Wednesday 15 October 2008

Did Costa really ruin our train system?

The SMH really has a love/hate relationship with the railways. One day, they'll be promoting a new rail line, and the next they'll be abusing CityRail for some infraction that has caught the eye of a reporter.

Today, they are blaming Costa for stuffing things up - how Costa drove public transport off the rails.

Mr Costa's renowned aversion to expensive rail projects was partly why public transport usage in Sydney had failed to keep pace with the growth in population.

I have my own views on how Costa buggered up the rail system, but it has nothing to do with failing to throw money at it. Tell me this - let's say you have a company that is a disaster from head to toe. It's got weak management, strong unions, creaking infrastructure, corruption, mismanagement, a terrible culture and it fucks up everything it touches. Do you:

a). Give it an enormous pile of money to piss away on capital works, or
b). Give it not one cent of taxpayers money until it proves it won't flush it all down some enormous turd-encrusted sewer

I'd opt for B. Clearly, the SMH would opt for A. I think Costa did the right thing - throwing good money after bad is not the way to run a government.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Reading about Costa after he quit I like him a lot.

kae said...

I must admit I always thought he had a brain in his noggin'.