Furious and not fast

Someone in the transport company has decided to improve the bus and train services. A good thing you would think considering it is a huge area, and they are always trying to encourage people to use public transport to ease the congestion that rivals Los Angeles. Well it might have been if they hadn't decided to sync up our bus with the city train. That particular brain wave has resulted in some rather special flow on effects.

The issues it has created are in the weekend, not midweek where no doubt the passengers are relieved to only have to wait ages instead of half a life time. See in the weekend there are very few who travel to or from the city... its bloody miles even by Australian standards and there are great shopping centres closer to home. Unfortunately for the rest of us mere mortals who work end weeks it has added an extra hour to our travel.

In leaving a quarter of an hour earlier it means anyone working in those shopping centres now misses the bus and has to wait for the next one. All of this has taken the grand total for the days travel to three hours... to do a trip that in a car can be done in about 45 mins for the return trip. And they wonder why people don't use the transport systems if they can avoid it.

As a person who doesn't drive the only way around this little issue is to get off work half an hour early. Making one probably the first part time employee in history to go to their boss and say sorry... may one have less hours please? It also means that one will no longer be having a leisurely breakfast on Sunday morning... and he has just lost a very regular customer through no fault of his own.

Now, chatting to other workers who use that service we are all in the same boat. All of us are having to make the choice to stay at the centre or finish early and take the pay cut. Those who can are all taking the pay cut because if we stay, we end up either shopping or drinking coffee... all of which will use up that half hour of pay anyway. If you ask, all of us will find some way to pay for that pay cut and you can bet it is by spending less somewhere.

So thank you little bright spark at the transport company... who obviously works 9-5 weekdays. You have managed to do so much for the public and the local economy.