Tuesday, January 3, 2012

The Case For And Against Public Transport!

Without any form of public transport how would our local area, Western Sydney, Sydney, NSW and Australia cope? This is what I would like to present to you case for and the cases against which doesn't stand a chance. In fact, maybe not in my life tome, you may have more public transport commuters in our Australian society compared to private vehicles.

Public transport provides the missing community link, that is needed  and required whilst providing essential services connecting to services like trains, buses, taxis carpooling and cycling modes of transport.

Well, a lot of people may not have understood why there is a case of having public transport - well there are many humanly valid reasons for having it: that is we all know we will use it one day and that one day could be in the not so distant future.

If everyone could afford to travel by private transport then we would have,  an drowning economy that exhaust fuel availability. Eventually there will be fuel shortages that we will have to have and costs of private transport would be  increase and be exorbitant. Not everyone can afford to go to work, friends, family, shopping  or entertainment places by private car and public transport can be the  most simple, economical way of reaching these destinations. On the lower end of the income brackets of society, public transport justifies the means for having it. Yet it is more economical the medium and higher income bracket, yet a majority of these have use of their own private vehicles.

When we look at worldwide countries, some countries do no have public transport as they may not be as developed as countries like Australia or other developed countries. Australia in itself is a vast country of  land and a well developing country with a current growing population of approx. 22.7 Million, which has  Federal, State and local government that support public transport to assist the needy. What we  haven't done in Western Sydney and maybe Sydney is promote public transport for overseas visitors, as we haven't got a recognised public transport system that is economical, efficient, reliable with friendly transport officers.

It doesn't take a genius that in common developed countries there is a public transport system and infrastructure that benefits not only government but the people as well, where populations are also well established. Is lesser developed country  this may not be able to occur.

When it comes to responsibility of public transport infrastructure and plans it comes to each state or territory Government with the support of planning  transport officers and assistance of each Local Government Areas. The expanse of these projects  depends each areas government purses that is; that is allowable budget expenses.

For Countries, States and Local Government there are strategies put in place that ensure essential public transport makes the community more connected: people can go to and from job interviews, jobs do their shopping, visit their friends, doctors, lawyers, politicians, religious organisations, reaching voluntary organisations for service, and pay theirs bills all at a reasonable cost (subsidised by the Government), travelling as a passenger in a relaxed environment. At the same time, you meet other community members and catch up with each with conversation. All these provide a stronger and better economy, keeping the country, state and local running as a forefront in public transport.

As public transport patronage increases, so should the amount of services improve as well. We do not seem to get this happening at present. Without employment within the public transport industry, the unemployment rate would increase - thus this is vital in any planning strategy even with new technological changes reducing employment factors. Whether governments do this is entirely on popularity demand/voting pressure against bureaucratic red-tape, name blaming ( finger pointing) and finally funding the costs.

Bringing up the balance of social justice, meeting community needs means that public transport demands justifies the community needs, especially in a growing demand of public transport. According to Governments need public transport to be justified  for providing the service, required but are guided by transport stakeholders: Local Government Area, New South Wales for Transport, Transport an/or community groups and other relevant.

One thing that gets me personally, when I travel on public transport and I see on the road 10-12 cars driving on the road with no passengers - what a waste! That means for one person times 10 or 12 we are wasting fuel when cars can take from 4 - 5 passengers - that means at least 2-3 cars instead of up to 12 cars - fuel saving etc or even better less cars  could means some of those drivers would catch public transport.

As a commuter: you do not have to worry of flat tyres, refuelling, maintenance of vehicles, traffic lights and even other traffic on the roads. This leaves you to enjoy your trip as comfortable as it is  - ensuring that you have a have trip to your end destination.

The Verdict:


The case for: Yes


The case against: No

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

If everyone could afford to travel by private transport then they would have, an drowning economy that exhaust fuel availability.

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