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[Choc]

Worried about losing 0.5/1% in extra tax hey choc?

Harden up ffs. Seriously, people complaining about this shit give me the fucking shits.


Edit: I had someone on Facebook try and tell me that spending the money from the levy on infrastructure rebuild was a bad somehow.... I am still trying to work it out.

the flood levy is fine. Cutting State Government funding when its already fucking weak is poor.

I don't mind the extra tax to be honest, but i want MY state government to be able to provide for me without taking cuts.....

Omi i suggest you don't read the major newspapers today who are all saying its a bad idea and sets a bad precedent because after every major disaster everyone will say YOU DID IT FOR THE FLOODS!!!

we need to do something, the levy is fine, i dont mind paying the extra $5, but my government needs money.

 

[Omikron]

the flood levy is fine. Cutting State Government funding when its already fucking weak is poor.

I don't mind the extra tax to be honest, but i want MY state government to be able to provide for me without taking cuts.....

Omi i suggest you don't read the major newspapers today who are all saying its a bad idea and sets a bad precedent because after every major disaster everyone will say YOU DID IT FOR THE FLOODS!!!

we need to do something, the levy is fine, i dont mind paying the extra $5, but my government needs money.

Then blame your fucked up state government.

In fact, I call for getting rid of state governments all together... and have been saying so for some time now. Australia is ridiculously over governed, all vying for a slice of the limited pie.

 

[giri]

Then blame your fucked up state government.

In fact, I call for getting rid of state governments all together... and have been saying so for some time now. Australia is ridiculously over governed, all vying for a slice of the limited pie.

Truely. Federal and Local (council) is all that is really needed.

 

[Choc]

omi i have said that for ages as well

the fact we have 3 levels of government with a pop of approx 24 million is just ridiculous.

when the victorian government states cutting the shit out of everything as they are not getting GST then you will also feel the same.

Our government in NSW is fucked, but the new premier in march will need funds to fix it, as he is Liberal GILLARD DOESNT GIVE A FUCK

 

[Mar]

I don't give a crap about the hardware, PSP2 nor DS3. I don't care how much it costs and I don't care about touch screens and dual analogue sticks. I don't care that one's made by Nintendo and one's made by Sony. All I care about are the games, and until there's one I want to play I'll remain apathetic.

 

[Omikron]

omi i have said that for ages as well

the fact we have 3 levels of government with a pop of approx 24 million is just ridiculous.

when the victorian government states cutting the shit out of everything as they are not getting GST then you will also feel the same.

Our government in NSW is fucked, but the new premier in march will need funds to fix it, as he is Liberal GILLARD DOESNT GIVE A FUCK

Sigh, it is so hard to have a decent discussion with you, as you are always jumping off the damn deep end with ranting. lol.

Again, I say, look at your government, don't blame the feds, or gillard, because guess what, the NSW situation has clearly been going on a LONG time before she was around, let alone Labor federally.

 

[codswallop]

Video games (sort of)!

Anyone watched the 'Beyond Black Mesa' fan short film?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOrH5tfWorg

 

[Choc]

Sigh, it is so hard to have a decent discussion with you, as you are always jumping off the damn deep end with ranting. lol.

Again, I say, look at your government, don't blame the feds, or gillard, because guess what, the NSW situation has clearly been going on a LONG time before she was around, let alone Labor federally.

i am looking at my government and its fucked and will be kicked out in March. But they need funds to fix it, funds that will dry up

look at YOUR useless Bracks government

 

[Omikron]

i am looking at my government and its fucked and will be kicked out in March. But they need funds to fix it, funds that will dry up

look at YOUR useless Bracks government

For what exactly?

I barely lived here under Bracks so can't really comment.

 

[giri]

i am looking at my government and its fucked and will be kicked out in March. But they need funds to fix it, funds that will dry up

look at YOUR useless Bracks government

I think what Omi is trying to say politely is, whats the point in giving you funds, it never actually goes towards getting anything acutally done. Just drwaing up plans and then scraping them.

 

[evlcookie]

I like writing long posts then not actually posting them, Cleanses the soul i guess.

Still no money transfers from my bank back into steam. So no steam account this weekend i guess. I think it's going to take a long time, Pretty sure the guy went to say "It could take up to 45 da.. but here's the number for the fraud guys and if you haven't noticed anything mid to late next week give them a call". Well it's late next week and i left the number at home :/

A weekend with no movies or no games. What the hell is one suppose to do? Well i guess WoW is still an option.

