It wasn't an admission - it was a statement of fact that you couldn't ride on the upper deck west of Rydalmere due to clearances, one that was always planned but was then twisted in the public arena. There was the choice of providing an upper deck but having to close it beyond Rydalmere, or instead not having an upper deck at all. I know which one I'd prefer. As Linto63 points out, it's not actually something new. However, it became an ongoing media farce, continually perpetuated by lazy journalists and, it seems, even online here.boronia wrote: ↑Thu Feb 23, 2023 6:52 pm I particularly recall Constance's admissions that passengers on the upper deck "would have to duck while going under the bridges" at Parramatta, and the public outcry that resulted.
There were also media reports of the "new Parramatta ferry" taken at Parramatta during trials..
It has close parallels with the NIF rolling stock and loading gauge on the Blue Mountains line - there was a deliberate decision made to finally rectify what had been an issue for years requiring narrower rolling stock (with implications such as the gap between train and platform) and when the government took the right decision - not the easy and cheapest solution - to fix this problem, instead there's been ongoing headlines about buying trains that are too wide. This does point to the unerring inability of this government to explain and sell what it is doing, even when its actually the right decision, but its also a symptom of the febrile media that we get these days (perpetuated by opposition politicians and other attention seekers, for whom the facts are irrelevant). Constance in particular lost all public credibility regarding ferries when he had that brain snap about Ferry McFerryFace - from then on he was just a figure of public ridicule as far as ferries are concerned.
As for media reports of the "new Parramatta ferry".. well it is. It operates on the Parramatta River (F3) and can operate to Parramatta. However, they weren't acquired to replace the RiverCats, so I really don't understand what you are getting at here. The reason more vessels are being acquired is to replace the RiverCats. This should be a good news story - more investment in the public transport network.
This kind of nonsense is why sometimes we can't have nice things, when politicians and departments realise that even taking the right decisions can result in ongoing attacks. Much easier to take the low risk solution of doing nothing.... and then you'd genuinely have something to whinge about.