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I am so sick of Sydney public transport. I am so frustrated that I am paying full price for a service that is not delivered correctly. I don’t want to sound entitled and I am very understanding of transport workers however I have been travelling longer distances more recently and I’ve become frustrated with the public transport available.
Have a connecting train you need to catch at Strathfield? Well you better hope your first train isn’t late to Strathfield so you can catch the train on the platform opposite to the platform you got dropped off on. Oh and you better hope you get through the crowds in time before your train arrives as some person will be blocking the whole escalator with their trolley bag.
Let’s not forget all the other people who seem to act clueless to an Opal card reader and they seemingly never get caught, even when you do the right thing every time. You even have people jump in over the gates right in front of workers/police and they are the ones who act blind to it! Or when buses are expected and they’re either early, extremely late or do not show up at all. When services are cancelled, these are rarely communicated on any platform.
Has public transport always been this bad? Am I being dramatic or do others share similar thoughts?
You think other Australian states have better public transport systems? Visit other capital city reddits and you’ll see very similar complaints.
Calm down Sydney has fantastic public transport. I live 400 metres from my train station and I can only catch one train a week.
Move and discover that Sydney public transport is actually pretty great.
I spent Christmas in Sydney and just got back from a week and a half in Melbourne. Sydney wins at public transport, hands down. The system is designed so that you don't have to travel into the city and out again just to move a few suburbs across.
Moved here from UK. It's funny how Australians don't appreciate what they have here. All Aussies want to move to UK or else where. Trust me, you're the best western/English speaking country in the world. Even you transport rivals London/Berlin or any other European underground.
Have you ever travelled out of Sydney?
Its better than every other city in the country, and is a good bit cheaper than other global cities. In London you pay as much to cross the city centre as you do here to get to Newcastle. Buses have always been shit.
Sign up to Octopus Surveys. You get paid to fill in surveys. They regularly have surveys that ask all about your experience catching trains. Its either research being conducted by Tfnsw or the govt or the opposition. The questions are specific and the survey gives you an opp to tell them what needs to change. And you get paid to fill in the survey. It's something like $4 but it's an opp to tell them.
Alternatively write a really specific post and post it on r/Sydney and hope the media picks it up and runs it. News.com.au regularly run stories from that subreddit. But you need to have facts to support it because the journalists wont be bothered doing any of their own research.
It sounds easier to get a job closer to home than move because you have 3 connections that don't line up.
Wow yes Sydney public transport can feel like shit sometimes but you’re complaining that too many people are using the station? Your argument lost me there, why don’t you get your own personal train and station if you don’t want to be around the general public lol. Oh wait, then it wouldn’t be public transport!
Meanwhile some suburbs had their bus routes privatised and loads of bus stops closed and routes closed, and they prefer to cancel a bus rather than it be late. It used to take me 40mins to get to Strathfield by direct bus now it takes me an hour or more by bus + light rail + train. Yes it sucks but not for the reasons you’ve put. And… it’s still better than when I used to live in Brisbane! Good luck moving lol
Sydney’s train service used to be called “Shitty”rail.
Constant delays, train connections are almost never guaranteed.
Hot summer day? You’d be lucky to get an air conditioned train.
The problem to me is, the rail network and infrastructure planning is utter shit, there are so many under served suburbs in Sydney’s surrounding suburbs and wider outskirts that when I first arrive in Sydney. I’m confused. Why aren’t the network connected properly?
Why is the train line only going to these few directions and they’re still building to add on to those lines with metro to cover already covered areas? If anything they should be using metro to interconnect everything inbetween.
NOT ADDING ANOTHER LANE TOWARDS PARRAMATTA. You already got a heavy rail there wtf they want to add another metro on top.
The monorail in the city already flopped, it already proved we don’t need a slow moving mass transit within the city.
Then they decide to add a stupid tram system IN the city to occupy more of the roads? This ADDS to the traffic.
