Looks like the NRMA is starting to hurt

from competition from all the other breakdown services or is this just
another marketing campain? (g?)

They sent out an interesting (not really*) list of places that currently
rort you and can afford to give NRMA members a 15% discount. I must write
and thank the brain dead board members who name was attatched.

Stuff on motoring, travel(who can afford that), home&lifestyle(OVERLOAD)
and online (mynrma.puke and more4members.reech). i wonder if I will really
be able to truely share my thoughts like they say.

I already know about the RACV bicycle breakdown assistance. Any other
suggestions of real benefits that i could suggest?






* that is we never shop at any of them.

In article ,
terryc wrote:

from competition from all the other breakdown services or is this just
another marketing campain? (g?)

They sent out an interesting (not really*) list of places that currently
rort you and can afford to give NRMA members a 15% discount. I must write
and thank the brain dead board members who name was attatched.

Stuff on motoring, travel(who can afford that), home&lifestyle(OVERLOAD)
and online (mynrma.puke and more4members.reech). i wonder if I will really
be able to truely share my thoughts like they say.

I already know about the RACV bicycle breakdown assistance. Any other
suggestions of real benefits that i could suggest?


* that is we never shop at any of them.


I quite often use the driving route trip planner for planning rides.
It is handy being able to print out the directions with distances.

Not cycling related unless you cycle at night on country highways but
how about getting them to promote transport of cars by train. It would
be good to chuck the car on a flat-bed and sit in a carriage overnight
to somewhere in Queensland then unload and drive to various attractions.
Probably more environmentally friendly too.
I saw a TV program about a scheme in Germany where they do not allow
B-double trucks to drive across Germany at night so they drive them onto
a train and the drivers sit in a carriage and snooze until morning when
they unload their trucks and continue the journey.

Would NRMA support rail trails if it meant getting bikes off roads?
There are plenty of potential train-lines in NSW because the state
government run down infrastructure until it has to be repaired or
closed. So they close it. The railway line around Byron Bay is a classic
example of a suitable rail trail but it needs money and manpower to get
it going.

regards,
20cents

On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:30:40 GMT
20cents wrote:


Not cycling related unless you cycle at night on country highways but
how about getting them to promote transport of cars by train. It
would be good to chuck the car on a flat-bed and sit in a carriage
overnight to somewhere in Queensland then unload and drive to various
attractions.

they actually had a scheme like this in Qld, I think it died a natural
death, though future fuel prices might resurrect it.


--

Owen

On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:30:40 +0000, 20cents wrote:


Not cycling related unless you cycle at night on country highways but
how about getting them to promote transport of cars by train. It would
be good to chuck the car on a flat-bed and sit in a carriage overnight
to somewhere in Queensland then unload and drive to various attractions.
Probably more environmentally friendly too.

Cars are doable, but the NSW gauge is different to the QLD and that means
everthing would need to be transshipped at the border (so to speak). I
believe the North Coast motorail was dropped because of lack of
patronage.

Timeliness is that major factor. Basically rail lines in this country are
a combination of 18th Century political lobbying and payment per curve
installed, followed one by a century plus of poor maintenance and lack
of extra investment. FYI, every interstate route out of Sydney going
interstate still has a spiral in it (or close to it.West/BM?)

The North Coast Motorail, which traversed a single track route for most of
the journey, had to compete with the continualy upgraded, rebuilt and
realigned Pacific Highway that has been given billions of
dollars in the same time. In sections, you could ride your bicycle
between towns in a shorter time than the train took.

woops... a TV program about a scheme in Germany where they do not allow
B-double trucks to drive across Germany at night

Weird? That is the best time, when other traffic is off the road.

so they drive them onto a train and the drivers sit in a carriage
and snooze until morning when
they unload their trucks and continue the journey.

umm, the program I remember seeing was about overcome the difficulties
imposed by that great opportunity for scenic opportunites whilst bicycle
touring Europe, more commonly known as the Alps. The problem being that
road tunnels through the Alps were choked and that providing the service
you described above, it allowed trucks to cart their cargoes to
destinations either side of the Alps.

This would not be possible in NSW as the existing tunnels just do not
allow a rail waggon to caryy a truck carrying a container. Far easier to
just stick the container on a rail waggon and collect it at the other
end( usually by shunting to a container unloading depot in my neck of
the woods now). They also avoid paying for a driver to sleep on the job.

That works well for containers travelling Melbourne -- Sydney, but
anywhere else, it is far faster to truck it.

Would NRMA support rail trails if it meant getting bikes off roads?
You are entering a logical inconsistency here. You can not have an
effective public rail transport system if you go around ripping up allthe
under used rail lines.

