891 replies to this topic

[SydneySider]

The only train i have caught in other austalian cities was a train to Sydney from Newcastle... and I must say that train was 10 times better than ours.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yeah I've always thought our trains were good...they're great for going to inter-city places like Newcastle etc. It just seems people have a problem with the rail network during peak times between city areas.

[TV_Expert]

Tunnel given 30-year free ride
By Alexandra Smith, Transport Reporter
October 12, 2005

Taxpayers may be forced to compensate the operators of the Cross City Tunnel if improvements to Sydney's ailing public transport network drive traffic away from the tunnel.

A confidential document shows conditions for the tunnel, which is under a 30-year contract, could penalise the Government for public transport being too good.

The Cross City Tunnel pre-signing report, which outlines "the significant matters raised during contractual and financial negotiations", was tabled in Parliament after the Greens MP Lee Rhiannon called for all documents relating to the project's contract to be made public.

While the project's deed, a separate document which has never been made public, says the Government retains the power to "construct new public transport routes or establish new transport services", taxpayers are liable for the compensation bill.

"CrossCity Motorway is, legitimately in the Road and Traffic Authority's view, concerned that these future and undefined initiatives may adversely impact on traffic flow into the Cross City Tunnel," the report says. "That … requires RTA to negotiate with the CrossCity Motorway to restore the financial viability of CrossCity Motorway to levels identified in the project deed, including by adjusting the term of concession, the tolling regime and the financial contributions of the parties."

However, Lisa Carty, a spokeswoman for the Roads Minister, Joe Tripodi, said: "The contract did not place any restrictions on the Government in relation to public transport improvements.

"Additionally, the NSW Government will not have to compensate the tunnel operator if public transport passenger numbers grow."

Earlier the Premier, Morris Iemma, accused the tunnel operators of being "antagonistic" towards the Government and said he wanted to discuss options with them for a better deal for motorists.

Seemingly ruling out compensation as an option, Mr Iemma told 2GB: "It's time they took on a more co-operative attitude. I would like to see the company's position be one of more than just, 'Well, that's the contract."'

Several road changes have been made to funnel traffic into the tunnel. The report says the Government must provide enough lanes so that as much traffic as possible can use it. This includes a minimum number of lanes on the Western Distributor, the Anzac Bridge, Ocean Street at Woollahra, New South Head Road at Rushcutters Bay and Harbour Street in the city.

"The RTA's traffic and transport directorate has confirmed that the traffic measures are acceptable and manageable from a policy and operational perspective," the report says. The authority can change access to the tunnel on condition there is no "untolled use of the tunnels" and the changes do not "reduce access to the tunnels or reduce their traffic capacity".

Ms Rhiannon said taxpayers were betrayed when the contract was signed. "We now know the public are the big losers in the Cross City Tunnel contract and it is shocking that this Government agreed to compensate the tunnel operators if public transport impacts on the tunnel's traffic flow."

A similar public transport penalty clause exists for the M2, preventing significant transport improvements along the route. The Government has several plans to improve city transport, including more light rail and more bus lanes on George Street.

THIRTY YEARS' WAR

- Lanes closed for tunnel only to be reopened if Government pays unknown penalty.

- Roads used as rat runs to be blocked to force traffic into tunnel.

- Motorists with no e-tag face a fee half as much as the toll itself.

- Toll guaranteed to rise regardless of inflation rate until 2018.

- Public transport improvements that reduce tunnel traffic trigger penalty payments.

Source: SMH

Edited by TV_Expert, 12 October 2005 - 05:49 PM.

[MelbourneTV]

By the way, you go to Wello when you come to Qld?

Thats about 5 minutes from my house at Cleveland... who would have thought that two MS members have been in such close proximity.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My granny lives there. Cleveland is the local shopping destination hehe.

Mmm I think the Cleveland line (and other Citytrain lines) loose powere where lines merge - its something to do with the overhead power supply.
The Cleveland line is horribly slow, its so windy - though from Thorneside outwards its fast and good.
More modern trains wont solve that - and I doubt speed could be increased terribly much - its the corridor the line is built in. It would cost too much to divert it on to a more direct route.
QR should look at more trains though. 30minutes is a joke. Pakenham - 60kms or so from Melbourne's CBD gets 30minute frequency off peak - there's a train to the city less than every 15minutes.
Granted Melbourne is 3-4times the size of Brisbane, but if a suburb that far out gets a decent service, there is no reason why Brisbane's suburbs can get better than every 30minutes.
Take I dunno - Buranda. It's not far from the city, yet its trains to the city come roughly every 30minutes, and are packed at that stage. There may be a handful of expresses, but its not much.