In Japan, you can literally walk and take the train to almost any area in the city and outskirts. They could do this in a mountainous and intensely heavily population dense area.
We have NIMBY’s that whine and whinge so much nothing progresses.
Sydney people should really be petitioning to adding trains/metros to all unconnected areas. Just build it like Singapore’s or Japan. Some above ground and some underground.
This is not a public transport problem. This is a people problem.
Sydney's transport is great these days. Leave 10 minutes earlier and you won't have this problem anymore.
Personally I don't care if people want to jump the gates, that's not my problem. While the trains are expensive there is no cheaper alternative unless you work close to home. I have used public transport in Melbourne and Brisbane and Sydney's is the best out of the three. If you hate Sydney's transport system you will cry if you have to get around Auckland, and it's a nightmare trying to top up your card.
Lol. Perth is heaps better. None of that rubbish here and maximum fair is $5.10. Capped no matter how far you travel on the system.
I live in USA for a year as a exchange student...... Their public transport 100% trash LMAO
No, not complaining that too many people are using the station. Rather I was complaining more on the system itself and the types of people you see in Sydney. You would expect that a service like NSW Trains that records large profits and increased funding would be able to accomodate for the millions who use these services more efficiently i.e. more frequently occurring trains and that match alongside bus timetables etc. Can’t even drive here without the number of fees associated with owning a car so public transport is the next best option. You would hope that these services are at least reliable and you’re not stranded after 3am when services end.
The trams used to always be there; they ripped out what was left in the early 2000s (Central to Crown) only to spend billions to put them back less than 20 years later.
I guess most of the issues surrounding public transport do involve… the public. However, I will say that on multiple occasions I have stuck out my arm and basically stood on the road to hail a (not empty) bus and have it go straight past me for no apparent reason.
Perth has 40% of the population Sydney has.
Unless you live South of the River and want to get to Fremantle, gotta go via the city or swap to a bus at Murdoch
Perth is not better by any measure.
I was majorly underwhelmed with SEPTA, NJ transit and New York subway when I was last in the US.
Wow. Won’t be surprised if they rip that out and put the failed monorail back on again then
So? A lot of those criticisms could apply to Perth's transport system. A larger population doesn't necessarily explain all those problems. We clueless idiots, etc here.
Come and try our transport sometime. I've been to Sydney and going again this year. When have you been and tried Perth's transport system.
Edited: PS. I am NOT saying that Perth is a better city overall than Sydney. It isn't. Just that Perth does not have most of those problems Zestylemon88 mentioned.
Plus may I say all the comments supporting Sydney's transport system seem very parochial when comparing it to other cities transport system. None of those comments mentioned which if any they had used.
Yeah but that happens on most systems. Had that on London Underground.
But yeah, I hate having to go into Perth to go to Freo.
Been here and tried it?
We probably will, it's NSW. Too many dollars, not enough sense.
I’ve been to Perth tons of times.
my partner and I are seriously considering moving to Armidale, mostly due to cost of living / affordable property prices (current in Brisbane/Gold Coast QLD), and I also have family in Tamworth, but I've seen mixed commentary regarding the liveability of the Armidale area, would be great to get some insight into the area from people who live in or around Armidale, also as a place to raise a young family.
I often drive through it and stay, it is one of the places on my list I would move to, Orange is another.
Uralla, just outside of Armidale has a nice feel as well, just don’t start me on Thunderbolts grave.
It's fucking freezing in winter
Hi, I am also considering moving to Armidale with my partner and young kids from the North Coast for similar reasons.
I have been trying to find out whether it is a good place to raise kids and have also read conflicting opinions.
According to crime statistics, you have a 1 in 11 chance of having a crime committed against your person in Armidale, compared to NSW states average of 1 in 20.
Overall the increasing crime has made us think it is not the best place to live at the moment.
https://aucrimerate.com/nsw/suburbs/armidale-crime-rate-statistics/
Passed through and visited it a few times.
Culturally rich compared to other regional towns.
Well established uni.
