Train bad; bus good?
Perth, Tuesday 15 May 2012
Since I started my Grand Trip in January, I’ve taken eight flights (not including going flying with James); six rail journeys in excess of two hours; and more long-distance bus trips than I can actually count. As for suburban bus and rail journeys and car trips, I’ve probably covered as many miles as Marco Polo. Oh, there’re been some boats, too. How could I forget them? For someone who gets sick in cars and on buses and boats, I’m doing well.
However, on the bus from Albany to Perth it occurred to me that of all those journeys, it has been the buses that have been the most reliable. So far, not one of the bus trips that I’ve taken has been delayed. They might leave a service station a few minutes later than scheduled whilst someone collects a cup of coffee, but none has been severely delayed and all of them have arrived either on time or even early.
Compare this to one delayed flight, when we were stuck on the tarmac in Sydney for almost two hours because there was a problem with the landing gear. I can live with that; I’d rather be able to get down again safely. But more significantly, every train trip I’ve made with one exception has experienced a delay. The Starlight from Davis to Portland was delayed by over four hours. The train from Portland to Seattle was late by about 45 minutes. The train from Brisbane to Bundaberg and back again didn’t run to schedule. Finally, the Prospector from Perth to Kalgoorlie got me to my destination over two hours en retard.
The exception? The leg of the Indian-Pacific that took me from Melbourne to Adelaide. That was to-the-minute.
I love travelling by rail. Yes, I just love travelling, you couldn’t have failed to notice, but I have an especially romantic notion of rail travel–and to a degree sea travel–that leaves me with 1940s-style misty-eyed nostalgia. So it leaves me horribly disappointed that so far, rail travel has proved to be the least efficient form of transport I’ve taken.
What, exactly, brings about the overwhelming failure of a railway line to run on time? After all, the dedicated tracks for a train are supposed to leave them unencumbered by pesky cars that are being driven by people with irritatingly unpredictable minds of their own. Why is it that a bus can manage to run to schedule when it must contend with thousands of other interactions, but a train gets a track and still can’t turn up on time?
I’ll leave this one for pondering, but dearest rail companies, please do pull out your fingers. We need efficient public transportation more than ever right now, and your abysmal record does nothing to convince people to abandon their cars and take public transport. Must do better.
