Maybe the wheels fell off?

Again the question should be asked - how many of those commuters really need to be physically present at a central location each work day or for that matter for the full day?

Rather than spending billions seeking marginal improvements to peak hour travel times government should be working on reducing the need to commute in a variety of ways.

- Working from home arrangements are still rare and often resisted by management.
- Part day work from home arrangements giving people more opportunity to travel at different times.
- Regional/Suburban office hubs.

R0bert

You may not have realised, Maryann, that the new trains the State Government ordered were all to be air-conditioned, and were to replace the older ones, leaving the entire fleet air-conditioned. I am not in a position to comment knowledgeably on the reasons for the delay in the provision of those trains, nor on the prospects of the company contracted to provide them of ever delivering them. But I don't think it was penny-pinching that has caused the problems.

We have air conditioning on most or all of the Brisbane trains I ride. I think it possibly contributes to ill health or discomfort. When the air conditioning is too much lower than the outside temperature one becomes chilled if wearing clothes suitable for the outside temperature. I appreciate air conditioning but think it should be used with discretion. It should not be a great deal lower than the outside temperature.

That would be both energy saving and healthier.

Population growth is so expensive.

In Australia's climate, there just cannot be trains or buses or schools without air conditioning. We need to get basic services right before we contemplate the fancy bits like NBN.

Yet in many train stations there are drink vending machines, under a commercial arrangement with Railcorp and the beverage manufacturers. Also in some larger stations, shop space is rented to stores which have beverage sales as a main component of sales turnover.

Is this why water taps are disabled, and bubblers are generally not provided.

Most, I'm afraid R0bert.

>>...how many of those commuters really need to be physically present at a central location each work day or for that matter for the full day?<<

Once we get the NBN, of course, and assuming that business can negotiate "bulk" rates for home-based workers rather than the (likely) swingeing impost for individual households, then home-working will become a little easier to organize.

>>Working from home arrangements are still rare and often resisted by management.<<

Management, by and large, is all for it. Certainly those managers whose remuneration is measured by a bottom line that includes premises would implement it tomorrow.

If only the unions would let them.

Managers know where their staff are, which unions don't, necessarily. That makes recruitment, on-site meetings etc. far more complicated.

Managers are able to implement far more direct performance measures on out-workers, which of course is anathema to any caring union.

A surprising number of staff, too, actually prefer the cameraderie of the CBD office - together with the obvious social benefits, such as gathering in the pub after work - to the potential for going stir-crazy at home.

>>Part day work from home arrangements giving people more opportunity to travel at different times.<<

This is further advanced. Most organizations - except the largest, staidest and most dinosaurial - are able to, and do, accommodate staggered working times. Many even encourage it, as it lengthens their "visible working day".

>>Regional/Suburban office hubs<<

That would actually tend to make things more complicated, as public transport to non-CBD "hubs" is - with the rare exception - even less available and/or reliable.

I'm afraid that commuting isn't going to go away in a hurry. There's a whole heap of painful organizational unravelling that needs to go on, even once the technology catches up.

I agree with ozbib; it is rationally indisputable that energy is used, and so often wasted, by using air-conditioning - the health issue may be less certain, but I think he is spot on again, from both my experience and reasoning.

I lived for 6 years in Sydney this century in non-airconditioned accommodation with no complain or problem, mostly walking to and from work (30-40 minutes each way), sometimes catching buses that either were not air-conditioned, or may as well not have been (doors opening frequently, passengers opening windows).

Work was a different matter, with the ridiculous scenario of me regularly freezing on a lovely Autumn day.

Dropping the inside temperature a few degrees on a hot day may be productive and desirable, but do we need it to be 23 degrees all day, every day?

I find it is so often the same ilk of person who protests about energy generation from "non-green" (read affordable) sources polluting etc, and then "demands" that schools, hospitals, libraries, public transport etc be climate-controlled without recognising the hypocrisy of their stances (well, of at least one of them).

ozbib, Monday, 21 February 2011 8:51:17 AM


We have air conditioning on most or all of the Brisbane trains I ride. I think it possibly contributes to ill health or discomfort. When the air conditioning is too much lower than the outside temperature one becomes chilled if wearing clothes suitable for the outside temperature. I appreciate air conditioning but think it should be used with discretion. It should not be a great deal lower than the outside temperature.

That would be both energy saving and healthier

(quote) The professor ... added: “It takes hours to get to the Blue Mountains or the south coast - when if you were in London, you would be there in 40 minutes.”

Obviously this professor's knowledge of rail services around London is derived from perusing the timetables, not from actual experience.

Some actual experience: 3 times in 4 weeks my 45 minute journey to or from London was delayed by at least another 45 minutes (not counting occasions like when I just caught an earlier train which was about 90 minutes late).

Well you lot elected your pitiful government, so what do you deserve?

Part of the problem may be they hire too many graduates of government & international relations courses, rather than engineers.

The delayed delivery of the Waratah trains reflects badly on the NSW government who agreed to the contract.
As for us poor punters getting the government we deserved - the circumstances of the last NSW election were: 1) a Howard Federal government in the midst of trying to force "Work No-Choices" on everyone; and 2) a NSW Coalition led by Peter Debnam (who? Yes no-one remembers him now...) Hopeless....
The current NSW Labor state government - riddled with Labor-family nepotism throughout the higher echelons of the public service (as opposed to appointment on merit) - is so hopeless it can't even get any money for infrastructure from a Labor Federal government with a NSW member as an infrastructure Minister- see SMH article here:
http://smh.drive.com.au/roads-and-traffic/transport-stuffups-cost-state-billions-20110221-1b2kp.html