Sydney’s new metro will fix my life, but I’m not sure my sister is excited

To the people of Marrickville, Dulwich Hill, Hurlstone Park, Canterbury, Campsie, Belmore, Lakemba, Wiley Park, Punchbowl and Bankstown: Crikey, haven’t we been through it over the past two years? Haven’t we suffered? Haven’t we lost what feels like decades of our lives to pink buses?

We’ve waited for the Southwest Metro to open and change our lives, sometimes patiently, sometimes not so patiently. We’ve spent endless time stuck in traffic. We’ve had our reputations as punctual people constantly scrutinised. We’ve said goodbye to relationships whose chat simply wasn’t worth the 40 minutes on the pink bus.

On Friday, that changes. The Southwest Metro opens and so do our lives – and our connections with the rest of the city are going to flourish, oh yes they are! The opportunities to get to know our city are now off the rails.

May you enjoy these ideas about what you can do with this new-found transportation freedom as much as you’ll enjoy hurtling towards your destination in a shiny new metro carriage, after enjoying the artwork adorning your now-open station:

• Put that parking inspector who’s been stalking you out of a job. Give them the freedom to find employment that doesn’t ruin everyone’s day. You’re selling your car now. You’re taking the metro. Enjoy doing Revenue NSW out of their obscene parking fines!

• Do that diploma, degree or post-grad you’ve always wanted to do at Macquarie University – it’s on the metro line. You can even study on the train, in the glorious 36 minutes (that’s just 2160 seconds) it will take you to get from Marrickville to Macquarie University.
• Go to the theatre or a gig – Roslyn Packer Theatre (Barangaroo), Theatre Royal (Martin Place), State Theatre (Gadigal), Capitol Theatre and Belvoir St Theatre (Central), and The Concourse (Chatswood) are all ridiculously closer than they used to be. Where once upon a time you had the hassle of expensive parking, time schlepping in by car and extra hours for the babysitter because of said schlepping, now it’s just your ticket you’ll need … surely the kids are all right for a couple of hours? Most of which you’ll actually be in the theatre.

• The further west the Southwest Metro line goes, booze culture starts to be replaced by … dessert culture. And, it’s a dessert culture that goes late into the night, while the sweet smell of shisha pipes wafts through the air. Become a baclava connoisseur, an expert in mafroukeh, and the person your friends go to if they are eager to discover where the best chocolate mousse in western Sydney is made.

• Learn crowd control and line management from the women at the original Marrickville Pork Roll. Yes, the line extends down the block to get one of their famous banh mis. Yes, you’ll initially think the wait time might not be worth it. But I’ll eat my hat if you’re not tucking into their rolls and exclaiming “Oh my god, do they put crack in this Vietnamese pâté?!” in 12 minutes or less.
• Get to know one of the city’s most underrated art forms, in the place where it most pops: slam poetry at Bankstown Poetry Slam. It’s where you can plug into our city and find out what people care enough to write and perform poetry about. It’s passionate, exciting and heart-filling. You’ll definitely laugh, you’ll probably cry. Don’t be put off by the clicking of fingers replacing clapping sometimes, it’s much better for the long-term health of your palms, surely?

• Figure out whether your sister actually likes you or not. She’s been using the closed train station as an excuse not to visit you for two years. Is it the station, or is it actually you? Thanks to the Southwest Metro, you’ll be able to find out.
• Say goodbye to Uber Eats and weeellllll hellllloooo to Chatswood! You barely have to get out of Chatswood station to enjoy some of the most incredible Asian food in Sydney. If you like escalators, the buzz of busy people and a chef who’s dug into their Chinese Nainai’s recipe book, your tastebuds will thank you for getting off at Chatswood.

• You have a work from home day? Make it a work from library day. Marrickville Library has won so many awards it makes Meryl Streep look amateur. Its Side Story Cafe serves Double Roasters Coffee until 5pm, and librarians don’t mind you drinking it while lounging on enormous cushions, reading. It’s bright and airy, open until late, and if you’re an Australian television nerd, you can play “spot the TV writer” from the top-floor alcove.
• Acknowledge the time has come for us to really play the tourist in our own city. Get to know the incredible variety of people and their passions that make up this place we’re all paying overs to live in, who now can get to most places between Tallawong and Punchbowl in less than an hour.

All aboard!

Melanie Tait is a playwright, journalist and public transport enthusiast.

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