[Andrew]

My granny lives there. Cleveland is the local shopping destination hehe.

QR should look at more trains though. 30minutes is a joke. Pakenham - 60kms or so from Melbourne's CBD gets 30minute frequency off peak - there's a train to the city less than every 15minutes.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Firstly, Cleveland - the local shopping destination? hahaha. I have only ever shopped in Cleveland once... but they have a good fish and chip shop outside the coles side of Stockland. Its called Kiss My Fish - get the beer battered chips. Trust me they're good. (better than fins and fries on straddie)

Secondly, I agree about the trains. Every 30 minutes is a joke... on Sunday mornings when I am trying to get out of the city without catching a cab its every hour. I remember once being at Roma St Station at about 7am and i just missed the train... had to wait 60 minutes. It was torture on an empty, drunken stomach.

Tonight I was at work a bit late and missed my usual 5:37 Cleveland train which runs express to Manly.... that is very good. So I went to catch the 5:50 train, but i got to the platform just as it started to move... so I had to wait until 6:30. That just threw my night out order. I didn't get into Cleveland until 7:15, my ipod ran out of batteries... I was hungry. SO I have had a terrible night - all thanks to QR (and me being late)

[SydneySider]

my ipod ran out of batteries... I was hungry. SO I have had a terrible night

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh, no! Not the ipod running out of batteries!

[Big Dan]

Oh, no! Not the ipod running out of batteries! 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I thought iPods had their own rechargeable batteries?

[SydneySider]

I thought iPods had their own rechargeable batteries? 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think they do...I think he meant they needed recharging

[MelbourneTV]

Firstly, Cleveland - the local shopping destination? hahaha. I have only ever shopped in Cleveland once... but they have a good fish and chip shop outside the coles side of Stockland. Its called Kiss My Fish - get the beer battered chips. Trust me they're good. (better than fins and fries on straddie)

Secondly, I agree about the trains. Every 30 minutes is a joke... on Sunday mornings when I am trying to get out of the city without catching a cab its every hour. I remember once being at Roma St Station at about 7am and i just missed the train... had to wait 60 minutes. It was torture on an empty, drunken stomach.

Tonight I was at work a bit late and missed my usual 5:37 Cleveland train which runs express to Manly.... that is very good. So I went to catch the 5:50 train, but i got to the platform just as it started to move... so I had to wait until 6:30. That just threw my night out order. I didn't get into Cleveland until 7:15, my ipod ran out of batteries... I was hungry. SO I have had a terrible night - all thanks to QR (and me being late)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

She doesnt drive, so Coles/Safeway is easy to get too... I dont go shopping in Qld.

Sunday mornings are pretty bad nationwide I think. Trains run about every 30minutes on the busier Melbourne lines, starting at around 7am. Some lines have an hourly service to about 9am.
Some tram routes have 2 trams an hour until about 10am. Thats quite bad.
My route thankfully has 3 or so early Sundays, and about every 12minutes all other times throughout the week, every 6minutes between 7:20-8:30am
Its rather funny I think - the last tram(s) on either of the 2 routes I can catch home from the city, leave after the last train.

[TV_Expert]

I just heard on Ten News Sydney that the Cross City Tunnel will be given a free ride to motorists for the next three weeks, starting from October 24 and goes until November 13!!

[antzzz]

I just heard on Ten News Sydney that the Cross City Tunnel will be given a free ride to motorists for the next three weeks, starting from October 24 and goes until November 13!

And you've all been officially sucked in, chewed up, and spat out.



Anyway, on a brighter topic... How do we all feel about those sexy SUVs and 4WD vehicles getting around our beautiful cities?

I drive a 2005 Totoya Hilux SR5 Turbo Diesel 4x4 Dual Cab on the road, and a 2005 Toyota Hilux SR 4x2 4.0L V6 Single Cab around the properties. What about yourselves?

[SydneySider]

Anyway, on a brighter topic... How do we all feel about those sexy SUVs and 4WD vehicles getting around our beautiful cities?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

How do I feel about 4WD vehicles? Well I don't think it's a particuarly "brighter topic" as you pointed out. I want to know the point of people owning 4WD's in cities like Sydney. As far as I can see, there is no point at all in owning four wheel drives in cities. They're dangerous on city roads - keep them where they belong - where they're designed for, and that certainly isn't cities.

