I hadn’t taken the train in a long time so given that my wife and I had splashed out on marquee tickets to the Cox Plate and intended to enjoy the afternoon downing a few beverages of the alcoholic kind, we thought we’d do the responsible thing and catch public transport. Considering that increased traffic congestion from my home in the south east outer suburbs to Carnegie has increased my travel time from a leisurely 25 minutes nearly nine years ago to an almost road rage inducing 50 minutes, perhaps I should consider this option more often. However, my public transport experience on Cox Plate Day 2005 will ensure that the car continues to come out of the garage in the mornings for a while longer yet.
My inexperience with our rail system saw me seek the counsel of my daughter for detailed instructions. She provided my wife and I with a very simple, step by step process to the whole train catching thing. All the key information was provided: what time to catch the train, what we needed to do to catch the train, ensuring we had the correct money, at which station we needed to change trains and so on. However, she forgot to fill us in on what to do in the event of major delays!
As instructed, we boarded the train at Hallam, paper in hand, ready to study the form guide for our day at the races. Then, to our bewilderment, we had to disembark at Dandenong due to scheduled maintenance on the line between Dandenong and Oakleigh. It would have been handy if this information had been placed on their website (which I had studiously checked earlier that morning) as it would have allowed us to make alternative arrangements to get to Oakleigh.
At Dandenong we were placed on an express bus to Oakleigh station. An express bus which seemed to stop at all bus stops! Insufficient seats meant that we had to stand for the entire trip making the studying of the form guide nigh on impossible. The day was off to a very bad start.
In the end, a trip which should have taken less than one hour saw us finally arrive at Moonee Valley Racecourse after more than two hours of travel time. As the maintenance took place for the entire day, the trip home took just as long. Although the day was very enjoyable for reasons other than the races, it was obviously not my lucky day.
The Government is trying very hard to convince us to use public transport to avoid congestion on the roads. Perhaps part of the reason that my car travel time has doubled in the past decade is that many others have experienced the same public transport frustration we did, and have chosen to use their cars instead. 20 or 30 years down the track (no pun intended) we may find congested roads combined with an inefficient public transport system further doubling that travel. Not that I will care. I will have retired, and will probably be sitting under a tree enjoying a quiet ale or two, trying to get back some of that travel time I’ve wasted over the years.