One of the blights on my otherwise peaceful rural existence is the difficulty country commuters face every day on their journeys to and from work.

Both 2015 and 2016 were horror years, where it seemed that half of peak hour services did not run at all.

Some were replaced by coaches, others disappeared without a trace.

The remaining train carriages strained to accommodate the thousands of travellers who were at first frustrated, then furious and then eventually too tired and disappointed to be angry any more.

I had the misfortune of being pregnant at this time, and crammed into trains where passengers were so tightly packed in that people did not have the opportunity to see the baby bump and offer me a seat.

I now bring my nine-month-old daughter into the city to childcare and am uncertain every day on my return trip whether I'll be able to get a seat for myself and some space for the pram.

Working at Melbourne University, I used to hop off the train at North Melbourne and straight onto the 401 shuttle bus.

Unfortunately, V/line trains no longer stop at North Melbourne station, so we all brace ourselves, exit at Footscray station into the scrum of peak hour city commuters and try to get a spot on an already crowded Metro service.

The process is repeated at North Melbourne, adding close to half an hour commute time to each journey.

That's up to five extra hours per week, which equates to 200-250 extra hours of stress per year for a full-time worker.

In a further example of extremely poor planning that has delivered far too little, too late for Victorians living regionally and on the urban fringe, Caroline Springs station has recently been opened on the Ballarat line.

All the peak-hour trains that pick up passengers in the morning are already full by the time we arrive.

Although V/Line is adding one extra train carriage per month, the demand remains much higher than their ability to supply.

This translates to hours of pain for the hapless commuters as we cram aboard carriages full to bursting, knowing that there are more pickup stops ahead.

As house prices increase at an alarming rate in Melbourne, I am sure a better service linking regional areas to the city would attract more people to live in the country.

I love my country town, and I would urge others to leave the city to find a much better quality of life. However, this quality is severely impacted by an untenable commute.

It is sometimes difficult not to feel a nihilistic sense of hopelessness at the sheer inadequacy of the service we are offered, in the face of significantly increasing travel times, more late arrivals, overcrowding and irregular services.

– Elizabeth Lakey works at the Faculty of Arts at Melbourne University.