5 December

I just spent a few days in Melbourne. It made me angry, because it reminded me again of the unforgivable vandalism that was done in ripping up Sydney’s tram network. Walking in central Melbourne is pleasant, the trams keep huge numbers of cars off the streets, it’s so much quieter and less aggressive than Sydney. And they kept the trees. Sydney’s Tram Network was amongst the largest in the world. Over 1500 trams (more than 3 times as many as Melbourne) used to operate all over the city, well into the suburbs. (Have attached a map of just the Eastern suburbs tramways, the reach was staggering.) There were over 400 million passenger trips per year at its peak, and the network ran for nearly a century. Overseas transport ‘experts’ advised Sydney to get rid of its trams from the 1930s, which was widely unpopular. The experts won. I think it’s possibly the greatest act of public vandalism in modern Australian history. It’s costing over $2 billion to add just one light rail line back down George Street, which gives you an idea of the magnitude of the vandalism in ripping out the old trams. As George Monbiot once said, the pro-car forces in our societies are some of the greatest anti-social bastards we have.