Ben Kraal

Jason Whittaker in the New Matilda, on the poor state of public, and private, transport in Australian cities:

[A]s many disgruntled cabbies rightly argue (as we while away the time stuck in Sydney’s abominable traffic, the meter ticking over furiously), you can’t expect people to leave their cars in the garage if you don’t provide an effective alternative. In the Harbour City it’s hard to know what’s worse: the long, crawling car commute, or a packed, predictably late train (which you had to drive to the station to catch anyway). About three quarters of the commuting population choose the lesser of two evils and sit behind the wheel, according to the latest figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics. You can’t really blame them.