 

[legend166]

Sadly, the NSW Labor Party has caused more damage in NSW than a flood could ever do.

Where's our disaster relief

 

[Omikron]

I think what Omi is trying to say politely is, whats the point in giving you funds, it never actually goes towards getting anything acutally done. Just drwaing up plans and then scraping them.

Exactly, but I like choc to work things out for himself Its more fun that way.

 

[Shaneus]

Second, HOLY CRAP LONDON CALLING IN ROCK BAND YES GREATEST NEWS EVER IN THE HISTORY OF ANYTHING.

When did this happen?

PS. Still no Bloc Party. What the fuck is going on with RB?!?

 

[legend166]

When did this happen?

PS. Still no Bloc Party. What the fuck is going on with RB?!?

It was announced today.

 

[Shaneus]

Awesome. London Calling is an epic album. Bass will be amazing to play on.

 

[Choc]

For what exactly?

I barely lived here under Bracks so can't really comment.

Myki

all im sayin

myki was a clusterfuck of epic proportions. For some reason your government decided it should invent its own system rather then take a proven system from London or Singapore.

 

[evlcookie]

It's the same system choc, just a different name and with some adjustments i guess.

It's not that myki sucks ass it's that PT in melbourne sucks ass. Myki is "ok" i use it everyday and haven't had too many issues with it, It's the trains not running on time that piss me off the most and that's pretty much a daily occurrence.

There's things they could do to myki to make it a better a product, a product it should be but it's going to take time. They also need to run metcard along side it since forcing everyone to switch at once would have been a giant clusterfuck.

Hopefully they don't ditch it and actually get off their ass to improve the service and performance of the myki machines along with kicking metro up the ass and getting PT running better.

 

[Choc]

, It's the trains not running on time that piss me off the most and that's pretty much a daily occurrence.

.

never live in sydney then

under our rules if a train makes it to the station within 11 minutes of the correct time, its not late

shit you not.

 

[Danoss]

Thats because just about every car policy DOES have flood cover. Guess whose cars are more likely to get washed away?

If they don't like it, shop around. There are TONS of car insurers. probably about 50.

WHOA, I was using that as an example (easier for some people here to relate as they may own a car but not a home, no?). There are homes in the same area experiencing the same increases that DON'T cover flood. Either way, guess who's cars were ALREADY in a flood-prone area? This may be the point you're missing.

You point out that there are other risks involved besides flood (theft, fire, accidental damage, etc), since that's what home owners in those areas are insuring for (flood is often specifically excluded). It's hard to justify such a large increase in home and contents premiums when other risks haven't changed in those areas in a long time.

 

[MrSerrels]

In every city I've ever lived in people bitch endlessly about public transport.

Honestly, I think Sydney's system is pretty solid. Not Japan solid, but pretty good.

 

[codswallop]

It's the same system choc, just a different name and with some adjustments i guess.

I've used London, Hong Kong and Singapore's systems and Myki is closest to Singapore's. Which is also by far the worst in that list. London and Hong Kong have fantastic systems (not going to touch on punctuality as I haven't used them as a daily commuter) and we should have aimed not only to emulate those systems but improve on them.

But instead we waste billions of dollars customising a system that really isn't very good (but is still way better than our existing system).

Last year I travelled on Serbian public transport in Sarajevo. Their system is the same as our Metcard system. That's how far behind our current system is. Adelaide's is much the same as Paris' and that works much better than Melbourne's system.

Don't even get me started on the costs to use Myki. In London, using the Oyster saves you like 60% on a lot of trips.

 

[Deleted member 30609]

I've never really had any major issues with Melbourne's public transport. Seems to be largely on time, give or take a couple of minutes.

 

[Dead Man]

In every city I've ever lived in people bitch endlessly about public transport.

Honestly, I think Sydney's system is pretty solid. Not Japan solid, but pretty good.

After going all over the world, I can safely say that every city inm the world has better public transport than Adelaide. Some are expensive, but I would trade that for on that worked. I live 10 minutes form the CBD, on a major arterial road. My options for transport on a Friday night (from 7pm onwards) consist of a bus that runs every half hour. That's it.

In the mornings they are supposed to run every 15 minutes, but they fill up before my stop so they drive right past it.

