Re: [Sydney] Ticketing - was Light Rail into the CBD?

["Bradley Torr" <truenorth@one.net.au.SPAMTRAP>]

Al <alpout@optusnet.com.au> wrote in article
<3b15d79b$0$25502$7f31c96c@news01.syd.optusnet.com.au>...

> And the question to ask is why??  Why spend 4 hours a day getting to and
from
> work?  I've never had a job I've liked that much.

Because housing is abhorrently expensive (not to mention cramped) in the
Sydney urban core relatively speaking (read my earlier posts for
explanations), and also a lifestyle choice - many people are quite willing
to trade in short commuting times for the chance to have a semi-rural
lifestyle; room for the kids to run around and maybe keep a pony for the
girls and a trailbike for the boys; away from the pollution and degradation
of Sydney; to be closer to the natural environment; away from spiralling
crime of the big smoke; etc.

Also, with the decline of traditional industries and agriculture in the
regions just outside the metro area of Sydney such as the Southern
Highlands, Wollongong and the Central Coast, not only are urban refugees
commuting from these areas to Sydney, but also home-grown people - for
example, the workforce in the coal mines and steelworks in Wollongong have
been decimated over the years, so to find jobs, many people who grew up
expecting to join the industrial workforce now have to commute to Sydney.

Despite the general decline of industry down here in the Illawarra, the
population still keeps growing thanks to high housing costs in Sydney.
Unemployment in the Illawarra in the 1996 Census was around 13% - not sure
what that would have been were we not so close to Sydney!

Last year in the lead up to the sports carnival at Homebush Bay, all
unemployed people in the Illawarra (and doubtless other regions) were sent
letters to the effect that they would have to direct at least 50% of their
jobseeking efforts to employment in Sydney, or else lose their benefits.
Finally, an admission from Government that regional employment prospects
are hopeless, so the peons may as well all not try.

Look inside a V-set at 6:30am at Woy Woy or Thirroul and you'll see these
economic forces in concrete, though you might be hard pressed to view such
a process from the comfort of a seat! Nor will you be able to talk to
anyone about your findings, because everybody's asleep from getting home so
late the night before and waking up so early.

Regards
BT