Calling all Sydney commuters, eshays and Francis Bourgeois(es) — your time has come. For the next 12 days, the NSW Government will make Sydney public transport will be free for all. Who doesn’t love free stuff?
The move is an obvious effort by the State Government to apologise to its citizens. Primarily for making Sydney-siders book 4x surge Ubers when Sydney public transport got repeatedly cancelled over the past few weeks/months/years (let’s be honest).
From April 14-26, Sydney public transport commuters won’t have to drain their Opal card to hop on their chosen mode of transport.
The freebies come after intense negotiations between the NSW Rail, Tram and Bus Union (we stan) and the NSW Government (*awkward silence*).
After last month’s 24-hour shutdown, the union said they would take industrial action (ie: striking) every Friday until June unless the NSW Government whipped out its cheque book and made travel free.
BREAKING: The NSW Government has withdrawn their Fair Work case against unions.
Transport Minister, David Elliot, said unions “were very honest, open and frank in addressing the issues that we needed to address.”
As always, rail unions will continue to negotiate in good faith.
— Unions NSW (@unionsnsw) February 22, 2022
Media outlets and the government initially tried to pin the Sydney public transport shut-down on workers after talks regarding workers’ pay and conditions reached a stalemate in Feb.
“The unions were intent on causing chaos. I’m incredibly disappointed with what has occurred across our city this morning,” said Premier Dominic Perrottet said on the morning of the shutdown as per Australian Unions.
NSW Transport Minister David Elliott piled on saying that the union “cannot use the city’s transport system for some sort of terrorist-like activities”. Fkn yikes.
It was later revealed the government itself ordered the Sydney public transport shutdown.
Very (unsurprisingly) petty indeed.
More and more this NSW rail shutdown looks like a clusterfuck brought on by The Boy Premier and his Transport Minister in a petulant fit of ideological union bashing and general incompetence.
— Mike Carlton (@MikeCarlton01) February 22, 2022
“To commuters affected by recent rail disruptions, I want to say a heartfelt thank you for your patience,” Minister Elliot said as per the Sydney Morning Herald.
“I hope the fare-free 12 days of Easter is a way for you to enjoy quality time with family and friends during the school holidays, while at the same time helping to revitalise our city centres and local communities.”
Yeah yeah yeah — give us our free rides and move along, chief.
