Re: Cars make more economic sense than transit: fact

[G.Lambert@unsw.edu.au (Geoff Lambert)]

craig@ina.com.au (Craig Read) wrote:


>The same has occured all over Melbourne.  People now commute from
>Bacchus Marsh (West), Rosebud (South), Gisborne (North) and Gembrook
>(East) to the CBD for work.  I can remember when these places were
>holiday destinations for Melbournians.

Oh dear, my home town, Bacchus Marsh, a "holiday destination"!  Living
in Bacchus Marsh was never a holiday.

The Marsh has always had a steady commuter component to the train and
car travel, at least since the late 1940's, probably before.  But you
are right about the fact that commuting has increased- and would have
been even more right if you had chosen Melton, where the population
has grown from 600 in the 1950s to (I think) 50,000 now.  The ratio of
Melton:Marsh railway passenger patronage has gone from 1:2 in 1961 to
about 5:1 nowadays and the absolute values are about 8 times higher
than they were "back then".

Geoff Lambert