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Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

Turnbull MP, population, and state politics

posted Sunday 25 July 2010
Malcolm Turnbull MP, a long term defender of good public transport, repeated his call in his Sydney Morning Herald column of 23 July 2010. The piece was an extract of his address to the Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils' national population summit. APT responded with a letter to the editor, which he declined to publish. Here's our letter-

Dear Sir,

We probably all benefit now that Malcolm Turnbull has reverted to being just a local MP, where he can more readily express his wisdom, as he did yesterday on urban density and the paucity of Sydney's public transport ("Before we bring in the masses, we need the transit", Herald July 23).

The state government will challenge him, of course, citing for example the eight additional "Metrobus" routes to be introduced before the March 2011 election (Herald, July 21). Again, however, an innovative service improvement is to be compromised by political imperatives. In the rush to implement the new buses, the iconic features which initially distinguished Metrobus (faster travel using pre-paid fares and traffic light priority, quality on-board information......) have been, and will further be, compromised. The public interest would have been better served by a more measured roll-out of new Metrobus services, thereby retaining the simplicity and uniqueness of a superior service.

For those considering alternatives to the private car, Sydney's bus network is about to become even more confusing than it now is, and all because of politics.

Yours sincerely, etc.



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