3 ms·

Australian cities do tend to have poor public transport, but I don't think the kind of issue you mention will go away, even as transport is improved. In London

Australian cities do tend to have poor public transport, but I don't think the kind of issue you mention will go away, even as transport is improved. In London you quite often have the same issue, and that's a city with excellent public transport coverage (albeit a much more populous city). I have a friend who lives only 5 miles from where I used to live, and transport between our places often involved 2-3 changes, and could easily take 1.5 hours. It's interesting you cited Melbourne, as I think it's the Aussie city generally considered as having the best public transport.

AndrewDavis 8y ago
Melbourne transport is fantastic in the CBD, or in the inner suburbs near a train stations that services multiple lines. Where Melbourne struggles is the services as you get out of the inner suburbs. Where the bus services can be a 10 min walk, don't run often enough which is then compounded by them running late so often it forces you to catch an earlier bus because you'll miss your train half the time. So you end up trying to catch a bus that's 20 mins earlier than what you need it to be if you could depend on it being timely. Which means you have to leave the house half an hour earlier than if you just drove to the station. However if you drive to the station most don't have sufficient parking. So if you aren't there by 6:30-7:00 am you can't get a park. If you're heading to the city then once you are at the station it isn't so bad. Unless you're on a line where there are no seats and can be forced to stand squished up against a bunch of people for 45 mins. But where the REAL pain is, is Melbourne's rail system is designed solely to get people in and out of the city. There is no outer loop. Meaning if you are in an say an eastern suburb and want to get to a south eastern suburb it requires going all the way into the city then back out again of a south eastern line. Take the trip from the eastern suburb Ringwood to the south eastern suburb Clayton. A non peak driving trip would take 30-35 minutes. A train trip, not including the time it takes to get to the train station is triple that. Even in peak times when you can get express trains and driving is congested it's still going to be faster to drive.

AndrewDavis 8y ago

Melbourne transport is fantastic in the CBD, or in the inner suburbs near a train stations that services multiple lines. Where Melbourne struggles is the services as you get out of the inner suburbs. Where the bus services can be a 10 min walk, don't run often enough which is then compounded by them running late so often it forces you to catch an earlier bus because you'll miss your train half the time. So you end up trying to catch a bus that's 20 mins earlier than what you need it to be if you could depend on it being timely. Which means you have to leave the house half an hour earlier than if you just drove to the station. However if you drive to the station most don't have sufficient parking. So if you aren't there by 6:30-7:00 am you can't get a park. If you're heading to the city then once you are at the station it isn't so bad. Unless you're on a line where there are no seats and can be forced to stand squished up against a bunch of people for 45 mins. But where the REAL pain is, is Melbourne's rail system is designed solely to get people in and out of the city. There is no outer loop. Meaning if you are in an say an eastern suburb and want to get to a south eastern suburb it requires going all the way into the city then back out again of a south eastern line. Take the trip from the eastern suburb Ringwood to the south eastern suburb Clayton. A non peak driving trip would take 30-35 minutes. A train trip, not including the time it takes to get to the train station is triple that. Even in peak times when you can get express trains and driving is congested it's still going to be faster to drive.