From the East Coast of Australia

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(WOLLONGONG, AUSTRALIA) -- One of the interesting things about living in the UAE with two major international airports 90 minutes apart by car and two world class airlines is that my key destinations east and west are the same distance. When I flew west to New York at the beginning of August, I spent 14 hours on a wonderful Etihad flight, enjoying what was going to be my mileage upgrade to Business Class in First Class where I found myself upgraded by the airline.

Last week when I flew east on Etihad for 14 hours without enough miles for an upgrade, I was once again upgraded - to Business Class - courtesy of the airline and landed in Sydney. That city was never a major destination for me as a confirmed New Yorker traveling regularly to Europe and every few years to see relatives in Perth on the other coast of Australia. But now I'm working for the University of Wollongong in Dubai - the oldest foreign university in the UAE - and it is time to connect with the parent campus in Wollongong, New South Wales.

Wollongong is the third largest city in New South Wales which is led by Sydney, Australia's largest and best known city, and the ninth largest in the country with a population of about 280,000. It's about an hour south of Sydney and now that it has lost much of its coal based industry, Wollongong is beautiful with extensive beaches on the Pacific bounded on the west by the Illawarra Escarpment - a heavily wooded low mountain range.

Wollongong is another example of what has happened to me many times. When I go somewhere expecting absolutely nothing, the place turns out to be special. The opposite is also true - I had expected Las Vegas to be much better than it proved to be. Maybe August is a bad time or maybe I wasn't in the mood. Anyway, the University of Wollongong main campus is green with many familiar and unfamiliar trees and full of birds especially ducks which are kind of mascots. Luckily college sports aren't as important in Australia as in the US - we don't have to imagine a football team named the Wollongong Ducks.  From my desk in the temporary office I was given, I look through trees to the pond where one or two ducks at least seem to hang out.

The first day I was picked up by a colleague at the hotel. However, I went home and came back this morning by bus, which is a story in itself. The 55A and 55C buses circulate around Wollongong counterclockwise and clockwise respectively. They make many stops, and they are free. You get on and off as many times as you like, and the buses roll every 10-20 minutes depending on time of day from early morning to late at night. A huge number of passengers are students at Wollongong - the bus routes cover the main campus and the new Innovation Campus on the other side of town.

What is very noticeable to someone who comes from New York and lives in Abu Dhabi - neither of which is especially known for politeness - is how well behaved the passengers are. They line up neatly as the bus pulls into a stop. Until then, they are randomly scattered around the bus shelter and the general area. But once the bus arrives, they form a line without shoving. As the bus door opens, no one outside moves. Everyone waits for passengers to get off. The larger buses have a rear exit door, the smaller ones only one door in front. Either way, there is a noticeable pause until it's clear that no one else is getting out, and then the line moves forward.

When a mother with a stroller boards, everyone waits patiently while she hoists the stroller up the low step - the entry area is lowered for people who need help - and then says Hello to the driver. Not everyone says something coming in. But absolutely everyone says Thank You to the driver getting off.

The passengers are multicultural which is evident from clothes, general appearance, or language. The majority seem to be University of Wollongong students. I was surprised that the biggest group is Chinese - perhaps more male students but also many females. On the bus they speak quietly in Chinese or in English and thank the driver when they get off.

The free bus is at least partially subsidized by the University. It's a good investment. First of all, the campus is short on parking as happens in most campuses that I have visited in the US. Second, environmental consciousness dictates that the number of cars driving in the city should be reduced. Finally, many of the foreign students couldn't afford to own cars, so some kind of mass transportation is required for them.

As a visitor, I find the bus useful and more fun than a taxi. When I went to Sydney the first time, I took a taxi to the station to make the 9:17 am train. Friday when I go again, I'll take the bus because now I know how it works and which one passes the station more quickly. I wouldn't be paying for the taxi myself because the University is covering my trip, but it's more interesting to use the bus.

Apparently free buses are an Australian specialty. In Sydney I got off at the Central Station which is kind of like Grand Central in New York but better organized. Intercity and local trains intersect there as do the monorail and many buses. Among those buses is the 555, Sydney's version of the free bus. I found it by accident, having planned to walk from Central to Circular Quay, the part of the harbor where the Opera House sits and where most of the tour boats dock. In fact, that's the route of 555, from Central to Circular Quay. The service began in December 2008. The Wollongong service started a few months later in 2009.

Some other Australian cities with free bus service in the central business district are Perth on the west coast, Melbourne and Adelaide in the south. There may well be more. It is a wonderful investment that will pay off with tourists and residents staying out of cars and taxis. Perhaps most important, getting on a free bus, you feel that someone in that city cares about you, and you might be more likely to return.

 

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