So this morning when it took me 1 hr 40mins to travel 20km (from my childhood home in the northern beaches 'burbs to Darling Harbour) I am reminded of those years of uni when I had to endure this hellish shit 4-5 days a week, 5 years, return journey...
And I'm reminded of the #1 thing I hate about Australia and that is lack of urban planning. How could this country be so utterly SHIT at urban planning? The whole city (Well Sydney and Melbourne at least) and country is a mess.
We build these big huge houses on big huge pieces of land and have shops and amenities in only a FEW places, forcing almost everyone to drive to get anything done...
And the history of designing residential areas goes like this: 1) build huge houses on huge blocks of land,
2) oh shit, we've run out of space, so let's subdivide that land and build 2 houses on one block of land or townhouses,
3) oh shit, we've run out of space again, tear down houses or townhouse and build blocks of units 3-4 storeys high,
4) a decade or so later, oh shit, we've run out of space again, build units 4-10 storeys high,
5) oh shit we've run out of space again, built units 10-20 storeys high... Now in some suburbs they don't go through all of these steps, they might go from 1 to 4 in one jump, but the process is more or less then same.
2) oh shit, we've run out of space, so let's subdivide that land and build 2 houses on one block of land or townhouses,
3) oh shit, we've run out of space again, tear down houses or townhouse and build blocks of units 3-4 storeys high,
4) a decade or so later, oh shit, we've run out of space again, build units 4-10 storeys high,
5) oh shit we've run out of space again, built units 10-20 storeys high... Now in some suburbs they don't go through all of these steps, they might go from 1 to 4 in one jump, but the process is more or less then same.
Meanwhile, as usual, this increases the traffic exponentially, and there are not enough parking spaces in these new apartments, and nowhere to park on the street either in most of these high density suburbs.
At the same time, public transport rarely gets better and if it does, it takes decades for anything to actually happen (look at the Chatswood to Epping line which took 15 years or some shit like that)...
And let's go to the CBD where they just keep building more and more skyscapers and taller and taller, increasing the number of companies and employees who have to work there, and yet as usual, public transport is not good enough to keep up..
And even if it does get better... one only needs to look at ALL the buses coming onto and off the harbour bridge into Wynyard to see what a fucking catastrophic nightmare it is.
Yes, people do use public transport to get to work in the city, all the buses are CRAMMED full of people (some people have to stand for 30mins or more) but when the buses get to Wynyard there are all merging into one lane, one FUCKING road.
And where buses used to go to QVB they don't anymore... because there is nowhere for them to park! They talked about building an underground bus station years ago but like 99% of public transport plans nothing ever gets done because the car loving, fat lazy middle-aged politicians who sit in their cars and have taxpayers pay for their car, petrol and parking don't give a fucking crap...
Housing and street planning is shit, public transport is shit.. I know they are trying but it seems a little too late..
I know everyone thinks that if you don't like public transport you should just drive... driving is shit. Who likes sitting in traffic? who likes spending ages waiting for a free parking spot? who likes paying by the hour for a parking spot? And you're polluting the environment (if anyone actually cares about that) AND fucking up your health and your back by being lazy and never walking anywhere.
Meanwhile I used to think Sydney's public transport was bad until I realised that Melbourne's is even more shite.
Reasons Why Melbourne's public transport sux:
1. The card scanners don't work. You need to scan your card like 4 times before it actually registers. There is not enough time to scan it on a tram. One time the driver just drove off and I missed my stop while trying to get the fucking thing to work. Now I scan it a whole stop before I need to get off.
One time I exited a station with Gru and he got out, but I couldn't get out because the machine told me I hadn't scanned my card in at entry! I so did! At least I thought I did.. but obviously I didn't scan it 4 times for it to register?! Luckily there was a staff member there who let me out.
One time I exited a station with Gru and he got out, but I couldn't get out because the machine told me I hadn't scanned my card in at entry! I so did! At least I thought I did.. but obviously I didn't scan it 4 times for it to register?! Luckily there was a staff member there who let me out.
2. The signage on trams and buses are crap (but no better in Sydney). I tried to follow along with a 'map' in a tram before realising it did not list every stop. I could follow/guess stops by the numbers but the announcement did not announce the numbers! Took me 15 mins to realise I was travelling in the wrong direction because I couldn't follow the fuck I. was going.
Note that I have used public transport in some of the world's most populous cities such as London, Paris, Rome and Tokyo and Seoul and NOT gotten this lost as I did in Melbourne!! I also got lost during my last trip in May.