Bloody cold in winter and town hollow suffers smoke inversion often.
If you're into kids sport, see if LGA has sporting clubs directory.
As a recreational bicycle riders, it wasn' t that enthralling as there is basically only three ways out of town and all major roads.
Have been here since the 90's.
People are mostly good, if not a little wary of new people. Can be a bit cliquey.
It is a bit on the cusp of going from a country town to a bigger regional centre, so there are people divided on trying to develop and progress and those resistant to change.
We have an abundance of hairdressers, cafes, and tradies, however still hard to nail a good tradie down at times. We do have an over abundance of real estate agents, so you will have no trouble working with someone to get a property. There is one in particular though that I would suggest not even contacting.
Pubs and micro breweries are pretty popular and have good crowds most nights.
Town is pretty quiet over uni summer break, but is overall pretty vibrant most of the rest of the year.
We have an incredible amount of sports clubs, soccer, cricket, hockey, rah, league, netball, a baseball team, rifle shooting, archery, mountain biking, climbing, swimming, gymnastics and well, there are more still. Most social sport will revolve around alcohol a fair bit, not unlike any other country town, but does seem to have an over emphasis on it.
Good arts scene, some good local live music at a few venues and a wicked good festival in May, Big Chill. Autumn festival is a good bit of fun, and we have been having more things in the mall community wise last few years.
Markets in the mall each month and farmers markets as well.
Plenty of sensational bushwalking places, national parks and reserves are all around the area, within 45 mins drive really.
Good water supply that is getting upgraded soon.
Loads of different gyms and fitness facilities.
Shopping is probably a bit lacking, a few good chains, but only a few speciality shops.
Housing is comparatively less expensive than the coast and city, and really we aren't far from the beach, 2 and a bit hours drive is all, and it is a pretty scenic drive, but can be a shitty road.
Crime doesn't seem to be too much different to Tamworth or any other regional town in the area.
All in all, it isn't a bad spot, must be ok, I have been here nearly 30 years, and if you want to know anything more specifically just flick me a DM and we can chat.
I recently moved to a similar town, and I’m really enjoying it so far! Crime hasn’t been an issue (knock on wood), and I enjoy being able to walk to all the bars and cafes on the main street
Inlaws lisve there for 15 years, in that time
They were broken into once.
Other than that, they had no isseus, the way I understand it the south part of town was quiter then the northern end (uni and cbd)
I visited a lot.
They have a few really good cafe's (altitude is by far my favourite).
A lot of schools (at least 3 or 4 are bording schools)
Hospital was small but was ok with the things you need for most emergencies. (it like a lot of regional hospitals didn't do well over covid)
There is a small 2 screen cinema there that runs a lot of classic as well as block buster movies (and wasn't to badly priced (like 18$ or something)
Traffic, always had a joke that if there was 5 cars in a row or more at the lights it was a traffic jam.
What else do you want to know?
It's very small town feel, with everyone just about knowing everyone else.
Barnaby lives there.
The region is great, lived here 4 yrs from a big city. Love the rural country lifestyle, relaxed attitudes mostly and community, UNE and local area in 1-2 hours has some nice towns and parks to visit. Daily flights, good services mostly. Downsides, 2.5 hrs to a beach, hospital sucks, hard to buy fresh fish, and fruit and veges can be shitty too. Teenagers get bored. So do people who want active nightlife. Embrace the rural setting and you’ll be good
Armidale is like two towns in one. Some of the oldest money in NSW, next to some of the poorest.
Hey OP! I'm late to this but I thought that I would reply anyway. I moved to Armidale from Newcastle a few years ago, and I lived in Armidale/Uralla for 2 and a half years while at University. I think at first, getting used to it coming from a bigger city can be tough. But I actually came to love it and enjoy it. The autumns are beautiful and living in a quiet country town does have its charm. Cost of living is definitely better in Armidale than it would be in Bris/GC, only thing you might need to get used to is the weather!
Armidale isn’t too bad. Nicer more busy town that many of the other small towns in NSW that I’ve visited. You can do day trips to the coast from there too
Rent is nuts, rates are nuts, the locals are nuts.
Just saw before that the Uralla crime stats are a third of Armidale's, will have to look into Orange (although I've heard good things)
It’s beyond freezing tbh

