Slouching towards Los Angeles:
Much to the chagrin of public-transport advocates, vegetarian bicyclists and
miscellaneous dreadlocked people who don't bathe,
the Victorian government has brought back the Scoresby Freeway,
which it scrapped after winning office.
It doesn't look like there'll be any major public transport enhancements for
the sprawling, car-dependent outer east of Melbourne; a few extra bus routes
perhaps, but nothing of the scope of the railway line extension called for
by public transport groups. Then again, everyone in the outer east has a car
and drives everywhere anyway, and there is more demand for freeways
than for public transport, which is mostly an inner-city thing, like
fancy cafés and voting Democrat. The only people who use public
transport there are kids too young to drive who can't get Mum to give them
a lift in the minivan.
Of course, such a reinforcing of the Los Angelisation of Melbourne's
transport infrastructure will take its toll on pollution and health
problems, and will make fixing the problem much more expensive in
future.