
> Mayor Guiliani also had the good sense to hire Bob Kiley to get the subway
> back into order - a visionary who is now in the employ of the Greater
> London Authority and whose plans to renovate the Underground have been met
> with ideological opposition from the New "Labour" corporate socialists in
> Westminster.
>
> I can't speak for Paris as I don't know too much about that city.
>
> > Actually CityRail's services to and from the Southern Highlands are
quite
> > comfortable in an Endeavour, when they run to time and aren't
> overcrowded.
>
> Endeavours are quite comfortable for short trips. The seats are too narrow
> and rigid for anything longer than, say, an hour in my opinion.

And they are really no good for those with poor posture or those over 6'
tall

Not being
> able to change seat direction isn't a good thing either. Still, the seats
> are better than those in C-sets!
>
> > The services around the city however leave quite a lot to be desired in
> > terms of train presentation, staff attitudes, and general management.
> > There's a take-it-or-leave it approach.  The system is capable of
working
> > quite well,
> > as proven during the Olympics.
>
> In my admittedly subjective opinion which has no basis in actual research,
> whether mine or somebody else's, I ascribe these points to a general lack
> of civic pride in much of the state of New South Wales.

Whoa. You been up the north shore lately? What about some of the eastern
suburbs, northern beaches, central coast, south coast, etc etc? Over the
last decade our civic pride has much lifted. Not everything is like
parramatta road

Society in other
> states seems to take good care of its urban environment - wide roads,
> rustic parklands, pleasant architecture, clean streets. I find VIC, SA and
> TAS to be the cleanest states, and the states with the most 'civic
pride' -
> Adelaide tends to win on this count among the major cities. For all its
> faults, the Adelaide transport system is generally clean and the urban
> landscape looks like the people are proud of it.
>

You accusing NSW of not being proud or having wide streets and being dirty?

> I must say that Melbourne's relatively bad presentation of its transport
> infrastructure and rolling stock seems to be relatively recent - I
remember
> visiting in 1997 and I was amazed at how clean and well-appointed the
> stations, trains and trams seemed. Now, thanks to the Thatcherisation of
> the State of Victoria into Victoria Ltd. and the removal of transport from
> direct civic control, this has suffered, and can be seen in poor staff
> morale, presentation and customer service.

I was there in 1987 and it was pretty grotty then too
>
> You simply don't find that enthusiasm in Sydney. Sydney is largely
chaotic,
> dirty, smoggy, crowded, badly planned, badly lit, graffiti strewn, and
> dingy (compared to other Aussie cities).

Badly Planned? No way. The harbour bridge and our city railway system is a
prime example of good planning. The problem was we sydneysiders had a
shoestring budget to work from in the 1900s to the 1940s.

 I admit that much of this,
> particularly in central Sydney, has changed due to Olympic streetscape
> improvements and Lord Mayor Frank Sartor, who seems to be a Rudolf
Giuliani
> wannabe but can't be because local government in NSW is very weak and is
at
> the beck and call of the State Government. (Not to mention that the Sydney
> City Council area of jurisdiction is restricted and tiny).
>
> This isn't a new phenomenon - a literary traveller in the 1870's reported
> on his Australian travels that Melburnians were energetic, hard-working,
> ethical, mercantile and of good civic mentality, while Sydneysiders were
> rude, indulgent, lazy, given to vices and insolent. Perhaps little has
> changed!

What literary traveller was that? Jeff Kennett wasnt around then . . .
>
> Perhaps this lack of civic pride and presentation in Sydney harks back to
> our convict heritage, which is much stronger in Sydney than in any other
> major Australian city.

I wonder why.
>
> Just some points to ponder.

Pondered. Largely Dismissed.
>
> Regards
> BT
>
Brendan