On Tuesday, 9 February 2010, I had the pleasure of standing with Labor Minister the Hon Paul McLeay MP, Labor Deputy Speaker the Hon Tanya Gadiel MP, and Ryde Mayor Clr Michael Butterworth, in opening the $600,000 revamp of the Ermington Boat Ramp.

Despite the different political allegiances, I must always give credit where credit is due. This revamped boat ramp looks terrific! As a member of the boating community myself, I was appreciative of the Labor State Government’s contribution.

Even Tanya Gadiel in her speech said that this has taken her 7 years to come into fruition after coming into contact with some constituents back in 2003 while her campaigning for office!

So, I don’t begrudge Tanya Gadiel for helping to deliver this promise of hers. But it is somewhat ironic that this relatively small piece of public transport infrastructure has taken so long to be delivered, and yet the more important pieces of public transport infrastructure remains uncommitted.

For example, the Parramatta-to-Epping segment of the very much promised Parramatta-to-Chatswood rail link remains in abeyance. With half of the rail link delivered at twice the cost, one would be forgiven to have hope extinguished with any other promises.

And what about the Parramatta Rivercat service? While this commuter service has been “reinstated”, its effective use remains uncertain. Plagued with past experiences of unreliability, a slow commute, and high ticket price, the Parramatta Rivercat service’s “commuter status” may only be in name only.