Analysing Language
The AGE is always a great resource of interesting articles and opinions. Today’s edition contained two letters with diametrically opposed views on the the issue of W-Class trams. Keep your analysis skills intact and have a go at analysing these two letters in a short essay.
Retire these relics
THERE will be regret at the passing of the historic W-class trams. But the fact is that elderly and disabled people can’t cope with boarding and alighting these old trams. The sheer vertical ”drop” of the boarding step is unsafe for those with balance problems.
I have cerebral palsy and use a walking stick, and also have a severe hearing loss. The Jam Factory, in Chapel Street, Prahran, is the only cinema showing open-captioned movies for deaf people. W-class trams are used in Chapel Street. Because I can’t board and alight these trams safely, I have to use taxis to get there.
Low-floor trams would make Chapel Street’s shops and facilities much more accessible to me, and others unable to manage the W-class trams.
While history buffs may regret the passing of these old trams, the travelling needs of today’s public must be borne in mind. Our ageing population makes a fully accessible public transport system throughout Melbourne vital, and the W-class trams don’t meet this need.
Kaye Gooch, Prahran
Remember the Hitachis
SURELY now is not the time to be retiring so many of our heritage W-class trams. Our fleet of trams is not coping with patronage levels, and with commuter demand for public transport expected to continue to increase, it seems like a no-brainer that we should keep as many trams as possible, no matter what their age.
You would think that this Government had learnt its lesson from the hasty retirement of the Hitachi train fleet. Sure the W-class trams are a little slow and old, but why can’t the state spend some money to upgrade them and extend their life span? They are a part of magnificent Melbourne and our history and would be sorely missed.
James Christou, Thornbury
