The cost of Fuel

Nice. Is that Mick? Or is it just some dude?

It is indeed the Mick.

dun worrie guyz. i got the shop fever 2

So apparently the new environmental taxes will end up costing us a packet, and on top of that- train and bus fares will go up as well... why is it that i'll be punished for doing the right thing and using public transport?

surely if they want us to stop driving everywhere, the bus system must get cheaper and, well, more comprehensive- if i want to get to Marc's place, it's cheaper (not to mention easier) to drive, and i live right next to Asquith station!

There is clearly a big flaw in our transit system!

and now the scroll function on my touchpad has disabled itself!

Buses just completely suck in this city. The trains aren't so bad, but once you get past Hornsby, it's half an hour between trains, and it costs like 3 bucks to go between one station (return).

You know their justification for raising transport costs? Polls have shown that the average income for a weekly ticket holder is $75 000 - $100 000 or something. (my source on this is a half-remembered article from a few months ago, so grain of salt.) Nobody bloody asked me how much I make, cornsarnit.

Yes, Public transport does suck it! Just the other day I saw on the Televisill that they were building some new transit lane lane across this bridge (or something) that would exclusively allow only buses (I think) across it. I thought "that sounds pretty good", and then they went on to discuss how now they were watering it down and it would only be in one direction instead of two and crap crap crap, have you seen that new ABC show Hollowmen? Kinda reminded of that.

Also that scroll function gag was great, Glen. Great! Sounds like you're not having a good time. It's harder than you think being Glen.

Oh man i wish i earned that sort of sauce... even when they upgrade my pay in a couple of weeks, i'll be in the bottom tax bracket.

at least i got a slight increase from the newest tax breaks.

on an unrelated topic- a weekly ticket from Asquith to Pymble costs me around $30, plus a bus ticket to the church is around $1.50 each way- putting this together means i'm spending around $40 a week on public transport. Or i can spend around $40 a week on petrol to get to and from work- which takes less time and is less likely to involve me standing the whole way. Who in our illustrious state government is paying even the slightest attention to the real facts and figures in relation to transport!

Lower the bloody price you muppets... Trevor, tell me about town planning!

What gag- it just stopped working halfway thru reading the BBC's Football transfer rumors... btw Marc- looks like Man U REALLY want Berbatov
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Edit

It just started working again... weird.

That's messed up...it costs me $37 for a weekly between feckin' Mt Colah and Wynyard.

I think the actual cost is like $27- but $30 sounded way harsher!

Costs $50 for a weekly travelpass (train/bus/ferry) from Hornsby to Central, but I do get it for a cool $25... getting the sweet-action, student discount. That is something they've done, I guess.

Student discount is good- but i don't think it goes far enough, $25 a week X maybe 40 weeks= $1000. now imagine you're a student living out of home, so that's about $150/week rent, then there's food (maybe $50/week) i honestly think students should get the travel stuff included on their student card.

on the subject of travel cards- Hong Kong has a really sweet system that's similar to our e-tags, they have these cards (picture something the size of 2 credit cards stuck together) which handily fit in your wallet, it's linked to an account so all you do is get off the train at your stop, swipe your wallet over the turn-style thingy and it's charged to the account.

How much easier would travel (especially getting off trains at busy stations like Town Hall) if we had this system in place? I think the same cards also act as their e-tag equivalent, which would make it easier to see where public transport is needed most. Thoughts?

Yes, I've heard of that system, sounds sweet. And i heard how they were thinking of implementing it here... then they didn't, and spent thousands of dollars buying some old cruddy dilapidated throw-away bus ticket machines from Queensland buses(?) — this is NSW — which they were throwing away, and repairing them!!

George is getting upset!

Glenjamin wrote:on the subject of travel cards- Hong Kong has a really sweet system that's similar to our e-tags ...

Yeah but in Hong Kong it's fairly likely you'll get raped on the subway system. Without exaggeration, I can say that this is WHOLLY because of the swipe card system.

Also yeah, we get a travel pass but it's not like we can just cruise anywhere. Basically it gets me to work for freebies.

and you're right, we're not supposed to receive gifts because of our job, but there are exceptions to that rule. I think the free train travel to work dealie is around because 1: It's just one state organisation utilising another, and 2: Because we don't really get a choice over our place of work. We're put where the police force needs us most. We get a say in the matter, but it's not always heeded.