Renting a car in Sydney to get to the Blue Mountains

[The_Big_M]

1 hour ago, Brisbane41 said:

I cant see what the bid deal is when it clearly expresses how bad it is for car hire. People think Sydney is easy but it is not. Far from it. People from major international cities with populations that eclipse Sydney think that hiring a car will be a breeze, when in fact it is far from it. In reality it could well be the worst city in the world to hire a car. I have been fortunate enough to see some of the roads in the USA and we certainly do not have multiple road lanes like them. Its quite embarrassing for our country to have predominately duel lane highways when the rest of the world has much more. In fact Japan has multiple story roads on top of each other.

 

You should not take things so literally.

 

Literal? Nice deflection, since your statement is far from accurate. 

 

There are many cities that are worse, and Sydney is nowhere near the worst. It may not be the best, but given that most people follow the laws, which are sensibly applied, our congestion is nowhere near other places, it means that for someone unfamiliar it's far easier to fit in than other countries where you have no idea what to expect, or to fit in how the locals do. 

 

As for the grass is greener syndrome, sure, the US has more multi road ways - but it also has a great lack of alternatives so good luck to you if you wanted any other way to travel. Public transport is much poorer on the whole also than many other countries. You can't just lament something without looking at the overall picture - nowhere is perfect, and the only reason the roads are so good there is an expectation that everybody drives. It's essential. Other countries aren't so overly reliant so they don't have the same need to dedicate all resources to one thing.

 

Japan conversely has a population 5 times ours - in an area less than a 20th the size of ours. So of course density is much greater so from necessity you need to duplicate infrastructure. And when you have much higher density that's not only sensible but economic. Who's going to pay the trillions needed to do the same here to cover only a 5th of the population over an area 20 times larger? You, Mr deep pockets? 

[Toryhere]

17 minutes ago, The_Big_M said:

 

Literal? Nice deflection, since your statement is far from accurate. 

 

There are many cities that are worse, and Sydney is nowhere near the worst. It may not be the best, but given that most people follow the laws, which are sensibly applied, our congestion is nowhere near other places, it means that for someone unfamiliar it's far easier to fit in than other countries where you have no idea what to expect, or to fit in how the locals do. 

 

As for the grass is greener syndrome, sure, the US has more multi road ways - but it also has a great lack of alternatives so good luck to you if you wanted any other way to travel. Public transport is much poorer on the whole also than many other countries. You can't just lament something without looking at the overall picture - nowhere is perfect, and the only reason the roads are so good there is an expectation that everybody drives. It's essential. Other countries aren't so overly reliant so they don't have the same need to dedicate all resources to one thing.

 

Japan conversely has a population 5 times ours - in an area less than a 20th the size of ours. So of course density is much greater so from necessity you need to duplicate infrastructure. And when you have much higher density that's not only sensible but economic. Who's going to pay the trillions needed to do the same here to cover only a 5th of the population over an area 20 times larger? You, Mr deep pockets? 

Of course Sydney is actually far bigger than most American cities in area, because of the huge spread of single owner housing. It’s terrain is also quite hilly and the Harbour produces a mass of jagged interior coastline that hardly any other city has. For Americans too, there is the problem of driving on the left.

[Brisbane41]

15 hours ago, The_Big_M said:

 

Literal? Nice deflection, since your statement is far from accurate. 

 

There are many cities that are worse, and Sydney is nowhere near the worst. It may not be the best, but given that most people follow the laws, which are sensibly applied, our congestion is nowhere near other places, it means that for someone unfamiliar it's far easier to fit in than other countries where you have no idea what to expect, or to fit in how the locals do. 

 

As for the grass is greener syndrome, sure, the US has more multi road ways - but it also has a great lack of alternatives so good luck to you if you wanted any other way to travel. Public transport is much poorer on the whole also than many other countries. You can't just lament something without looking at the overall picture - nowhere is perfect, and the only reason the roads are so good there is an expectation that everybody drives. It's essential. Other countries aren't so overly reliant so they don't have the same need to dedicate all resources to one thing.

 

Japan conversely has a population 5 times ours - in an area less than a 20th the size of ours. So of course density is much greater so from necessity you need to duplicate infrastructure. And when you have much higher density that's not only sensible but economic. Who's going to pay the trillions needed to do the same here to cover only a 5th of the population over an area 20 times larger? You, Mr deep pockets? 

Its not a deflection but reality. Sydney is a poor choice of city to hire a car. I have been to America. LA for example the CBD is enormous, Sydney on the other hand the CBD is tiny yet we still have a highly densely populated city. There are actually reports that suggest due to the small size of Sydney' CBD it could be more dense than the larger cities in the USA for example. When you look at the map you could easily fit the Sydney CBD into a 1 square kilometre radius.

 

That aside, no matter how you compare it to other worldwide cities you can still come to the same conclusion that it is totally an inappropriate place to hire a car for a day drip on a holiday.

 

You want to talk about Japan? They have a phenomenal train network that connects their country. In Australia 85% of our population live on the coast. We have an antiquated train network inferior to the old steam trains. I am not lying here when I tell you the old steam trains could do a journey from Sydney to Newcastle quicker than what the miserable s- shakers we have in service today can do. The Sydney to Newcastle train is looking at a 2:40 minute journey. Japanese trains could do the same distance in 40 minutes. Even driving between the two cities is a hassle enough. One day Australia is going to have a massive population with no infrastructure to support it. At least other countries have invested in their future transport plans unlike ours.

[The_Big_M]

Your point has moved on, to match what others said. Many of the earlier suggestions were suggesting taking a train instead of the car. That doesn't make it the worst city to rent or worse than many other cities - but for the objective public transport is probably a better choice.

 

Similarly, your latest observations about infrastructure are correct. But you can't ignore the context when you make comparisons either.

[MicCanberra]

Don't want to be too pedantic but Literally is really the only way to take something that is written .

[BRANDEE]

On 6/20/2019 at 9:21 PM, pink845 said:

Thank you to all who have replied.  I think we will forgo the car and take the train to the Blue Mountains for the day.  Will look into where the ho-ho bus goes exactly and whether it is worth the expense or perhaps as there will be four us perhaps a taxi can take us to the Blue Mountains from the train depot at Katoomba.  

We are also going to be in Sydney for a March 2020 cruise..What date and cruise are you going on?  We are four trying to do Blue Mt..and wondering if a private tour is better..Found one on Trip Advisor   dailysydneytours.com   It is a private tour up to 8..with a hotel pick up..just wondering if we are in town at the same time..