"Capacity is at the forefront of public transport challenges in Australasia" _ Chris Hale, Civil Engineering Office UQ (The Australian Planner: New Approaches to Strategic Urban Transport Assessment)
I often doubt the sanity of "planners" behind our transport networks as I stand in a packed bus on a jammed busway and watch the cars with one occupant move faster.
But since reading the soul searching of urban planners in the Australian Planner I see that it may not be their fault - entirely.
They are just as frustrated about the mess that some might call a network or even a configuration.
In fact, urban planners look down the track and worry about the "oil vulnerability" of our auto-reliant cities - particularly of low socio-economic Australians forced to live on city fringes and in regions.
Some insane scenarios are being played out without anyone questioning the sanity - or so I thought.
I mean regional Australians commute for hours to work in cities because there are no jobs where they live and they can't afford to live in cities - what the? It's all in ABS stats if you care to look.
You might think that petrol prices are high but actually the reason why 7.5 percent of households have two or more cars is because petrol is still relatively cheap.
Households actually minimize travel costs by owning two cars - rather than reducing the amount of driving.
"Our continued dependance on cheap oil and its products has the potential to render our society vulnerable when demand exceeds supply," write three University of Queensland academics in one article. (Oil Vulnerability: The Effect on non-metropolitan areas and master planned estates in SEQ 2001-2006).
The Queensland Government forecast for the peak and decline of global oil supplies is 2013 - next year.
Other accepted studies say it peaked in 2006. And another quoted study says it will happen no later than 2020.
Australia's outlay on oil imports adds more than $9.3B to Australia's current account deficit (2008-2009) - and that figure's going to hit $25B by 2015. So has anyone asked yet what exactly happens if - when - the price climbs because of oil shorages?
The Australian Planner - a subscription trade magazine published by the Planning Institute of Australia - is pretty much an academic journal, so I don't believe all the soul searching ever reaches the light of day in a public arena.
And I can't see many politicians (apart from Christine Milne) lying awake worrying - considering they have limos and credit cards at their disposal.
Volume 47, Number 4, of the Planning Institute of Australia's professional journal is dedicated to Cities and Oil Vulnerability. But what's more interesting is that the Queensland Government - under Anna Bligh - provided a grant to help produce the issue and fund the establishment of an Australian urban oil vulnerability research network.
And I am wondering where the change of government leaves them now. I recently drove through the Clem 7 tunnel (read bankrupt tollway) to skip the morning traffic to find that I had the place almost to myself while overhead traffic was standing still.
You know I don't think that the Australian film industry should think too badly of itself as a failure - when put in context - I think they do much better than transport planners do.
And they don't even have to make a profit to survive - they probably get public service bonuses, as well as credit cards.
I know you will think me odd or at least two-face when I admit to driving rather than taking a bus more often than not because it's cheaper and faster.
I was aghast to find I could drive and park for the day at Kelvin Grove for about $10 all up probably, compared to $15 catching two buses - and being stuck in massive crowds and traffic jams.
I would say our mass transit network is a complete failure. What do you say?
