Melburnians have to travel a long way to see what public transport is like in the 21st century.
After repeated delays,trams are finally set to start carrying passengers along the 12-kilometre line through the heart of Sydney’s second CBD.
The Victorian government and the company building its $1.7 billion new public transport ticket system are locked in an acrimonious legal stand-off which has threatened to derail the rollout of a long-awaited myki replacement.
Venice’s brutal modernisers did not want to rebuild their collapsed bell tower. The city persevered,as should Sydney with its long-lost people movers,the trams.
Calls to expand Melbourne’s free tram zone to landmarks and inner suburbs have been shot down by transport advocates who say paying commuters are being crowded out.
The state government says the new contract includes strict benchmarks,but user advocates say it’s up to the government to deliver the network’s most pressing upgrades.
The plans from a consortium behind the city’s light-rail network include about 21 stops along the new route.
Tram drivers and other operational staff will stop work for four hours on Wednesday during peak periods as part of industrial action.
For almost a century,two sections of Melbourne’s sprawling tram network have passed tantalisingly close together outside Queen Victoria Market but never joined. That is to change.
Advocates have presented their Sydney Road wish list to the Victorian government,saying the delay is an opportunity for major change before the Upfield line is ripped up.