We’re baaaack…and we’re still stuck at the station!
Monday, January 19th, 2009
Well, it’s nice to be back and good to see that the fake comments have taken off. I’ll out you later. So, where do we start?
It would be nice to introduce (again) my co-conspirator, my faithful manservant, Manuel. However, since Manuel and I both live in the once great state of Victoria, and as Manuel was dependent on catching a train on a day that peaked above 20 degrees, that won’t be happening! Ah, the wonderful Victorian Government. Someone once said that you get the governement that you deserve, but I’m not so sure about that. Who deserves a government that hasn’t quite worked out that if the planet burns up, you have nowhere to live!?
John Brumby, I believe, thinks the new TV show, Life On Mars, is actually a documentary and therefore a valid “plan B” (”plan A” is to continue treating the state like, um, we always have).
Perhaps you think I am being harsh (in that case, please grab a dictionary and look up the word “rant”…). Here is my take on the Vic Government’s attitude to the environment via its policy on public transport:
- Keep building roads. Roads themselves do NOT contribute to global warming. That is the fault of those people who feel that they must drive cars on the said roads.
- Keep NOT building public transport infrastructure.
- Make sure public transport - particularly trains - don’t run on time, are overcrowded (where are those Japanese guards with batons when you need them?), don’t run if Connex declares it is too “hot” (which is what they said about that scorching 26 degrees we had yesterday!), and certainly don’t build train stations where the growth corridor is occurring.
- Ignore calls for more trains and carriages…they just come from commuters who, after all, really aren’t experts at experiencing an efficient rail network. What would they know?
- Let people build huge ferris wheels as distractions, and put said ferris wheel near the road system to keep enforcing the “sublimial” message.
- Have the highest prices for public transport travel in the country (Puffing Billy is more economical*), and
- Ooooh, and spend millions on a new ticketing system that still isn’t in operation, has overblown its budget like Baz Luhrman, and still doesn’t work in trials.
It is a brilliantly subversive plan. At this rate, we’ll be able to drive to oblivion…
Rant over.
* a complete fabrication.