Monday, September 18, 2006

Late night transport needed in the Cross

At the recent night trading workshop held in Kings Cross, one of the more positive ideas agreed on was that the place needs better public transport after hours. This would provide a quick exit from the area and make it less necessary for punters to use their cars, reducing the impact on surrounding residential streets as partiers return to their vehicles.

Two ideas involved a shuttle bus between the Cross and the City, and Nightrider buses proper, ferrying people out to the suburbs.

Clover Moore has picked up on this but typically her apparent hatred of Kings Cross causes her to get it only half right. She has called for shuttle buses to take people OUT of the Cross only. The Kings Cross Liquor Accord funded such a bus during 2005. It carried 400 passengers per weekend, but the Accord understandably failed to see why a few member venues should pay the full cost of a service benefiting everyone -- while removing their potential customers.

A two-way service is what is needed. This would achieve the above benefits and would provide local venues with better incentive to partially fund the service. Council is already funding a daytime shuttlebus service -- why not extend it to late nights and negotiate a subsidy from city venues?

But Clover has merely asked the Minister for Transport for a meeting. Good luck Clover.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

A city is its people not a bunch of businesses trying to squeeze a buck out of people's sleep patterns.

As the police say, the cross has reached saturation point: the sooner we get the entertainement zone noose lifted, close some of these pubs down and get free transport for people to get out of this alcohol-fuelled cauldron, the better.

The editor's predeliction for pot-smoking, late night sex clubs and menage a trois is well known in the strip but why should this be recreated in his biased opinion-pieces, or be at the expense of others?

Whatever happened to the piano bar?

The Editor said...

Hi there Andrew -- so who's being defamatory now? If only my life were so interesting... or are you referring to that time we all cosied up in the Town Hall vestibule after a council meeting?

Ah, anonymity is such an easy place to come from.

Anonymous said...

Both Michael Gormly and Andrew Woodhouse are so childish. Why can't they just leave the Cross and Potts Point alone.

Gormly wants to create a 24 hour 7 days a week drinking haven for drunken louts.

Yet, he doesn't even own a place in the area so he can move as soon as it becomes so bad no one can live in the area. He says he is a Greens member which I believe. Keep the trees and to hell with everyone living around them.

Woodhouse is a one man band, but at least he tries to make the area a place where people can live in peace.

All this is so sad.

The Editor said...

Oh dear -- now it's 'drunken louts' is it? Unfortunately there are many of them in this backward country and the nation's best known red light district will always get some of them. That's no reason to turn it into some kind of temperance zone however.

And, gee, I rent. I simply can't afford the real estate around here. Does that mean I have no say in or understanding of the area? At least I am not one of those nimbys trying to change the area to improve their property values.

Again, 'Tina', you attack the man, not the ball and you fail to identify yourself.