Why Australia's biggest city has a problem with 'forced car ownership'
Why Australia's biggest city has a problem with 'forced car ownership'
Data shows Melbourne residents are buying and driving cars at a higher rate since COVID, even though more people are working from home. Here's why.
You're viewing a single thread.
Side observation: I somehow missed the memo that Melbourne had overtaken Sydney as Australia's biggest city.
@Nath and yet having been in Sydney just recently their PT seems significantly better š
I had a back-and-forth with someone about the systems in Melbourne vs. Sydney a few months back. From that conversation, I learned that I need to go back to Sydney and see how it's changed (it's been nearly 11 years since my last visit).
At that point, Sydney's network was definitely an inferior experience. The network was good, but it was stupidly expensive. It was also not good at getting around the CBD, not sure whether that has changed.
I was last in Sydney about 25 years ago. Apart from their āloopā it was a much more complicated system and I didnāt like it at all and it was confusing.
The only thing I liked about their train system was that it linked in with the airport which was a godsend at the time.
It was expensive and you had to choose a specific station to travel to as well from point to point.
Their colour zones seemed random to me and just unwieldy compared to Melbourneās centralised 1,2,3 zone with the origin point being the CBD.
Iām not sure what itās like now but I did not enjoy Sydneyās public transport system back then.
@Nath the things I noticed were the city loop seems to cover the CBD pretty well supported by new surface light rail ( limited network), regularity of services, quality of rolling stock, and opal vs Myki
Some investment they did a while back has enabled 10 minute frequencies on their train lines now. Itās paid off for them and itās something to strive towards.
Melbourneās train lines need untangling from one another and single track sections need removing to enable 10 minute frequencies everywhere. Projects like the tunnel are part of the untangling effort, but it will take time. Honestly it shouldāve been done 20 years ago.
Having said that, a decent timetable rewrite is due when the tunnel opens. Iām expecting better services on weekends now since those days are when the CBD actually gets busy nowadays.
@Railison regularity of services is a BIG thing. System maintenance is also an issue. Itās crazy how many stations are poorly maintained when we are spending some many $B. In my limited experience Iām yet to see run down stations in the Sydney network? Could be wrong?