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I Love Sydney But I'm Having A Rant...We Suck At Public Transport
It's Thursday night. Lots of people go out to bars, restaurants and clubs on Thursday nights in Sydney.
So this particular Thursday I am very grateful to have an invitation to attend a tour of The Ovation of The Seas on her maiden voyage to Sydney. This is a big deal for Sydney; an amazing cruise ship that brings in thousands of tourists and staff....somewhere around 5K combined, making Sydney history..... rant is coming...
I leave the ship at around 9.00 pm on a very wet Sydney summer's night. It's not late by any means, and it is pouring with rain. So I head to the taxi rank knowing that I dare not tell the driver I'm only going for a ten minute journey before I get in the cab or I'll be treated like I'm the Devil and most probably refused the ride; so I brace myself for the onslaught; only to discover there is not a taxi on the rank. I have no choice but to resort to catching the train to Town Hall, then changing platforms to Kings Cross or try to get an Uber and I didn't have any hope of that. The alternative is to walk in the pouring rain which will take at least 45 minutes. I'm lucky I only have to go to Potts Point, goodness help those that have a real distance to travel.
I enter Circular Quay Station, a major tourist spot in Sydney and use my trusted OPAL card then head to the platform only to be greeted by barricades. I look at the guard and ask him WT? He tells me, almost gloating, that there are no trains to Town Hall, they just stopped for track work this very minute! This is a major tourist destination, a ONE BILLION DOLLAR CRUISE LINER, has made history with its maiden voyage in Sydney...and there are no trains to Town Hall unless I want to do the full city circle!!!!!
I now start to breath deeply and count to ten. Then I realise that I can try and catch a bus (good luck with that) or walk to Martin Place Station in high heels and a flimsy umbrella in pouring rain. I choose the latter.
Eventually the 'drowned rat' arrives at Martin Place Station and has a ten minute wait for the train. I got home at 10.00 pm.
Sydney is a tourist destination and when it comes to public transport we suck!
