Analysis essay
Based on the proposal raised by Mr Abib suggesting the free use of
public transport in Melbourne, a car user named Leah Ng writes a letter
to the editor to support it by presenting several points in a rational and
concerned tone, in order to convince public and Mr Premier to accept his
idea. Meanwhile a visual photo is posted to arouse the readers’
frustration to the ticket machine. On the contrary, another user who gets
used to public transport called Kane Johns completely disagree with it by
a critical and aggressive tone.
Initially, Leah Ng argues that the current ticketing machine has a big
problem of malfunction which occurs quite often. Obviously, it caused
good commuters to travel without enough credit on their cards. By using
an anecdote of her neighbour who was caught by a ticket inspector and
got fined with 207 dollars and a rhetorical question asking “my poor
neighbour is now a criminal! Is it fair?”, the author believes it is a
ridiculous joke and tries to bring up the sympathy of the editor towards
her neighbour. At the same time the photo in the text which highlighting
“out of order” and “what a joke” greatly attaches the anger of travelers
who are significantly disappointed with the ticketing system.