First letter
Melbourne, Australia (where I live) has a train system that's an absolute joke. Whole suburbs get cut off for entire days, half the peak-hour services get cancelled or significantly delayed, and crowds of people have been forced to walk along the tracks for kilometres in order to get to working stations in the last few months.
So I wrote to the transport minister as my first letter of the year.
Hon. Lynne Kosky, MP
Minister for Public Transport
Department of Transport
GPO Box 2797
Melbourne VIC 3001
Australia
Dear Ms Kosky
With carbon management and reduction one of the most significant concerns of the decade, the absolute need for a quality public transport system is likewise something which should be near the top of every transport authority's agenda.
While I recognise that Melbourne's train systems are not directly managed by the government, but rather a privately owned company, it's nevertheless your role to oversee the system in place and regulate its safety standards. I feel that Connex and associated organisations are failing to provide a reliable and safe train network to the point where government regulation is a necessity.
With workplace redundancies on the increase, people need to be able to assume that they'll be able to get to work in time, because otherwise they may be in danger of losing their job. People with a physical disability, such as myself, need to know that they'll be able to sit down for journeys of extended length, rather than stand in a crush of people. Right now, it's only the desperate who'd dream of catching the train regularly, and that means more cars on the roads. Until Melbourne's train systems are a viable alternative to private transport, we don't have a hope of meeting our clean energy goals.
With kind regards,
Mary Borsellino
So I wrote to the transport minister as my first letter of the year.
Hon. Lynne Kosky, MP
Minister for Public Transport
Department of Transport
GPO Box 2797
Melbourne VIC 3001
Australia
Dear Ms Kosky
With carbon management and reduction one of the most significant concerns of the decade, the absolute need for a quality public transport system is likewise something which should be near the top of every transport authority's agenda.
While I recognise that Melbourne's train systems are not directly managed by the government, but rather a privately owned company, it's nevertheless your role to oversee the system in place and regulate its safety standards. I feel that Connex and associated organisations are failing to provide a reliable and safe train network to the point where government regulation is a necessity.
With workplace redundancies on the increase, people need to be able to assume that they'll be able to get to work in time, because otherwise they may be in danger of losing their job. People with a physical disability, such as myself, need to know that they'll be able to sit down for journeys of extended length, rather than stand in a crush of people. Right now, it's only the desperate who'd dream of catching the train regularly, and that means more cars on the roads. Until Melbourne's train systems are a viable alternative to private transport, we don't have a hope of meeting our clean energy goals.
With kind regards,
Mary Borsellino