This morning I handed out EcoTransit News at Wolli Creek Station. I was by myself (the station has only one entrance) and I got rid of 350 papers between 7.10 and 8.50. For the very first time I encountered a Metro supporter. A sleek young bloke in a suit who refused a paper muttered "The Metro's alright" as he hurried in. Probably an ALP staffer.

Handing out the paper at railway stations, you can't help but notice the extraordinary amount of informal "park-and-ride" that's sprung up over the last couple of years. Go to any Sydney station where unrestricted parking is available within 400 metres and you'll see what I mean.

I was handing out at Tempe Station this morning. The dust storm lent a biblical aspect to the whole exercise. Excellent response from the public, many of whom were swathed about the face with scarves or wearing dust masks. Yesterday I did Sydenham station where a couple of us handed out 500 papers in just over an hour.

The 'Stop the metro madness' campaign officially kicked off this morning. I was handing out the newspaper at Parramatta station with other EcoTransiters and I can report that we got an entirely positive response ... except for an officious CityRail manager who threatened trouble and directed our people onto Westfield turf where the Westfield security people tried to herd them back onto CityRail property. In the end they just stood on the dividing line ... which seemed to satisfy both sides.

Lots of people asked for a few copies and the usual description of the CBD Metro was "crazy" or "mad" or "nuts".

I personally came across three people who had got the paper at Mt Druitt and thanked us for our effort.

Re: The Age - Ghost trains predicted as study challenges figures

Negative implications? What? So is the transport economist another profession to be earmarked for the salt mines then? Or is Mr Odgers another member of the car lobby?

Apart from M's point about ignorance of peak oil, this is another example of the negative, narrow, passive, lie-back-and-accept-it thinking here that totally misses the point.

Re: Epping Chatswood Rail Line lighting troubles

While I agree with T's summary of why things have gone pear-shaped with PT in Australia and US in past decades, I do get irritated by defeatism and negativity. I find living in a place where these things are fast and being speeded up even further very much to my liking, thanks.

Living in a city with a good metro system I can vouch for how exceptionally good a good one (not London!) can be. But the overwhelming fact that presents itself is the population density supporting the metro. Here you are looking at acreages of 4-6 storey (and higher further out) apartment buildings. While I support metros in principle in Sydney as a transportation system I just can't see the current urban structure supporting the investment.

Re: Tracking the Cost
http://www.theage.com.au/national/tracking-the-cost-20090612-c67m.html?p...

Typical Australian kneejerk stuff. Crossing with boom gates is fine in many cases. But you see, with a bridge, road users get a nice unimpeded crossing of the railway at the expense of the rail project.

Interesting to see the respect accorded both level crossings (lots of them in countryside) and trams here in Czech Republic. Totally different mentality.

I see a truck has driven into the side of a tram in Adelaide. Ah good old Oz - gotta love it!

Cheers!

In fact the trolleybus is metamorphosing apace in Europe where it is
increasingly no longer tied to being its own discreet system and is evolving
into a replacement for the diesel bus. I saw a couple of examples of such
vehicles at the Skoda works - the 15Tr which is a trolleybus with its own
diesel generator (which could just as easily be a gas generator). The idea is
that you run under the wires on the main core of the system, then you leave the
wires to run to suburban termini etc., just as diesel buses do. In other words