What utter tripe Aiden. Public transport is about as useful as tits on a bull, unless you work in a city centre, & never have any chores to do between work & home..

I can see it now. All those mothers walking to the railway station, with a small child, catching a train to a kilometre of the day care centre, walking to it with small child, then back to catch a train to work.

It will work even better on the way home, with a bus ride thrown in, standing up with said child, to the shopping centre to pick up milk & bread, then another train home.

Some times your brilliance, & your ability to think things through amaze me. Have you ever thought of trying the real world for a change?

Hasbeen Far be it for me to defend a perfectly reasonable Aidan, with a perfectly reasonable response and idea for the transferring of airline passengers, even those "minute percentage" referenced by you, flying from Hong Kong or wherever, to take a kid to an Australian day care centre, before boarding another plane back to their, Hong Kong or wherever, place of employment?

Self evidently, you've given this Airport rail link proposal, considerable thought before opening your mouth to change your socks, again!

It's not all that long ago, that you were castigating a government for closing down (public transport) regional rail links!

As always, you appear entirely incapable of walking in another's shoes? But limit your views and opinions as seen through a very narrow personal prism/horizon that is clearly limited to just your front gate/nearest town and your immediate family?

Simply put, 70 plus percent of the economy and the population now is located in the coastal regions, i.e., the coastal cities and towns, with possibly around half or more residing in Melbourne and Sydney?

So, moving people without any unnecessary delay from an international airport to a Major CBD, is not just good for the city in question, but regional economies as well, given they could well be beneficiaries of anything that improves city based international commerce!

Arguably, it's not Aidan's brain that is suffering from the effects of age related atrophy, in connection with this debate, but the antique troglodytes welded, like (rocket man) Kim Jong Il, to an ideological imperative only!

You'll have a nice day now, y'hear.
Alan B.

Hasbeen, it may have escaped your attention, but public transport does also serve places other than city centres. And it usually has intermediate stops too.

I notice you're resorting strawman arguments. I'm not saying that public transport is better than cars for everything. Clearly there are a lot of things for which cars are better. Although as our cities get denser, the advantages are diminishing, and the younger generations are more likely to use alternative such as Uber. But more importantly, having a car doesn't stop people taking public transport when it's convenient.

You are right Aiden. I actually used one, or 2 in fact to go from Beenleigh up to Mooloolaba 5 years ago to pick up a car.

I left home at 6.00 AM, & after 2 trains & a $35 taxi ride, I got there at 12.15 PM. Cost all up $70.

Left Mooloolaba in said car at 12.45, & got home at 3.15, cost $26.

You can keep your public transport, just leave me out of funding the ridiculous taxpayer subsidies it requires.