[Mr Q]

How do I feel about 4WD vehicles? Well I don't think it's a particuarly "brighter topic" as you pointed out. I want to know the point of people owning 4WD's in cities like Sydney. As far as I can see, there is no point at all in owning four wheel drives in cities. They're dangerous on city roads - keep them where they belong - where they're designed for, and that certainly isn't cities.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I don't know... It occurs to me that the residents of Toorak don't like having road works done outside their million dollar mansions, so given the state of some of their local roads, 4WDs may be the only way to get around!

Seriously though, I do wonder about the wisdom of buying 4WDs if you're not actually going to use them as such. They're not exactly the most fuel efficient of vehicles, and while many buy them citing safety as a major concern, the reality is that many of them actually have pretty poor safety records.

[MelbourneTV]

I hate 4WDs. They shit me sooo much. They're the most agressive drivers too I think.
They do not belong on city roads. I have no sympathy for 4WD owners who use them as a city run about car and complain about the petrol cost of having such a car - they're own fault.
I've noticed women driving 4WDs are the most agressive out there - its like they think they have power. BMW & Audi drivers aren't much better... just as much on a power trip.

[MelbourneTV]

Road rage attacks rise
Shelley Hodgson
17oct05

A MELTON man was bashed and his car stolen in the latest in a string of vicious road rage attacks.

It comes as the State Government prepares to respond to a parliamentary report that made 69 recommendations to combat road violence in Victoria.
In attacks across Melbourne in recent months, a group of men was bashed and hit with a block of wood, a young woman was struck by a four-wheel-drive, a Glenroy man was stabbed and an off-duty policeman suffered a broken nose, a damaged liver and severe bruising to his upper body.

Melton man Corey, 22, suffered facial injuries, including a suspected fracture under his eye socket, when he was attacked and his car was stolen as he lay injured and dazed on the road in Sunbury last Wednesday.

Detectives believe it was a road rage attack that began when Corey noticed a blue four-wheel-drive tailgating him and applied his brake.

After the attack, passers-by tried briefly to chase the stolen car.

Corey's red VN Commodore was recovered in Northcote on Thursday.

Corey said he was driving along Vineyard Rd about 10pm when he noticed the four-wheel-drive tailgating him and the road rage drama began.

Eventually the car passed him in Horne St, near the intersection of Gap Rd, intercepting his car so he couldn't pass.

Two of the men got out of the car.

"They held me and they hit me once and that was it -- that's all I remember," Corey said.

"It's pretty low . . . They could have just overtaken me straight off the bat."

The Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee Inquiry into Violence Associated with Motor Vehicle Use found that up to 165,000 of Victoria's 3.3 million drivers had been the victims of violent road rage attacks.

Last month insurer AAMI released its annual Crash Index, revealing

85 per cent of drivers believe motorists are becoming more aggressive and six in 10 have witnessed a road rage incident between other drivers.

On August 19, three men were bashed in Reservoir after honking at a car that went through a red light, weaving all over the road and on to the wrong side of the road.

One of the attackers used a block of wood to bash one of the victims.

Two of the men suffered serious injuries and one is expected to have permanent eye damage.

Police are looking for the attackers, all of whom are in their 20s and were in a 2000-2001 silver sedan, possibly a Nissan Pulsar or Hyundai Sonata.

On July 28, off-duty policeman Sen-Constable Simon Busuttil had to be resuscitated twice on his way to hospital after allegedly being attacked after a minor car accident in Campbellfield, a court has heard.

In Sunshine 11 days earlier, a man was hit twice with a steering wheel lock in a dispute over a car spot.

The attacker's two young children watched from their car seats in the back of his vehicle.

On July 3, a 30-year-old Glenroy man was stabbed after cutting off another vehicle in Gilbert Rd in Preston.

Police are still hunting for the driver of the 1995 silver Toyota Celica.

And road rage was blamed from an incident in June in which 20-year-old Breanne Stonehouse, of St Kilda, suffered a shattered lower leg after she was rammed by a black BMW four-wheel-drive.

Anyone with information about the above road rage cases should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

http://www.heraldsun...55E2862,00.html

[TV_Expert]

From today's Sunday Telegraph:

Debnam vows to dismantle 'greedy' RTA
By national political writer LINDA SILMALIS
October 23, 2005

OPPOSITION Leader Peter Debnam has promised to dismantle the Roads and Traffic Authority because of its role in the Cross City Tunnel debacle.

Mr Debnam said a Coalition government would break up the RTA because it was more concerned with raising revenue than fixing the State's roads.

The unpopular tunnel was an example of how the RTA had failed to act in the interests of the community, he said.

"The RTA is a dinosaur in need of reform, and the relationship between the RTA and the Government is unhealthy.

"Instead of fixing our roads, (it) has become an arrogant regulator and a greedy revenue-raiser, and has frustrated public transport objectives."

