Italian Sydneysiders not so impressed with their city’s transport

But what do Italians think about Sydney’s public transport and how effective is it really?

We put the question to the many young and not-so-young Italian Sydneysiders on social media, in particular in social media groups dedicated to Italians.

Voters were asked to rate Sydney’s public transport with the possible response being “exceptional”, “good”, “normal”, “very bad” or “I don’t like it”.

Out of the 117 people who expressed their opinion, 50 per cent responded with a positive judgement (good = 56, exceptional = 5), while the other 50 per cent were divided between those who consider Sydney’s public transport an adequate system for the city (normal = 27) and those who think that it is inadequate (very bad = 28, I don’t like it = 1).

Voters were then questioned further on their opinions, revealing that even those who voted “normal” think that ticket costs are too high and that transport is often late, especially buses.

Analysing the results from highest ranking to lowest,  we found that those who judged the system as “good” did so after considering the punctuality of Sydney’s transport as satisfying, such as Luigi Masaniello, who said: “For me the public transport is good enough because it arrives pretty much on time.”

“I can’t complain, the buses and trains are punctual enough,” another respondent, Giovanni Pontieri, said.

Those who voted “normal” or acceptable were not completely satisfied by the punctuality or the prices of Sydney’s transport.

“The difference between alright public transport and excellent public transport, from my point of view, is in the frequency and punctuality,” Matteo Marchioretto said.

“Here in Sydney, transport is for the most part punctual, but there is also some lateness, which is not excessive.

“The frequency is acceptable, with a bus arriving every 10 to 15 minutes.

“But I have experienced public transport in the cities of Genoa and Vienna as well.

“In Vienna, whether you are in the suburbs or in the city centre, there is a bus every three minutes and there is no such thing as ‘late’.

“Now, that is an excellent service.

“In Sydney, it’s OK and it costs a lot.”

Matteo Chies said that he voted “normal”, “because it has both positive and negative aspects to it”.

“The positive is that all places are well-connected via buses or trains, and when the Light Rail is in operation it will be even better,” Chies said.

“The negatives are that there isn’t a metro and the train lines are complicated, making it hard to understand.

“Sometimes the transport is late and it can move really slowly.”

Then, there were those who are seeing red, such as one respondent, Federica Ramorino.

“I don’t think that public transport in Sydney is absolutely terrible, but put simply, it is not particularly good,” she said.

“The timetable never seems to run on time.

“I’m not just talking about lateness, which can depend on the traffic, but also about buses which come early, something that I find particularly annoying, as well as those that don’t even turn up.

“Adding to this is the cost of tickets, which to me are very expensive, as well as the impossibility of obtaining a season ticket; this is why I’m responding with ‘very bad’.

“I don’t believe that the cost is at all proportional to the service.

“I admit that I only came to Sydney seven months ago, and maybe I’m yet to adapt to the Australian prices, but for the most part, I think I’m adapted to the prices!

“Plus some of the transport connections are really complicated.

“One Sunday, I spent nearly three hours trying to travel only 16 kilometres.

“I understand that Sydney is truly an enormous city and it mustn’t be easy...

“But personally I believe in public transport which is the best way of getting around, both because it is ecologically-friendly and because it reduces traffic in cities and increases their liveability.”

Cristian Monterastelli also described Sydney’s transport as “very bad”, explaining that the services are constantly late.

“A lot of the time they are unreliable,” he said.

“Then, when it rains, trains or buses are cancelled without any warning or else they are ridiculously late.”

Francesco Mucedola agreed with the poor rating, saying “the trains and buses do not adequately cover the territory of a city which has more than five million inhabitants”.

“Public transport here is very expensive and often late,” Mucedola added.

“Before I bought a car, public transport stole four hours of my day, just so I could travel from Lane Cove to Rozelle, a distance of around 10 kilometres...

“I have lived in cities such as New York, Toronto and Manchester and none of them had terrible transport like Sydney, not to mention the lack of a metro pass.

“If I had to give a vote from one to 10, I would give it negative 20.”

It seems that Transport NSW might have some work to do...