3. The toilets are locked at stations... why?! What's the point of having toilets that are locked? during the daytime??? Reminds me of France...
4. There is not a single (official) map which shows BOTH the train and tram stops together.
5. Where tram maps exist they do NOT show every single stop. WTF? I've gotten so lost and fed up I usually just end up walking.
6. How many stops have both a train station and a tram stop? How do I find the answer to such a simple question???
7. If you use the website to search/plan your journey, and want to see a map, it forces you to download a PDF! And if you want to see your starting point, transfer point and end point you need to download 3 PDFs.. wtf? and none of them are 'live' maps..
8. Unlike Sydney and Brisbane, it does not have an airport rail line with no plans to build one (well, maybe in 50 years' time when I won't care anymore and probably won't be living there...) That being said, the Skybus service is actually not bad once it's on the freeway but getting onto the freeway is still a fucking nightmare due to shitty traffic.
I was sure I could think of 10 things but I can only think of 8 now so I'll stop there.
On the plus side: Melbourne's daily rate is capped at $8.20 unlike Sydney's ridiculous $15?
Melbourne's trains and train stations are nowhere near as crowded as Sydney's.
Melbourne has way more trams and trams are always better than buses!
On the plus side: Melbourne's daily rate is capped at $8.20 unlike Sydney's ridiculous $15?
Melbourne's trains and train stations are nowhere near as crowded as Sydney's.
Melbourne has way more trams and trams are always better than buses!
It's been really fucking hard to find a suburb to live in in Melbourne as it really is much smaller and 'slower' shall we say, than Sydney. It really feels like how Sydney looks 20 years ago to be honest .. at least the suburbs do.
I just wanted a suburb which has a train station and a mall and nice restaurants/cafes much like Chatswood and Parramatta (and many other suburbs in Sydney such as Strathfield, Burwood, Hurstville, Bondi Junction, etc). Now I'm ok with not having a mall as long as it has the basic necessities such as a supermarket, post office, bank, pharmacy, newsagent, bakery, etc. all within walking distance. In Sydney there are soooooo many more suburbs like this than in Melbourne. and you can tell these are the suburbs that are in demand because these are the suburbs with 10+ storey apartments... However there are very few suburbs in Melbourne with high-rise apartments, probably only 3? or so compared to probably 10x that amount in Sydney. The 'in demand' walkable suburbs in Melbourne only have apartments that are no more than 3-4 storeys.. which is a dumb idea... I know all the greenies say no to high density but the reality is that is the future... If you want your huge piece of land, go live in the countryside. Meanwhile a decade later they are going to realise (just like in Sydney) 3-4 storeys is not enough and keep building higher and higher...
Don't get me wrong.. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I'm devastated that culture, heritage is being destroyed by these fucking developers, but on the other hand, our population is growing too fast and there is a real need for more affordable housing for those of us not lucky enough to get into the real estate market 20 years ago or 30,40,50,60 years ago.
Btw for those who thinks that everyone wants to live in a huge multi-storey house on a big piece of land, that's simply not true. I've read that more and more yuppies are shunning this and more and more empty nesters (of which the sector in the community is growing due to the elderly living longer) are wanting either single storey homes with no steps, or apartments close to hospitals and amenities.
And speaking of hospitals.. I can't help but think of that fucking gigantic hospital that's being built here.. in a fucking stupid location, in one of the biggest traffic bottlenecks not only in the suburb but in the northern beaches lga... it will increase traffic enormously and meanwhile the bus services are no better than they were 20 years ago (when I wrote countless letters to complain and make suggestions) when I was going to uni.. public transport in the area is shite and practically non-existent and they obviously haven't planned for the fact that the traffic will be even more of a nightmare than it already is (remember I had to endure 5 years of peak hour traffic in that hellish intersection)... and I will make an educated guess that however many car spaces they've built won't be enough in a few years if not earlier.
Don't they realise that not all old people can drive anymore? Not all pregnant ladies want to drive? what about younger people without licences visiting other family members? All of these people who rely on this shitty sporadic almost always late bullshit bus service or have to walk 500m from the bus stop to the hospital because there are not enough stops.. have they thought about that? OMFG it makes my blood boil at the lack of planning and forethought. Newsflash: Not every person in the world owns a car and has a licence! (and even if they do maybe they don't want to pay $10/hour for parking!)
OK I could go on and on forever... I know nobody cares about the topic but me.. but I needed to have a rant.
Related articles: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-05/retrofitting-our-cities-forces-us-to-live-with-planning-failures/8874482
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