Everybody knows this.

Here’s how it could suck a lot less [for me], with minimal effort:

1. Arrange for the 7.18am train from Newcastle to stop at Metford. This would mean leaving home at 6.50am instead of 6.15am, arriving at work on time instead of 40 minutes early, and never needing to ride back to Metford from Victoria Street.
2. Charge less for peak travel between Cardiff and Metford than the equivalent fuel consumed by my 1.6L 4-cylinder car. In the real world, nobody factors the overall running cost of their car into this calculation. It’s not like we can ditch our cars until public transport actually, you know, works.
3. Remove the ridiculous stipulation that folding bikes must be bagged to ride free. We’re really expected to ride to and from the station with a bulky bag, and wrestle with loading and unloading it twice per day? CityRail travel isn’t slow and inconvenient enough already? Melbourne has no such rule, incidentally. All bikes are always free.

The stupid. It hurts.