 

[Choc]

I've never really had any major issues with Melbourne's public transport. Seems to be largely on time, give or take a couple of minutes.

when i've been in melbourne the PT has been great

Sydneys is ridiculous and my weekly ticket went up 8 bucks this year whilst the service is slowly getting worse

IPART needs to piss off

 

[jambo]

Never had any issues with Adelaide or Melbourne PT. I was in Melb for New Years and it was great, all the trams and trains were on time and fairly clean.

 

[Fredescu]

never live in sydney then

under our rules if a train makes it to the station within 11 minutes of the correct time, its not late

shit you not.

You do shit him, it's 5 minutes. And that's only for stat tracking, they still announce at a station if a train is two minutes late or whatever so it's not like they don't operate as if it's a late train.

 

[evlcookie]

Oh yea, The myki costs are stupid. I figured using a newer system would get me some sort of savings, It's the same fucking price as a metcard. It also costs $10 for the bloody card.

Melb Pt is usually out a few minutes but sometimes those few minutes cost you. For example the train i get home from the city is meant to leave southern cross at 5:13 and arrive at my destination at 5:58. The bus that takes me closest to my house leaves the station at 5:58 so if it's late by a minute or two i'm stuck waiting around for another 20 minutes for the next bus. 5:58 bus gets me home at just after 6:30 where as the next bus at 6:18 is just after 7.

It's not a life killer but it does suck.

Yesterdays 5:23 train didn't turn up until 5:40. I always laugh when that happens, makes me wonder what the hell caused such a delay.

With the proposed changes happening to the city loop it should be interesting to see if it improves melb pt or messes it up even more.

 

[Choc]

You do shit him, it's 5 minutes. And that's only for stat tracking, they still announce at a station if a train is two minutes late or whatever so it's not like they don't operate as if it's a late train.

it was exposed under an FOI by the media 2 years ago, the government is tracking it as 11 minutes

 

[Fredescu]

it was exposed under an FOI by the media 2 years ago, the government is tracking it as 11 minutes

Have a cite for that? To counter:

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/more-trains-running-on-time-rees-20090719-dpe9.html "Opposition transport spokeswoman Gladys Berejiklian cast doubt on the improvement, citing the generous definition given to the phrase "on time".

"Trains are still counted as being on time even if they're running five minutes late," she said."

If she could have said 11 minutes, she would have.

Also http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/lifematters/whats-the-chance-youll-get-lucky-20110103-19dwj.html

"For most of us, ''on time'' means, literally, just that; in CityRail's understanding of the phrase, it means within five minutes of the timetable time, a definition extended arbitrarily by a minute in July 2005. "

 

[viciouskillersquirrel]

So last night, my friend Sarah asked off-handedly when the next BrisGAF meetup is.

 

[Omikron]

The whole myki reporting is pretty fucking ordinary, reports tend not to focus on a system that by and large works. I use it all the time now, as does my wife and we have no issues and use it in completely different ways.

Yes they paid too much for it, that much is clear, but to do what Ballieu is suggesting and dump it would be fucking idiotic imo.

I would also add that their pricing, as mentioned by cookie, should have been better planned. If they want people to use it, they should price it under the current metcard to get people to jump ship and stop having to support 2 systems as they will now have to do into the foreseeable future I imagine. But that isn't a failing of the myki system.

 

[Choc]

The whole myki reporting is pretty fucking ordinary, reports tend not to focus on a system that by and large works. I use it all the time now, as does my wife and we have no issues and use it in completely different ways.

Yes they paid too much for it, that much is clear, but to do what Ballieu is suggesting and dump it would be fucking idiotic imo.

I would also add that their pricing, as mentioned by cookie, should have been better planned. If they want people to use it, they should price it under the current metcard to get people to jump ship and stop having to support 2 systems as they will now have to do into the foreseeable future I imagine. But that isn't a failing of the myki system.

dumping myki would be ridiculous.

 

[Agyar]

So last night, my friend Sarah asked off-handedly when the next BrisGAF meetup is.

Sounds like we should make it happen. We could do the Mana Bar again, unless anyone else has a bright idea?

 

[codswallop]

Yes they paid too much for it, that much is clear, but to do what Ballieu is suggesting and dump it would be fucking idiotic imo.

Oh yes, most definitely. To pay too much for something is one thing, to pay too much for it and then scrap it is the dumbest thing they could do.

But given that they could have got a much better system I just can't fathom why they went with a worse system. Couple that with the fact that we still have the retarded "zone" systems when many cities introducing this sort of electronic system went with a system where you pay for the distance you travel instead (which is where a lot of the discounts on Oyster come from) and it's a system that is unfathomably stupid.

