Re: Cars make more economic sense than transit: fact

[Iskandar Baharuddin <brengsek@highway1.com.au>]

Brendan W wrote:
> 
> Iskandar Baharuddin wrote:
> > qldspeed wrote:
> > > On Mon, 19 Jul 1999 10:59:21 +1100, David Bromage
> > > <dbromage@omni.com.au> wrote:
> > > >Mark Gibson wrote:
> > All snipped without disrespect.
> 
> > The "studies" of the advantages of public transport invariably
> > leave out one key factor: the value of the time of the
> > passenger.
> 
> > When someone comes up with a public transport systems that goes
> > where I want to go when I want to go, and fast, I will happily
> > sell the car.
> 
> Very true. Where I live a train station is about a 10 minute level
> walk from my house. My work is 25 minutes by train then a another
> 5 minute walk to the office. The problem is that trains only stop
> at my station twice an hour! Even though about twice as many
> trains as this pass through. This means that if I do not order
> my life exactly according to the sparse train availability when
> getting ready to go to work or coming home, I can easily end up
> wasting a further half hour waiting for a train that actually
> stops at my station. That makes the total journey time to be
> anything between 40 mins and 1 hour 10 minutes. Plus it costs
> me $5 something for the train ticket.
> 
> If I drive (which I do), it takes me 20 minutes to drive, and
> 5 minutes to walk from where I park to the office. Total travel
> time = 25 minutes no matter *what* time I depart either way. And
> this is the case for someone who lives within walking distance
> of a railway station, ie, no buses or any BS like that! I am
> really not suprised so many people choose to drive instead.
> Given that I would own my car anyway the cost of petrol and wear
> and tear of each trip to work is less than $5 btw.
> 
> Of course the other big thing that the public transport "studies"
> forget is that many of us actually *enjoy* the driving experience,
> ie, we are enthusiasts. I *like* driving my car, I derive
> pleasure from it, I like listening to the stereo in my car and
> I enjoy the personal freedom of being able to go where I want
> when I want. I would never live without a car. And this of course
> is where the economic arguments fall down - even if public
> transport was good enough for all of us to willingly commute to
> work and home this way, most of us would still own a car,
> therefore the cost of car ownership plus the cost of commutable
> public transport has to work out cheaper than the cost car
> ownership plus the extra cost of car commuting, or else it is
> in reality more expensive.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> --
> Brendan Walker

You are quite right.

The other critical shortcomings of public transport are:

	- I cannot adjust my seat
	- I don't even have my own seat
	- There is no place to _put_ things I might need sometime.

Add to this the fact that the human animal is strongly
territorial, and you will find that most people will pay a
substantial premium to drag their iron cages around with them.

And add to this the fact that the W A government is rapidly
destroying what used to be the best public transport system in
Australia.

-- 
Regards,

Izzy

"Stop the world - I want to get off!"