You are also inviting a tar and feather party. Bicycles are a valid
transport mechanism right throughout Australia. that saga of riding on the
sheeps back was made possible in part by shears who rode bicycles abetween
sheds and people who used bicycles in other areas. Not everyone could
afford to buy and keep a horse.

Bicycles belong on the road. The NRMA would not have existed if bicycles
did not exist. They certainly found them easier to use to provide the
intial road service than horse and carts. Note, they seem to be now hiding
theose picture of the NRMA bicycle service vans.

There are plenty of potential train-lines in NSW because the state
government run down infrastructure until it has to be repaired or
closed. So they close it.

My 2c is that it is wiser to wait until a self sustaining petroleum oil
replacement has been found before alienating possible mass transport
routes.

The railway line around Byron Bay is a classic
example of a suitable rail trail but it needs money and manpower to get
it going.

Just another rail line established by political lobbying. I have
forgotten what the long ago reason was for the establishment of
that spur line. If you bury it under a bicycle path, how do you
recover its use to provide a train service without destroying the
bicycle facilities?

Further, I certainly wouldn't trade my right to ride my bicycle on the
roads around Byron Bay for a single off road route.

On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 15:11:55 +1000, Owen wrote:

On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:30:40 GMT
20cents wrote:


Not cycling related unless you cycle at night on country highways but
how about getting them to promote transport of cars by train. It
would be good to chuck the car on a flat-bed and sit in a carriage
overnight to somewhere in Queensland then unload and drive to various
attractions.

they actually had a scheme like this in Qld, I think it died a natural
death, though future fuel prices might resurrect it.

Qld had the same problems as NSW, pokey old rail lines meandering across
the country side. whereas NSW had all rail routes radiating from Sydney,
Qld had a spine up the coast and very little stuff running west. Coal
lines mostly.

That route up the coast died for the same reason it did in NSW, the slow
old railways had to compete with a nice new double lane both way
highway up the coast. I think it was 48 hours Cairns to Brisbane in the
70's unless you were very rich and planned an booked ahead.

Part of the current problem that is is still easier, faster and just as
econmical to FLY to your destination and rent a car for the duration of
your trip/holiday. BTDT a few times now.

Hi

In article 20080822151155.0118cc8f@owens, Owen wrote:
On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:30:40 GMT
20cents wrote:


Not cycling related unless you cycle at night on country highways but
how about getting them to promote transport of cars by train. It
would be good to chuck the car on a flat-bed and sit in a carriage
overnight to somewhere in Queensland then unload and drive to various
attractions.

they actually had a scheme like this in Qld, I think it died a natural
death, though future fuel prices might resurrect it.


I presently am living in Finland, where the Finnish Rail has the sama
arrangement (cars on a tray back) for getting to Lapland. Given that fuel here
is AU$2.57 per liter its unsurprising that its popular.

Also (I have to say) that Finalnd has fantastic and well used bicycle paths. I
suspect they would be 10 times higher bike usage than Australia. Given the
(almost) constant drissel here I think its a great system here.


See Ya
(when bandwidth gets better ;-)

Chris Eastwood
Photographer, Programmer Motorcyclist and dingbat
blog: http://cjeastwd.blogspot.com/

please remove undies for reply

20cents wrote:

Not cycling related unless you cycle at night on country highways but
how about getting them to promote transport of cars by train. It would
be good to chuck the car on a flat-bed and sit in a carriage overnight
to somewhere in Queensland then unload and drive to various attractions.
Probably more environmentally friendly too.
You mean like the trip my CEO and I took last month?. Drove the
campervan to Brisneyland, then put it on the train to Longreach before
driving back to Melb. The 24 hr train trip was a welcome and (compared
to trains like the Ghan and Indian-pacific) relatively inexpensive respite.

Moike

Owen writes:

On Fri, 22 Aug 2008 03:30:40 GMT 20cents wrote:

Not cycling related unless you cycle at night on country highways but
how about getting them to promote transport of cars by train. It
would be good to chuck the car on a flat-bed and sit in a carriage
overnight to somewhere in Queensland then unload and drive to various
attractions.

they actually had a scheme like this in Qld, I think it died a natural
death, though future fuel prices might resurrect it.

The number of times I've driven up the Hume hwy and wished I could just
flag down one of the half-empty flat-bed semis, drive up on the back and
ask to be let off somewhere near my destination. Sure would beat the
mindnumbing drive and avoid having to play the game of; do I a) slow to
80 in the roadworks and run the risk of having a "professional truckie"
go right over me at 100 while flashing his driving lights, or b) stay on
100 and run the risk of hitting the gravel or being booked by NSW's finest.

Owen
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