I'm not saying that crowded trains with doors flinging open aren't safe... they're just perhaps not quite as safe as the other ones.

Some of them are made so the doors don't fling open at all.

Terrified train passengers held on to each other as a Sydenham train sped towards the City Loop with a door wide open yesterday morning. Read more »

Jeremy at Anonymous Lefty has a rather good post up on the petrol price situation.

Memo: all levels of government.
Re: housing affordability crisis - both home ownership and rental

You know how we're rapidly developing an underclass of people who can neither afford to buy a house nor rent one anywhere near the city, and are therefore condemned to live in fringe suburbs where public transport is appalling to non-existent and they therefore have to consume ever more expensive petrol just to survive? Read more »

I have a friend who was recently ripped off (in his admittedly biased view) by the Department of Infrastructure acting on behalf of public transport embarrassment Connex.

Arriving at the railway station one morning, he found an enormous queue at the ticket machines, and after waiting a few minutes was presented with the option of missing the now-arriving train or putting his $10.10 back in his pocket, hopping on without a ticket and seeking to purchase one as soon as he arrived at the other end. You can guess how that ended: "inspectors" at the other end booked him $162 for travelling without a valid ticket.