JamesX

At a time when public transport is getting such a bad wrap, this news only adds fuel to the fire. On Sunday June 3, fares on public transport will rise. It’s basically the normal CPI increase that happens each year, only this year it was delayed from March due to the whole train braking disaster.

The real question with all this is not why we have to increase the prices in line with the CPI, but why they are this expensive in the first place. To me, it seems ridiculous to pay nearly $10 for a daily ticket - especially when I’m only ever at uni for a few hours at a time. You wonder why there’s so much fare evasion - no one can afford the damn ticket prices. Has it occurred to anyone that if the prices were lowered, more people might actually buy a ticket?

The other question that has to be asked is where is all the money going? Connex claim that they money they make from ticket revenue doesn’t cover the costs of running the network, and they rely on a government subsidy to make up the difference. How is that even possible? Demand for public transport is at an all time high - with patronage up 20% over the last two years. You can barely squeeze on a train in peak hour nowadays and if there are this many people, paying higher prices than ever, how can you not cover your expenses? I just can’t work it out. At least I wont have to deal with it as much once I finish uni. It really is a sad state of affairs…

I’m bored right now sitting in the student lounge on level four waiting for my uni friends to join me. So for a change, and to fill in the time, I’m writing this on paper, so I can type it up later - scary considering I can’t read my own writing half the time. But we’ll see how it goes…

Last night I had an in depth discussion with Matt Kennedy about a lot of things, but what could broadly be described as “politics”. The fact is, politics are all around us in everything we do. Sometimes you don’t even notice it, but it’s always there. Nothing is more true than in the workplace. It’s a hard thing to describe but I suppose it’s a complex mix of emotions, power, private agendas and an overpowering sense of rules and regulations, forms and procedures. The Vogons off Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy spring to mind. I suppose it’s just one of life’s little mysteries that we all have to live with - one that is frustrating, and at the same time entertaining (when used in such a fashion!).

Anyway, the group is here now so I’ll have to continue this later… › Continue reading

It’s inevitable when you read as much as I do about infrastructure around Melbourne that certain themes emerge. There’s one word that sums it all up, and one word that can send shivers down any Melburnians’ spine… Connex. Now you read a lot of negative press about Connex, so much of it in fact, that you can’t possibly hope to read it all, but every now and then, a good story comes along.

The rest of my morning unfolded with a dull inevitability. I arrived at Seddon station in time for my 8.23 train, stood there until 8.35 in the sort of humidity more commonly associated with a Thai logging camp and, realising that the 8.23 would not be running, took a cab to work.

This excerpt is from The Age Opinion section last Thursday and it just about sums up what it means to put up with Connex. To a sceptical reader, you might presume this is a one off occurance, but I’d bet that almost everyone in this state has had an experience similar to this.

You can read the full article here.

I mentioned the other day about my latest gadget and now that I’ve had a few days to get accustomed to it, I have to tell the world about it. It is THE gadget of my collection. That says a lot, and probably sets the poor little thing up to fall, but seriously, this thing is totally awesome. In case you are completely unaware of what I’m referring to, because you perhaps didn’t read the title, or you had to look away from the picture because you felt inadequate, I’m talking about the BlackBerry 8100. It’s otherwise known as the BlackBerry Pearl because of it’s pearl-like scroll wheel in the centre of the keypad.

This thing is no ordinary phone, it’s a serious machine. It does all the usual things like making calls, and sending drunken text messages to your mates at 2am when you realise you have to work the next morning. But it goes further by combining real-time email, contacts and calendering to your corporate network (in this case GroupWise) and on top of that, throw in web browsing, server management, helpdesk management, instant messaging, full speech recognition, a 1.3 megapixel camera, and a whole host of other smaller knick nacks - it even plays DivX natively. What more do you want? If it had a hard drive, it could quite easily replace my iPod (hmm did someone mention an iPhone?)…

The phone itself is compact and extremely light - it’s much lighter than my Sony Ericsson k608i. Of course you don’t need a corporate server to connect it to, you can get it to check any old email account if you so desired. Anyway, for it’s price (something like $700), it’s a good piece of kit to have. It’s certainly going to come in handy over the coming months when I’m going to be working all those odd hours. I’ve already clocked up a high score of 8,090 on BrickBreaker (the built in game) which offers something else to do when you don’t have something to do.

Thanks Dean!

I don’t get fired up about public issues very often but this one is really starting to frustrate me - Water Restrictions. I was in a debate about it yesterday with Penelope and reading Chris’ latest entry, it reminded me that I need to vent about this. The fact is Stage 3 restrictions started on January 1 and they are going to be around for a very long while.

Now it’s no surprise that we have water restrictions in Melbourne, we’re in the worst drought in a long time, if not ever, but the way the whole situation is being handled is appaling. To me, the solution to this problem is really quite simple - you have to cut down on your water usage. That’s why we have the restrictions in the first place, but the problem is not with the restrictions themselves, but how breaches are handled. What is the point of fining someone for using too much water? They will inevitably do it again because effectively policing water wastage is near impossible and the act of wasting the water has already been committed.

Why then has no one looked at this from the other angle? Why not offer incentives to the general public to reduce water usage before restrictions even need to be brought into effect? It’s simple, it would cost the water companies money. But I’d argue it’s money well spent. Imagine if every time you opened your water bill it showed the usage this period (as it already does) and then sets you a usage target (or “water saving goal” if you like) for the next period. If you get below that goal you receive a reward, something as simple as a discount off your bill or some other incentive. Each time, the target is lowered, and you gradually save water. Surely this is a better alternative to promoting healthy water usage across Melbourne? This type of scheme would work in tandem with restrictions, but it would help reduce water wastage early, and negate the need to reach Stage 3 restrictions like we have now.

And who knows how long we’ll have these for? Pretty soon we’ll be at Stage 4, and then what? Something needs to be done.

Whether you were out on a yacht or just relaxing in the backyard with mates, I hope everyone had a great New Year’s Eve last night - I know I did (thanks for the party Stu). It’s scary to think that it’s 2007 already. The new milennium seems like a distant memory and 2006 just flew by. But we’re here now and there’s a lot of fun times ahead (I hope!). This coming year I will finally finish off my uni degree, turn 23, and who knows what else.

I’m back at work on the 5th so the holidays are rapidly coming to an end for me. It’s consequently the same night Marc’s having his 22nd so it looks like it’ll be a long day indeed. I’m off to watch some TV - today is going to be so counter-productive…