I was prompted last night by a bearded Dwarf wearing a bucket that I should write something about the proposed 6% increase of train fares and my stout friend was in deed looking forward to my rant about the hypocrisy of it all...
But, to disappoint him and other Dwarfs, I am actually ambivalent to it... in my personal experiences trains have improved marginally. The new timetable does seem to work for my trains (and I cant speak for all lines) but the Mountain trains are reliable. They leave on time and they have arrived on time in what I would consider reasonable accuracy.
In addition, as long as the fare increases go back into further improving reliability and other aspects such as security and cleanliness, then I dont mind the increase. Train drivers, like anyone else, need pay increases to cope with the Howard Governments core promise of keeping interest rates low (except the 5 times that they went up) and to be honest, I am not ranting on about the trains like I used to.
So, fair pay for fair return of infrastructure.
Now that I have said this, my next train ride will be un-airconditioned, will run 30mins late and the driver will miss my stop....
