A global survey of 27 of the most important cities in the world has ranked Sydney as fourth-worst for public transport. Sydneysiders also pay more for public transport than anywhere else.
The study was carried out by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
If this was not bad enough, the situation is set to worsen. The November 16 Sydney Morning Herald said a high-level RailCorp document outlined another 690 jobs to be cut in the train sector.
Among them are safety and risk related positions, which are set to disappear.
Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said on the same day that RailCorp will be dissolved next July, to be replaced by two organisations — Sydney Trains and NSW Trains. The aim is to pave the way towards selling off Sydney’s train system bit by bit.
Public transport in western Sydney has long been neglected.
Many areas are essentially excluded from public transport due to lack of frequency or distance from available services. As services become less frequent, overcrowding occurs more often.
On top of this, one in four Sydneysiders now spends more time travelling to and from work than they do on holidays.
Yet instead of fixing the problem, Labor and Liberal governments have put money into roads rather than rail infrastructure.
Green Left Weekly is hosting a community forum in western Sydney on how to fix the public transport system.
The forum will be held at Parramatta Town Hall on November 24, at 12 noon.
Guest speakers will include Sue Day and Paul Falzon from the group Western Sydney Public Transport Users and Jim Donovan from Action for Public Transport.
All are welcome to join a discussion on what needs to be done to fix Sydney's trains
and buses and help build a campaign to achieve change.
[For more information, phone Fred on 0412 556 527.]