I am so sick of Sydney public transport. I am so frustrated that I am paying full price for a service that is not delivered correctly. I don’t want to sound entitled and I am very understanding of transport workers however I have been travelling longer distances more recently and I’ve become frustrated with the public transport available.

Have a connecting train you need to catch at Strathfield? Well you better hope your first train isn’t late to Strathfield so you can catch the train on the platform opposite to the platform you got dropped off on. Oh and you better hope you get through the crowds in time before your train arrives as some person will be blocking the whole escalator with their trolley bag.

Let’s not forget all the other people who seem to act clueless to an Opal card reader and they seemingly never get caught, even when you do the right thing every time. You even have people jump in over the gates right in front of workers/police and they are the ones who act blind to it! Or when buses are expected and they’re either early, extremely late or do not show up at all. When services are cancelled, these are rarely communicated on any platform.

Has public transport always been this bad? Am I being dramatic or do others share similar thoughts?

You think other Australian states have better public transport systems? Visit other capital city reddits and you’ll see very similar complaints.

Calm down Sydney has fantastic public transport. I live 400 metres from my train station and I can only catch one train a week.

Move and discover that Sydney public transport is actually pretty great.

I spent Christmas in Sydney and just got back from a week and a half in Melbourne. Sydney wins at public transport, hands down. The system is designed so that you don't have to travel into the city and out again just to move a few suburbs across.

Moved here from UK. It's funny how Australians don't appreciate what they have here. All Aussies want to move to UK or else where. Trust me, you're the best western/English speaking country in the world. Even you transport rivals London/Berlin or any other European underground.

Have you ever travelled out of Sydney?

Its better than every other city in the country, and is a good bit cheaper than other global cities. In London you pay as much to cross the city centre as you do here to get to Newcastle. Buses have always been shit.

Sign up to Octopus Surveys. You get paid to fill in surveys. They regularly have surveys that ask all about your experience catching trains. Its either research being conducted by Tfnsw or the govt or the opposition. The questions are specific and the survey gives you an opp to tell them what needs to change. And you get paid to fill in the survey. It's something like $4 but it's an opp to tell them.

Alternatively write a really specific post and post it on r/Sydney and hope the media picks it up and runs it. News.com.au regularly run stories from that subreddit. But you need to have facts to support it because the journalists wont be bothered doing any of their own research.

It sounds easier to get a job closer to home than move because you have 3 connections that don't line up.

Wow yes Sydney public transport can feel like shit sometimes but you’re complaining that too many people are using the station? Your argument lost me there, why don’t you get your own personal train and station if you don’t want to be around the general public lol. Oh wait, then it wouldn’t be public transport!

Meanwhile some suburbs had their bus routes privatised and loads of bus stops closed and routes closed, and they prefer to cancel a bus rather than it be late. It used to take me 40mins to get to Strathfield by direct bus now it takes me an hour or more by bus + light rail + train. Yes it sucks but not for the reasons you’ve put. And… it’s still better than when I used to live in Brisbane! Good luck moving lol

Sydney’s train service used to be called “Shitty”rail.

Constant delays, train connections are almost never guaranteed.

Hot summer day? You’d be lucky to get an air conditioned train.

The problem to me is, the rail network and infrastructure planning is utter shit, there are so many under served suburbs in Sydney’s surrounding suburbs and wider outskirts that when I first arrive in Sydney. I’m confused. Why aren’t the network connected properly?

Why is the train line only going to these few directions and they’re still building to add on to those lines with metro to cover already covered areas? If anything they should be using metro to interconnect everything inbetween.

NOT ADDING ANOTHER LANE TOWARDS PARRAMATTA. You already got a heavy rail there wtf they want to add another metro on top.

The monorail in the city already flopped, it already proved we don’t need a slow moving mass transit within the city.

Then they decide to add a stupid tram system IN the city to occupy more of the roads? This ADDS to the traffic.

In Japan, you can literally walk and take the train to almost any area in the city and outskirts. They could do this in a mountainous and intensely heavily population dense area.

