I'm sure it's not ideal but let's get the damn' thing built. And then let's build another one.

Whenever I hear or see the words "NSW Planner", an image springs unbidden to my mind.

He (it is never a she) has a blotchy face and wild, staring eyes, a nervous tic that shakes his entire body every twenty seconds or so, hair that could benefit from both a thorough wash and a radical cut, has bare feet and works in a small office with no windows. His conversation, such as it is, is littered with words such as "corridor", "feasibility study" and suchlike, that have an entirely different meaning to him than to anyone else. His corridor is actually a virtual, outdoor concept, while his "feasibility", when connected to the word "study" does not actually mean "capable of being achieved". Instead it means "what we create when we have no idea what to do, but need to be seen to be doing something".

Some enterprising soul will turn the whole thing into a musical one day soon. Heck, if they can do it with Legally Blonde and the Addams Family, it will make for a blockbuster comedy. Bert Newton can play Frank Sartor, with Dame Edna as Nick Greiner. Smash hit.

...Subways are the obvious future for efficient city transport. Trams were removed from city streets for sound reasons.

Just a couple of hours driving through Melbourne should tell any sane person that trams are a catastrophe.

The attraction for greens, planners, dropkicks & derros is obvious. They will stuff up the operation of any city, anywhere, particularly for through traffic.

Give us a couple of ring roads, & expressways to get round over or some other way past our large cities, & most of us won't give a damn what a mess you make of them. However while they sit astride the main arteries of travel, enthusiasts should stick their trams somewhere nasty, & let real people get on with earning the living for everyone.

Mono rail is the most practical/sensible mode but because of the total lack of pragmatism & foresight in our planning sector & authority in general they will continue to go for the most expensive & difficult with the most environmental impact & accident prone & of course the most exploitable regarding up-keep. The old Australian way was to make things work the new Australian way is to ensure continued ability to exploit long after the project is finished.

Dear Pericles

What are you taking? Remind me to avoid it. As for subways, they work well where's there are heaps and heaps of people BUT Lend Lease failed (NOTE: failed) on that logic and will continue to. Commonsense is a sub-stream of economics and we economic freaks should be heard as we want our city to succeed and the loonies have the stage.

Hmmm.

>>Dear Pericles What are you taking? Remind me to avoid it.<<

From your reaction, Frederic Marshall, I deduce you must be a NSW Planner. Either that, or you don't live in Sydney, and haven't witnessed the slow degradation of our city's infrastructure over the past thirty years. Planning disasters abound, and failures-to-plan are even more numerous.

Public Transport. Roads. Airports. Water. Power generation. The list is very long, and getting longer by the day. It is beyond tragic, which is why I chose a stage musical as the most appropriate metaphor - forgettable tunes, trite lyrics and has-been thespians occupying all the leading roles.