I’ve complained about public transport quite a lot and I refuse to stop being as vocal as I can about its mediocrity, yet I still use it a fair bit because I think that public transport should be supported in any way possible.

There’s certainly something that can be said for not using Sydney’s public transport until it improves. I think that it is a good way to show that it’s not working because using alternatives that work better generally make people turn around and re-think how something should operate.

It is unfortunate that that isn’t always an option for others, so the next best way (in my opinion) is to keep using it and be as vocal as possible about what is wrong with how it is operating, as well as not having much of a choice in other forms of transport.

Public transport is a really good idea and allowing it to accommodate as many people as possible at as cheap a rate as possible is generally great incentive for more people taking advantage of what it offers.

To be quite frank, for what you get, Sydney’s public transport is overpriced. Services have improved quite a lot over the last ten years (with some areas having no shortage of options and little to no worry about missing something and having to wait for a while), but they are still nowhere near as good as they’re made out to be, with delays still being overly common, buses that are a part of the timetable never showing up because it’s the weekend or the middle of the day and services not being frequent enough in areas where they’re needed, among many other problems.

On top of this, removing things such as the free trips with Opal (the electronic ticket system for Sydney), a major incentive for many for using Sydney’s public transport and replacing it with an inferior reduced price option (originally it was that after eight trips you would ride for free for the rest of the week and now it is that after eight trips you pay half price for the remainder [Sundays are capped at $2.50 for the whole day and this still applies]), with the possibility of the decision partly driven by the loss of money that was incurred due to free trips, which shouldn’t actually be something taken into consideration if more people are using the transportation available due to the incentive offered.

Perhaps if a loss in the millions is a problem that you have, then perhaps you should look at if you’re recklessly spending money instead of putting the costs back on the commuter because it seems as though the “loss” wasn’t really affecting the development and improvement of the public transport.

If many people are using the services provided, that’s good. It’s good because it gives an idea of how to develop the transportation system. With that being said, if there aren’t enough people are being vocal about what is wrong with the services, then improvements will be slower than they should.