Crush hour, caged chooks and cruelty to commuters
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday June 2, 2009
To get to work I can walk two kilometres, wait for a packed bus and stand for 50 minutes to reach the city ("Crush and load: life on a peak-hour train", June 1). Or I catch a bus to wait 25 minutes at a station that a train might stop at, then stand for 55 minutes to get to the city. Or I can ride my motorbike for 30 minutes.All three options give me a five-to-10 minute walk to the office at the end of the journey. Only one lets me get to work without feeling as though I have been crushed into a tin can.Brian Kelly West Pennant HillsGet a grip, darlings. Trains are meant to be packed at peak times, otherwise it is an under-use of the system. Or, if reason doesn't work, get an iPod.Keith Russell Mayfield WestThe solution to trains running above capacity is simple. Redefine "full", as the rail authorities did "on time" a while back. Problem solved, with minimal cost or disruption to passengers.Eric Betts EastwoodHave the train-travelling whingers of Sydney been to any other metropolis? If you catch a peak-hour train in London, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Istanbul or Paris, the chances are that it will be pretty darn crowded. This is not news, it is a fact of modern life.If you pay between $3 and $4 for a train fare, what do you expect? Your own carriage with a personal masseuse and free-flowing champagne? Be thankful you live in a city with working public transport, and find some real issues to worry about.Georgia Lewis Abu DhabiWe read that RailCorp's advertising firm has rejected an advertisement about caged chooks ("Caged chook cruelty too much for censors", June1), then turn a couple of pages to read about our overcrowded peak-hour trains.RailCorp does not have a double standard in rejecting these advertisements. It just doesn't wantto remind peak-hour commuters how cruel it is.Brent Walker KillcareThe two headlines sum it up ("NSW burden drags nation deeper into strife"; "Crush and load: life on peak-hour train"). Years of contemptuous underinvestment by both main parties have reduced our once proud state to a laughing stock. The problem is, where else can we turn?Neville Brown CroydonSome months ago a correspondent suggested, quite reasonably, we should "give Rees a chance". Can we stop now?Ann Babington Denistone East
© 2009 Sydney Morning Herald