Last weekend, a ninety minute round trip privately ballooned to a six and a half hour public transport tour.
Only buses ran in the city CBD.
A simple Train to Bus trip became Train to Train To Bus to Bus and return.
Happens in rural NSW too, as Debnam notes, and Iemma ignores.
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Shadow Minister for Transport Barry O’Farrell said today Labor’s neglect of CountryLink had resulted in the Government spending more than $1.6 million transferring passengers onto buses in the first four months of 2006.
“The Government has been forced to spend more on replacement buses for the first four months of 2006 than they did for entire year of 2005,” Mr O’Farrell said.
“Freedom Of Information documents show scores of passengers are being shunted onto buses due to derailments, missed connections, late trains, mechanical failures and reservation errors,” he said.
“The bill for replacement buses has blown out to more than $4 million dollars in a little over two years.
“Since 2004 CountryLink has spent nearly eight times as much on emergency buses compared to buses hired for planned trackwork.
“More rural and regional train passengers are being herded off trains onto buses, causing further delays and inconvenience for CountryLink customers.
“Rural and regional residents are travelling by bus when they’ve paid to travel by train – it’s little wonder people are avoiding public transport.
“CountryLink patronage has fallen by 750,000 passengers, or 30%, over the last eight years.
“Labor’s neglect of rural rail services has resulted in more train travellers being stranded by the tracks waiting for buses.
“Until Labor commits to maintaining and improving regional rail services, more people will end up on buses resulting in more people avoiding train travel,” Mr O’Farrell said.
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