Author and Celebrant: Here It comes. There it goes.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Here It comes. There it goes.

It seems to me that powers that be take years to acknowledge a problem, and then even more years to tackle it, and then, after the committee takes over, the result is not quite what was expected.

Take the train from Redcliffe to Brisbane for instance. I think it might have been on the books for about 130 years. And when it eventually arrived in 2016 no one was happy. The people of Redcliffe had imagined a quick trip over the bridge which would take minutes to reach the Brisbane inner city suburbs where people from Redcliffe travel to work. The powers that be made in an inland trip instead. Useless to many Redcliffe residents who work in Brisbane and still an hour trip to get to the inner city.

To connect with the train you need a bus. However, as soon as the train came to Redcliffe some bus services were cut or minimised. So at times, if you are totally dependent on public transport– and one would think that would be the idea – you find no connecting buses either to the train station or from the train station.

Powers that be are disappointed at the lukewarm response to their train. Apparently they expected a flood of passengers as soon as the train arrived.

Recently I was catching a 694 bus. It’s only one of the buses whose services have been shortened since the arrival of the train. On this Friday morning it was supposed to arrive at 10:35 in Sutton Street, Redcliffe. A bus did go past around that time but it had an ‘Out of Service’ sign so, needless to say, the three of us waiting there didn’t bother to wave at it. However, fifteen, twenty minutes later the gentleman beside me mused as to whether the bus driver had forgotten to change the sign – as apparently sometimes does happen – and the “Out of Service’ bus was actually our 694 bus. Because our 10:35 694 bus never did arrive. We waited the half hour for the next one.

Most of us agree that good public transport is invaluable. It would be cheap – unlike parking in the city where you work. It would be convenient. It would help the environment.

But it should be predictable and all embracing. What is the use of a train when you still have to take your car to get to the station because the bus that you could have taken has been cut?

And what is the use of a bus service where the bus may – or may not - arrive when it’s expected.