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找到一篇2007年6月的新闻报道,关于Gosford Commuters的.很形象很具体!
Five weeks a year on a train
PEAK HOUR on the Central Coast begins at 5.30 in the morning, when bleary-eyed commuters climb into their cars for the half-hour drive to Gosford or Wyong stations.
By six they are gathering on the platform, waiting silently in the dark. The train pulls in, and they read, sleep or stare out the window until it arrives in the city an hour and a half later.
At the end of the day they do it in reverse. Four hours a day, 20 hours a week. Each year, these commuters will spend 800 hours - almost five weeks - getting to and from work.
But problems with road and rail links to the Central Coast make the commute longer than it needs to be. One in four of the area's workers travels to Sydney every day using the F3 or the train, both of which are overcrowded, and struggling to cope with a growing population. For most of them it is a lifestyle choice. The four-hour daily commute is a sacrifice they are willing to make to live close to the beach, or stay near their family on a CBD salary.
While there are pay-offs for long trips - such as a better job or cheaper housing - people who spend more time commuting tend to report lower wellbeing, research from Europe shows. And the travel time has a social impact. Gosford City Council, in its community plan, raised concerns about the impact of parents not coming home until well after dark.
For Krystal Lockwood the four-hour trip is the only way to further her career as an account manager. "If I was willing to earn only $30,000 a year I could work here no problem," she said. "I wish there was more work here, but there's not."
Matthew Hall, a company solicitor, used to live in Neutral Bay, which was three bus stops from his office. For two years he has been travelling an hour and a half each way from Woy Woy.
"I moved up here because I wanted to move near the water," he said.
"I wouldn't want to go any further than where I have to get off. It's becoming a bit of a waste of time."
Most people drive to the station from suburbs poorly serviced by buses, such as Terrigal or The Entrance. Few residents use public transport to get around the Central Coast. Parking at Gosford station can be difficult by 7am.
Commuters pass the time on the train by working, listening to music, or studying. Most of the time it is bearable. But they lose patience when trains are late, cancelled or overcrowded.
"The mornings are a bit of a disaster," Mr Hall said.
Transport experts say commuters who use the Sydney to Newcastle line are among the most disadvantaged on the network.
Overcrowding is a big problem, and can make the journey uncomfortable. In the four months after the new 2005 timetable, the Central Coast/Newcastle line had more crowding complaints than any other.
The new train carriages that have long been promised to outer suburban commuters are yet to arrive.
Reliability is a problem too. Passengers share the highly congested track with freight. While passenger trains are supposed to be given priority, it does not always work out that way.
The chief executive of the Australasian Railway Association, Bryan Nye, said the line was facing the highest growth in demand on the network. He called for a dedicated freight line. "It's a choke point, and it's going to get worse as the population ages and more people catch trains."
A transport expert, Ken Dobinson, said the existing track was circuitous, making the trip needlessly long. Many areas are not served by trains, although new stations are being built.
A fast rail link on the Central Coast could halve commuting times, he said.
"That would ease the other line which is given priority for freight. You couldn't get very fast rail on the existing track."
Some prefer to avoid the crowded carriages and drive to the city. Locals say there are two peak hours: one for trades people, about 5.30am, and another from 7am.
The drive is faster than the train, but there are other problems.
Whenever there is an accident on the F3, the road can be completely shut down. There is no alternative road that can cope with even a fraction of the traffic that relies on the F3.
When the freeway finishes at Wahroonga, the cars spill into traffic jams along the Pacific Highway.
Planning is under way for a tunnel linking the F3 and the Sydney Orbital, but the route is still uncertain.
Half the morning traffic on the F3 enters the freeway at the Kariong interchange, which, along with feeder roads such as the Central Coast Highway, is congested.
Mr Dobinson, a former director of the Roads and Traffic Authority, said he supported a proposal to build another road between Western Sydney and Ourimbah, bypassing Gosford.
"The other thing is, of course, there's no plans at the present time to look to the future," he said.
"The F3 is going to be six lanes to Gosford. Within a decade you're going to need eight lanes. That's pretty much impossible."
The state and federal governments are considering how to fix the problems. They are building new stations and are looking at the most viable route for a link between the F3 and the Orbital.
But Central Coast residents have their own solution: for 10 years they have been calling for a fast ferry to Sydney in the hope of a scenic alternative to traffic jams, crowded carriages and slow trains. |
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发表于 26-5-2009 15:23:10
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