Regular viewers will be aware that I am far from in love with our light rail system. It is infrequent, it is frequently crowded, it is not that fast, and when these guys screw up as they did when a tram derailed earlier this year and it took them over two weeks to get services restored, they really, really screw up.

To give them their due, though, I was quite amazed to see that they adopted the Opal electronic ticketing system only a couple of weeks after this shot was taken. The "time to next service" signs that you can see an example of on the opposite platform were "under test" for months on end before they finally went into use. And they should have been implemented at least five years before they were. It's not like its cutting edge technology.

However the crowding is the worst part. I don't actually mind that you often can't get a seat on the tram; I often stand anyway since seats are limited and there are often elderly passengers who need it more than me. However it annoys the bejeezes out of me when I can't get on the damn tram at all and have to wait 15 minutes for the next one. Consequently I will sometimes hop a tram back a few stops to make sure that I can get on before the human tidal wave engulfs the thing at the Star Casino stop. The stop immediately before that (John Street Pyrmont) is usually sparsely populated. The stop before that (the fish markets) usually has a decent crowd. The one before that is Wentworth Park, once a working class suburb which has become gentrified and while there may be a significant number of passengers here at other times of the day there certainly isn't at this time.

I have in fact gone back even ones further than this (it just depends on when the next Central bound tram is due), but mainly in search of PAD opportunities. On this occasion though, I was just glad to have the platform to myself so that I would be guaranteed a place on the next tram.