"Most fall into the category social/recreational/educational that is about 77% of all trips taken" Don't believe a word of it. Sounds like more of those statistics plucked from thin air by academics, bureaucrats & greens. State the source if you want to be takes seriously.

Hassy; NSW Transport Statistics website.

"the sight of tens of thousands of public servants riding the obscenely highly subsidised public transport into their inner city "work" places, while those who pay their salaries are driving to work, paying huge taxes on their fuel to subsidise said public transport"

Hassy; Unless they have the words "PUBLIC SERVANT" tattooed on their foreheads, how do you know they are public servants?

State the source if you want to be taken seriously.

Haven't you noticed the smug, arrogant look of stupidity that public servants all develop within a few months of joining the free loaders society called the public service Paul? You can pick them a mile off. Besides no one but public servants, & those who cater to them travel into cities any more.

You can pick them from a mile off, by the glazed look in their eyes. Doing nothing all day can do that to almost anyone.

Then of course there is the smell, or should I say stink. It starts to offend real people who venture within miles of Canberra, or any luxury highrise in any city inhabited by these bludgers.

It is even worse at the lower level, in councils. While inflation has increased wages by about 80% in my time in my current home, all residents rates have increase by 525%. For this we have got absolutely nothing. In fact they have taken away one of the 2 half days our little library used to open, & closed our rubbish transfer station. Evidently it is more cost effective for hundreds to drive 20 Kilometres to another one, than run a truck 3 times a week.

What we have got is an expensive large new office block to house the 400 more staff, [they serve no one so can't be public servants], that are costing us so much.

Aidan, channel 10 or channel 7. Can't tell you which, as I pay little attention to what is supposed to pass as TV news today. Since it became mandatory for TV journalist presenters to have long straight blond hair, & boobs, I only see something like this, which caught my attention, while doing something else. My wife watches the garbage, & sometimes actually believes some of it.

Paul.
I think Aidan referred to people with a certain behaviour as morons, & not directly to you Paul. Those who don't want the best running of things like public transport. If you chose to put yourself into that group, it proves his point. If not, he was not referring to you.

Your point about fares on the "Airport Link" simply proves how ridiculous public transport has become. I can see no reason for people living many miles from any rail or bus transport, having to accommodate the full cost of transporting themselves, should subsidise others, just because they live near such "services". If the damn things can't cover their costs with fares, they should be thrown on the tip, where all other uneconomical things should be thrown. Governments have no place rewarding some people, simply because of where they live.

Nah Hassy, the only ones I can pick, are the silly old deluded blowhards who wouldn't have a clue. You should be familiar with that type, they are characterized by their negative opinions of all others who don't fit their social norm, women, gays, public servants etc, people who are not of their image, they consider are of no earthly good. You should be able to recognize them as they are prone to continually run off at the mouth.
If you put a mirror in your back yard, possibly such a type will eventually walk by and you too will be able to identify him, possibly by name.

Paul,
After the insults you hurled at my city, I'm glad I offended you. You're a hypocritical moron who can dish it out but can't take it!

As Hasbeen has already pointed out, it's not because you gave me facts that I regard you as a moron; it's because you don't want the best of both worlds, and I regard everyone with that view as morons, regardless of where they are on the political spectrum.

I suggest you reread my previous comments on this thread - if you do you'll see I'm VERY strongly against governments treating privatisation as a panacea. But the fact remains that private sector SOMETIMES finds significant efficiency gains that the the public sector does not. In the case of Adelaide's buses, there were significant savings from the private sector being better at handling industrial relations than the public sector was. In the case of Sydney Ferries, it was due to the government's unwillingness to allow long term investments to be made while it was under public sector control.

Regarding Sydney Ferries, your comprehension is very poor. The Sapere report for IPART had nothing to do with privatisation - the figure you refer to was their calculation of the externalities of running ferries compared to not running them. However I regard the report as rather shoddy, as it made no attempt to include the effects of ferry services on land value nor the economic effects of increased connectivity.

However, although that report was unrelated to privatisation, the NSW Audit Office investigated the effects of ferry service privatisation. You can find their report at http://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/ArticleDocuments/671/01_Franchising_Sydney_Ferries_Network_Services.pdf.aspx

As for the Airport Link, you claim the government was forced into the choices it took. Have you any evidence for that? Your claim that "the trains were running 92% empty" is very dubious, as the trains continued on to the East Hills line which was always in public ownership.

IMO the government should simply have bought the line when its owners were in financial trouble.

Some people don't seem to understand that Australia is a capitalist, private enterprise country. Governments are meant to make rules, regulate and protect. They have no business acumen whatsoever, and have no business being in business. They don't manage what they are supposed to be doing very well. Can anyone think of a single politician anywhere in Australia with an MBA?