The RTA has been criticised for closing and narrowing public roads to funnel traffic into the $680 million tunnel and boost revenues for the private contractors that built it.

In return, it stands to receive a share of the takings once traffic levels rise.

Drivers have boycotted the tunnel because of high tolls, forcing the operators to introduce a three-week, toll-free period from tomorrow.

In an address to the Liberal Party State council in Newcastle yesterday, Mr Debnam said the RTA would be replaced by a single roads department.

The authority's remaining planning and negotiating functions would be handed to other departments, he said.

Mr Debnam blamed the State Government for failing to keep its eye on the authority. "While the RTA is a problem child, the ministers are irresponsible parents," he said.

It was Mr Debnam's first address to the party faithful since he took over the reins after John Brogden's resignation.

Acknowledging the party's turmoil following the former leader's attempted suicide, Mr Debnam said he believed the rough time had passed.

But with 15 seats standing between the Coalition and the Government, the next 17 months until the State election were critical.

The party recently announced its plan to freeze the controversial poker-machine tax. It has also pledged to reform payroll tax and abolish Labor's no-forced-redundancy policy.

Mr Debnam said he believed the parliamentary team was winning over the community.

"The State Government has very real problems. The Premier is struggling, and the pressure we are exerting on behalf of the people of NSW is hitting home," he said.

Among issues to be debated at the council meeting yesterday was the battle between the party's religious Right and moderates.

Members of the recently disbanded moderate Tamworth branch accused the Right-controlled State executive of attempting a hostile takeover.

The branch was sacked en masse after failing to hold its annual general meeting on time.

Moderates claim the move was designed to allow the Right to re-establish the branch under its own control.

The Sunday Telegraph

http://www.sundaytel...5-28778,00.html

[SydneySider]

Well on the news tonight they were talking about future problems when the Lane Cove Tunnel opens. Once the tunnel opens, there's going to be less lanes on the Pacific Highway to make way for bus lanes. This is ridiculous...the Pacific Highway is already congested at the best of times and now they're getting rid of some lanes for bus lanes. I won't want to be going along there in peak times that's for sure.

[MelbourneTV]

Well on the news tonight they were talking about future problems when the Lane Cove Tunnel opens. Once the tunnel opens, there's going to be less lanes on the Pacific Highway to make way for bus lanes. This is ridiculous...the Pacific Highway is already congested at the best of times and now they're getting rid of some lanes for bus lanes. I won't want to be going along there in peak times that's for sure.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Obviously that is deliberate, to force more people on to public transport, by offering bus passengers a faster trip.
Having bus lanes also allows speedy access to accident scenes for emergency vehichles too.

[SydneySider]

Obviously that is deliberate, to force more people on to public transport, by offering bus passengers a faster trip.
Having bus lanes also allows speedy access to accident scenes for emergency vehichles too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh, please :sarcastic:

Closing lanes on the Pacific Highway to make way for bus lanes is hardly going to make more people want to use public transport. It's just going to make more annoyed drivers.

The argument that bus lanes allow a speedy access to accident scenes is stupid. If people see an emergency vehicle coming they're going to move over and let them through.

The Pacific Highway is clogged enough as it is...so what do they do...close a lane in each direction for buses.

Great move RTA. Cross City tunnel fiasco and now we await the Lane Cove tunnel.

[Super Simpsons]

Oh, please  :sarcastic:

Closing lanes on the Pacific Highway to make way for bus lanes is hardly going to make more people want to use public transport. It's just going to make more annoyed drivers.

The argument that bus lanes allow a speedy access to accident scenes is stupid. If people see an emergency vehicle coming they're going to move over and let them through.

The Pacific Highway is clogged enough as it is...so what do they do...close a lane in each direction for buses.

Great move RTA. Cross City tunnel fiasco and now we await the Lane Cove tunnel.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes, the Upper House inquiry should prove interesting to see how much the RTA have bundled road projects in Sydney.

[Mawk]

Oh, please  :sarcastic:

Closing lanes on the Pacific Highway to make way for bus lanes is hardly going to make more people want to use public transport. It's just going to make more annoyed drivers.

The argument that bus lanes allow a speedy access to accident scenes is stupid. If people see an emergency vehicle coming they're going to move over and let them through.

The Pacific Highway is clogged enough as it is...so what do they do...close a lane in each direction for buses.

Great move RTA. Cross City tunnel fiasco and now we await the Lane Cove tunnel.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Brisbane doesnt do that with the Pacific Highway
For most of the way in the Brisbane shire there is a road that goes paralell to the pacific highway called the busway which is only for buses