We have NIMBY’s that whine and whinge so much nothing progresses.

Sydney people should really be petitioning to adding trains/metros to all unconnected areas. Just build it like Singapore’s or Japan. Some above ground and some underground.

This is not a public transport problem. This is a people problem.

Sydney's transport is great these days. Leave 10 minutes earlier and you won't have this problem anymore.

Personally I don't care if people want to jump the gates, that's not my problem. While the trains are expensive there is no cheaper alternative unless you work close to home. I have used public transport in Melbourne and Brisbane and Sydney's is the best out of the three. If you hate Sydney's transport system you will cry if you have to get around Auckland, and it's a nightmare trying to top up your card.

Lol. Perth is heaps better. None of that rubbish here and maximum fair is $5.10. Capped no matter how far you travel on the system.

I live in USA for a year as a exchange student...... Their public transport 100% trash LMAO

No, not complaining that too many people are using the station. Rather I was complaining more on the system itself and the types of people you see in Sydney. You would expect that a service like NSW Trains that records large profits and increased funding would be able to accomodate for the millions who use these services more efficiently i.e. more frequently occurring trains and that match alongside bus timetables etc. Can’t even drive here without the number of fees associated with owning a car so public transport is the next best option. You would hope that these services are at least reliable and you’re not stranded after 3am when services end.

The trams used to always be there; they ripped out what was left in the early 2000s (Central to Crown) only to spend billions to put them back less than 20 years later.

I guess most of the issues surrounding public transport do involve… the public. However, I will say that on multiple occasions I have stuck out my arm and basically stood on the road to hail a (not empty) bus and have it go straight past me for no apparent reason.

Perth has 40% of the population Sydney has.

Unless you live South of the River and want to get to Fremantle, gotta go via the city or swap to a bus at Murdoch

Perth is not better by any measure.

I was majorly underwhelmed with SEPTA, NJ transit and New York subway when I was last in the US.

Wow. Won’t be surprised if they rip that out and put the failed monorail back on again then

So? A lot of those criticisms could apply to Perth's transport system. A larger population doesn't necessarily explain all those problems. We clueless idiots, etc here.

Come and try our transport sometime. I've been to Sydney and going again this year. When have you been and tried Perth's transport system.

Edited: PS. I am NOT saying that Perth is a better city overall than Sydney. It isn't. Just that Perth does not have most of those problems Zestylemon88 mentioned.

Plus may I say all the comments supporting Sydney's transport system seem very parochial when comparing it to other cities transport system. None of those comments mentioned which if any they had used.

Yeah but that happens on most systems. Had that on London Underground.

But yeah, I hate having to go into Perth to go to Freo.

Been here and tried it?

We probably will, it's NSW. Too many dollars, not enough sense.

I’ve been to Perth tons of times.

my partner and I are seriously considering moving to Armidale, mostly due to cost of living / affordable property prices (current in Brisbane/Gold Coast QLD), and I also have family in Tamworth, but I've seen mixed commentary regarding the liveability of the Armidale area, would be great to get some insight into the area from people who live in or around Armidale, also as a place to raise a young family.

I often drive through it and stay, it is one of the places on my list I would move to, Orange is another.

Uralla, just outside of Armidale has a nice feel as well, just don’t start me on Thunderbolts grave.

It's fucking freezing in winter

Hi, I am also considering moving to Armidale with my partner and young kids from the North Coast for similar reasons.

I have been trying to find out whether it is a good place to raise kids and have also read conflicting opinions.

According to crime statistics, you have a 1 in 11 chance of having a crime committed against your person in Armidale, compared to NSW states average of 1 in 20.

Overall the increasing crime has made us think it is not the best place to live at the moment.

https://aucrimerate.com/nsw/suburbs/armidale-crime-rate-statistics/

Passed through and visited it a few times.

Culturally rich compared to other regional towns.

Well established uni.

Bloody cold in winter and town hollow suffers smoke inversion often.

If you're into kids sport, see if LGA has sporting clubs directory.

As a recreational bicycle riders, it wasn' t that enthralling as there is basically only three ways out of town and all major roads.