I agree the reason Melbourne's train system is bad is because of the loop -- why do all trains need to go through it? When you look at the network all lines lead to the city. Have a look at just about every other major cities' network (London, Paris, Singapore, New York, they all criss-cross). It may have worked in the early 1900s but it's terrible now.

 

[evlcookie]

The pay for distance thing is a little iffy as well but i guess that depends on price.

With a lot of development now heading outwards from the city say for instance, pakenham and cranbourne, that's some good distance to cover for your average "working family" or single home owner.

 

[VOOK]

Anyone up for some SC2 tonight?

 

[fappenmeister]

I want to be a Unitologist.

 

[codswallop]

The pay for distance thing is a little iffy as well but i guess that depends on price.

I only used the Oyster in London for a few weeks but using it would drop a five pound trip to one-pound-forty.

I think if the maximum price (round trip) didn't exceed the price of a daily ticket, it wouldn't be a problem. If you travel two stops you shouldn't have to pay for travel throughout the whole zone.

And the development in Pakenham, Cranbourne should have never happened that way. The inner suburbs should be much higher density than they are now.

 

[hamchan]

Now that I've thought about it i'm kinda impressed by the NGP. Near PS3 graphics in my hand? Yes please. Cartridge/SD like thingy so loading times aren't excruciating like on UMD? Yes please. Two analogue sticks? Hooray!

The 3DS will probably outsell it but I don't really care, as long as the NGP sells enough to get a lot of continued support that's fine by me.

Amazing how fast technology advances. I remember how excited I was when the GBA let me have portable SNES graphics. I'm pretty happy Sony decided to add all their touch and motion control stuff while still beefing up the graphics.

 

[evlcookie]

Agreed. If it doesn't exceed the current daily limit (although it's going to increase by what, 3.15% or something in march?) then i would have no issues with distance based pricing. It would actually be a good idea.

But it seems like they will need to recoop the money from the clusterfuck that is myki, so i can't see them lowering prices anytime soon

Also, Crysis 2 is getting a PC MP demo. I look forward to my PC crying.

 

[legend166]

In every city I've ever lived in people bitch endlessly about public transport.

Honestly, I think Sydney's system is pretty solid. Not Japan solid, but pretty good.

Ew, no.

Public transport in Sydney is poor. The trains generally run on time, so that's not the issue. It's the fact that you get crammed into a small box on 35 degree days with no air conditioning and no hope of getting a seat. It's the fact that large parts of Sydney have no rail network. Until I was 18 I'd only ever been on a suburban train once in my life, because I lived on the Northern Beaches and the train was a 30 minute drive. In those places your only way of getting to the city is on the bus, where you're in the hands of Sydney's even worse road network. Military road has congestion? Sucks for you, it will now take you an hour and a half to travel 25km. I can't even imagine what it's like for the people in the Hills District.

 

[hamchan]

They should get rid of those tin can trains, god damn. It also really sucks when the air con breaks on tangaras or millenium trains since windows can't be opened.

 

[VOOK]

Japan's public transport > *

 

[Deeku]

Ew, no.

Public transport in Sydney is poor. The trains generally run on time, so that's not the issue. It's the fact that you get crammed into a small box on 35 degree days with no air conditioning and no hope of getting a seat. It's the fact that large parts of Sydney have no rail network. Until I was 18 I'd only ever been on a suburban train once in my life, because I lived on the Northern Beaches and the train was a 30 minute drive. In those places your only way of getting to the city is on the bus, where you're in the hands of Sydney's even worse road network. Military road has congestion? Sucks for you, it will now take you an hour and a half to travel 25km. I can't even imagine what it's like for the people in the Hills District.

Nice. I have still yet to pop my train cherry haha.

 

[VOOK]

oops DP

 

[Choc]

Agreed. If it doesn't exceed the current daily limit (although it's going to increase by what, 3.15% or something in march?) then i would have no issues with distance based pricing. It would actually be a good idea.

this is exactly how london works

 

[Fredescu]

Sucks for you, it will now take you an hour and a half to travel 25km. I can't even imagine what it's like for the people in the Hills District.

It's the same only you're charged $10 each way.

 

[hamchan]

Japan's public transport > *

Yep, though people get packed like sardines in Japanese peak hour. >_>

Not a pleasant experience.

 

[Choc]

It's the same only you're charged $10 each way.

even when roadworks take out 3/4 road

that is a joke.