Travel Times...

The most recent survey results (Household Travel Survey 2008 / 2009) on travel times for workers in Sydney highlights that on average Sydney workers spend about 32 minutes on the train in order to get from their homes to their offices. Meanwhile, those taking the bus get there a little quicker with the average being 23 minutes.

Nah, too bad they did not survey me. It takes me, on average, 2.5 hours to get from my house to campus (on the days that I go to campus. I am sure I might have skewed the survey a little bit. The reality is that it would be so much quicker to drive, but also so much more expensive. As a student, I can travel on a concession fare and this means I pay about AUD 28.50 for a weekly ticket (My Multi 3). The beauty of a weekly ticket is that it allows me to travel on all trains, buses and ferries. So, I pretty much can get to wherever I want.

The other parts of the survey dealt with safety, comfort, and service frequency satisfaction. The results here were  probably as expected, but nothing to write home about. On the comfort front, only 62% of respondents responded positively. The figure for service frequency was an improving 77%, which seems pretty good considering the last couple of times I have caught the train it has been late.

The survey was encouraging in that it shows a decline in the number of people driving to work. This has to be encouraging because it should mean that there are less cars on the road and consequently less traffic. This in turn should translate to less pollution and presumably a smaller carbon footprint?

I have been a public transport person from the day I returned to the land downunder. I do not own a car so public transport is the best option, and most cost efficient, available. I am wondering though whether this can continue when I am posted / placed way out west in NSW as a high school teacher? Maybe I will live close enough to work that I can walk!

Indian Students In Australia -- Not All Good News...

The idea that Indian students in Australia are always the victims of senseless crimes is one that does not always hold true. This is a case in point.

Two Indian citizens who are in Australia on student visas, Sukhjinder Singh and Amarjit Singh, have been charged with sexually assaulting a 17-year-old girl who was asleep on a train travelling from Melbourne to Sydney. This is a train I have travelled on frequently in my youth when I went to Hurlstone Agricultural High School as a boarder.

The girl awoke to find the two Indians attempting to restrain her. They apparently restrained her long enough to sexually assault her. Sometime during the assault the girl managed to break free and notify train staff of the assault. The train staff radioed ahead to police and police met the train at Goulburn railway station and arrested the two men.

Neither of the accused entered a plea at their hearing and both were remanded in custody until the matter is to be heard again on 16 September 2009. At this hearing both are expected to make applications for bail. It is likely that bail will be granted with strict conditions. I would be guessing those strict conditions would include surrendering travel documents and reporting to police at least several times a week.

The moral of this story, if there is one, is that visitors to this fine land are not always victims of racial taunts and other types of vilification, but are in fact perpetrators of crimes against citizens of this fine land. Simply, those that take advantage of and abuse visitors to Australia, irrespective of what those visitors are doing here must be punished. Similarly, visitors who come to this fine land must understand that they too will be punished in accordance to the law.

Just ask Schapelle Corby what that means.

Trains -- A Spray for Discipline

Discipline and riding trains always brings to mind vivid memories of over-crowded trains and punters taking their lives into their own hands by riding on the roof. I guess compared to hanging out of the door of a moving train and having to contend with all of the track side dangers makes riding on the roof a relatively safe option. Well, at least as safe as riding on an open roof with live electricity wires carrying 1000s of volts can be.

In this very important 'train riding discipline month' being run by the State Rail carrier, PT. Kereta Api Indonesia, people without valid tickets and roof-riders are being fined between IDR 7,500 and IDR 25,000 for their indiscretions. The transportation officers are also confiscating identification cards which is an even bigger hassle than the fine as life in Indonesia is always dependent on having identification. Confiscated identity cards are almost never returned to the owner without the payment of a "facilitation" fee. And it is the facilitation fees that drive the continuance of this practice.

Nevertheless, it is the roof-riders that are in for the most fun. It has been decided that they are too difficult to catch if they refuse to come down from the train roof voluntarily. So, the answer is to spray them with a coloured dye that will allow them to be caught later and fined accordingly.

But as is common in Indonesia this is just another revenue raising venture that does not address the underlying core reasons for people breaking the law; simply there are not enough trains running frequently enough during the peak periods to cater for the demand. If you want to stop people riding on the roof of a train then the obvious answer would be to provide extra carriages so that they have a safe environment to sit in. Alas another example of putting the cart before the horse...