Have been here since the 90's.

People are mostly good, if not a little wary of new people. Can be a bit cliquey.

It is a bit on the cusp of going from a country town to a bigger regional centre, so there are people divided on trying to develop and progress and those resistant to change.

We have an abundance of hairdressers, cafes, and tradies, however still hard to nail a good tradie down at times. We do have an over abundance of real estate agents, so you will have no trouble working with someone to get a property. There is one in particular though that I would suggest not even contacting.

Pubs and micro breweries are pretty popular and have good crowds most nights.

Town is pretty quiet over uni summer break, but is overall pretty vibrant most of the rest of the year.

We have an incredible amount of sports clubs, soccer, cricket, hockey, rah, league, netball, a baseball team, rifle shooting, archery, mountain biking, climbing, swimming, gymnastics and well, there are more still. Most social sport will revolve around alcohol a fair bit, not unlike any other country town, but does seem to have an over emphasis on it.

Good arts scene, some good local live music at a few venues and a wicked good festival in May, Big Chill. Autumn festival is a good bit of fun, and we have been having more things in the mall community wise last few years.

Markets in the mall each month and farmers markets as well.

Plenty of sensational bushwalking places, national parks and reserves are all around the area, within 45 mins drive really.

Good water supply that is getting upgraded soon.

Loads of different gyms and fitness facilities.

Shopping is probably a bit lacking, a few good chains, but only a few speciality shops.

Housing is comparatively less expensive than the coast and city, and really we aren't far from the beach, 2 and a bit hours drive is all, and it is a pretty scenic drive, but can be a shitty road.

Crime doesn't seem to be too much different to Tamworth or any other regional town in the area.

All in all, it isn't a bad spot, must be ok, I have been here nearly 30 years, and if you want to know anything more specifically just flick me a DM and we can chat.

I recently moved to a similar town, and I’m really enjoying it so far! Crime hasn’t been an issue (knock on wood), and I enjoy being able to walk to all the bars and cafes on the main street

Inlaws lisve there for 15 years, in that time

They were broken into once.

Other than that, they had no isseus, the way I understand it the south part of town was quiter then the northern end (uni and cbd)

I visited a lot.

They have a few really good cafe's (altitude is by far my favourite).

A lot of schools (at least 3 or 4 are bording schools)

Hospital was small but was ok with the things you need for most emergencies. (it like a lot of regional hospitals didn't do well over covid)

There is a small 2 screen cinema there that runs a lot of classic as well as block buster movies (and wasn't to badly priced (like 18$ or something)

Traffic, always had a joke that if there was 5 cars in a row or more at the lights it was a traffic jam.

What else do you want to know?

It's very small town feel, with everyone just about knowing everyone else.

Barnaby lives there.

The region is great, lived here 4 yrs from a big city. Love the rural country lifestyle, relaxed attitudes mostly and community, UNE and local area in 1-2 hours has some nice towns and parks to visit. Daily flights, good services mostly. Downsides, 2.5 hrs to a beach, hospital sucks, hard to buy fresh fish, and fruit and veges can be shitty too. Teenagers get bored. So do people who want active nightlife. Embrace the rural setting and you’ll be good

Armidale is like two towns in one. Some of the oldest money in NSW, next to some of the poorest.

Hey OP! I'm late to this but I thought that I would reply anyway. I moved to Armidale from Newcastle a few years ago, and I lived in Armidale/Uralla for 2 and a half years while at University. I think at first, getting used to it coming from a bigger city can be tough. But I actually came to love it and enjoy it. The autumns are beautiful and living in a quiet country town does have its charm. Cost of living is definitely better in Armidale than it would be in Bris/GC, only thing you might need to get used to is the weather!

Armidale isn’t too bad. Nicer more busy town that many of the other small towns in NSW that I’ve visited. You can do day trips to the coast from there too

Rent is nuts, rates are nuts, the locals are nuts.

Just saw before that the Uralla crime stats are a third of Armidale's, will have to look into Orange (although I've heard good things)

It’s beyond freezing tbh