Who would've thought the Liberals could put bums on seats?
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But that's exactly what they are pledging to do.
Aren't elections grand.
After years of kicking and screaming about the train services to this region and beyond a massive commuter carrot got dangled to the region on Wednesday.
We've previously labelled Transport Minister Andrew Constance "The Illawarra's Most Wanted" and all in the space of a week he's moved swiftly to get in the region's good books.
Last week it was a promise regarding lifts at the Unanderra train station.
This week it's resolutions to address the serious and long-held issue of overcrowding on the South Coast line.
Flanked by his close mate the Parliamentary Secretary for the Illawarra Gareth Ward, Mr Constance made the pledge at Illawarra commuter central, the Helensburgh station.
He pledged trains every 15 minutes during peak hour with 10 carriages, though it will be two years before that actually happens. Also on the cards is a doubling of 22 trains in and out of Kiama on weekends from four to eight carriages.
That will happen from January 1 and Mr Constance said it would mean a boost in capacity of 20,000 seats.
You can hardly blame people, but it seems the people of the Illawarra were a little skeptical.
"So let me get this straight - they can't increase frequency now because of constraints on the network, sharing with freight etc...but once new trains come we can suddenly increase frequency without making any changes to the efficiency of the network/increased track capacity etc? Seems like a pie in the sky election promise," one reader said.
"Buying votes again...remember this at election time. Oh, it will be the first thing cut come budget adjustment time."
That's all understandable, but credit it where it is due. They're having a crack at putting more bums on trains in the Illawarra. No pun intended. That's what we've been crying out for, but it's taking an election to see any traction.
