Re: [AUS] Radio forum on public transport

[William J Evans <bill@joinet.net.au>]

joneill wrote:
> 
> True,
> 
>   But the government is in a catch 22, people don't like public transport
> here in Melbourne,
>   and the city is HUGE (in overall area) compared to other cities in
> Australia. So people
>   don't use it as much as they should.. government reacts by encouraging
> more roads
>   and this perpetuates the cycle...
> 
>   I think that we should just run public transport at a loss and make it
> free...no ticketing
>   machines..just go where you want..It would attract a lot more people and
> take pressure
>   of the roads..
> 
>   Which would hopefully take the requirement for spending millions on road
> repair  /
>   building that could be put back into public transport..
> 
> -JohnO

Until about 6 years ago, Perth had an absolutely abysmal suburban rail
service. The ALP made it a major election issue and won office. They
re-opened the one third of the network the Libs had recently closed,
planned the extension of the network to the rapidly developing northern
suburbs and ordered the new trains. The original design was that the
trains would all be 2 cars long and would run at 15 minute intervals. 

When the new trains arrived, they proved so popular that they now run 4
cars (that being the maximum that will fit most platforms, and run at 5
minute intervals during peak times. The original fleet was expected to
be sufficient to meet demand for at least 10 years, but has had to be
trebled in just 5 years. The fares have also doubled since the Libs got
back in after the WA Inc. fiasco, but the demand continues to rise and
the service now operates at a significant profit.

Perth is also far more spread out than Melbourne, occupying more space
than New York which has more than 20 times the population.

If you provide a good service, people will use it.