Corporate Greed
Feb 08
Regular readers may recall that back in March of last year I posted the transcript of a letter I sent to CrossCity Motorway Pty Ltd with the toll fare and fine I was forced to pay after accidently stumbling through their badly signposted bloody cross city motorway.
Well, just a couple of little updates on that one—Fire sale as tunnel price plummets and Tunnel owes taxpayers, too.
The traffic flow was a third of the estimates. The tunnel is now worth a third of what it cost to build. Banks and investors are hundreds of millions out of pocket. Unpaid phone and electricity bills. Even staff are owed holiday pay.
It never ceases to amaze me that banks and corporate organisations will spend hundreds of millions on a complete fuck-up which could have been completely avoided if they’d asked the opinion of few people in the street. We didn’t want existing roads changed to funnel cars into their tunnel, and we didn’t want to pay a fortune for the privilege of using it. I won’t use a toll road that forces me to buy an automatic electronic payment system (extrapolate how that will ultimately be abused). Of course, the real fat cats responsible won’t be touched—as usual, it will be the taxpayers who suffer for their greed.
I’m sick of having to pay extra for basics that should be covered by our taxes. Hopefully this debacle will bring up short the greedy bastards who think building roads and tunnels is a licence to print money. The people of Sydney have spoken!
Feb 08, 2007 @ 14:29:42
I think it’s not so much that people didn’t want the tunnel (it’s great actually if you have to go that way) but that it is WAY too expensive. This is a typical problem with such things. The builders see it as a Way To Make Money, rather than a community and social benefit, so they get all greedy and grasping. As a WTMM it is a sad failure. And they know this in advance, which is why they force people into the tunnel by closing off perfectly serviceable roads.
I think most people would agree to go through the tunnel for a reasonable price – say a couple of dollars – but if you commute and you find that it’s costing you $50+ a week just for tunnel tolls are you going to pay that? No way. You’d sit in traffic.
Doesn’t take brains to figure this kind of thing out, but as I say, they see all the potential $$$$$$$ that some prospectus has flashed before them and go all week at the knees.
Now they’ll just be forced to find a reasonable compromise or fill the thing in with concrete.
Serves ’em right – I hope they all rot in hell for this kind of thing. With the people who put the Monorail in.
Feb 08, 2007 @ 14:31:26
Amen to that!
Feb 08, 2007 @ 21:30:49
You’d be surprised the stupid shit that people will pay for once traffic gets bad enough.