Thursday 6 March 2008

Not a good look from RailCorp

We are seeking a national transport policy, guideline, direction or whatever that will provide national CONSISTENCY across the public transport services in regards to the responsible carriage of pets.

Here is one reason we want a national policy. In the last few months, we have written correspondence from three different departments of RailCorp (and countless different stories from employees at stations) as to the carriage of dogs and/or pets.

There may also be a constitutional issue here; if dogs are 'chattel', well, can't we move them freely between states? Sure, it's a stretch, but it points out the need for common sense (scents).

The majority of Australians have pets. The majority of Australians with pets will, most probably, be occasional or infrequent users of pubic transport. We want our RIGHT to public transport. If we're on holiday and left without our vehicle due to breakdown or other incident and need to travel home with pet - we need to be able to do this! If we are attending a big public event where public transport is recommended, such as DOGGYWOOD for Sydney Mardi Gras, we need access to public transport. Fair go. Pickup and pickup a bus ticket too.