Perhaps this year I should rename my blog to the “Rumblings of a grumpy old man”. There are a lot of things that frustrate me at the moment.
Let’s take this photo of the blond girl waiting for a bus. The frustration and impatience on her face reflects that of many people. Transport in Sydney is rapidly deteriorating. It does not matter if you are traveling by bus or train. My weekly train ticket was today $2 more than last week. Was the train any faster, on time or less congested? NO! In fact, the government is telling us we should accept that the overcrowding on trains will increase from currently acceptable 4% to 17%. Lovely! I can see, especially during summer, all the people fainting due to lack of oxygen or too high temperatures in an overcrowded carriages.
During seventies when the first major fuel crisis occurred many people switched their means of transport to motorcycles and scooters. They take far less fuel and are easier to park as they simply occupy less space. And in the city where most people travel to work by themselves it would make a perfect sense as opposite of bringing in your family sized sedan or 4WD (SUV).
With fuel prices setting new records now on weekly basis could this trend occur again? Well, if you look at this photograph of a long row of parked motorcycles you will know it has already started. Only few months ago you would see perhaps a third of these bikes in this particular location. more …
Only few months ago I have mentioned that scooter sales must be the fastest growing transport business in Sydney. Just over half a year later you can see them everywhere. Parked tightly next to each other in side alleys like in this photograph or in special motorcycle provided parking stations. However, their numbers are still overwhelmed by number of cars in the city. I guess our wet summer is not always encouraging to drive a scooter to work.
To a European there is probably nothing special in this capture of a woman riding her bicycle through streets of Paris. However, here in Australia unless it is a mountain or race bike you never see the “normal” old fashioned bicycle used as every day transport.
