End of the tunnel brings a flickering light

COMMENT
The axing of the CBD Metro and the decision to extend light rail through the city is a light at the end of the tunnel – but still a flickering one. The move has radically changed the future shape of the CBD, and a mishmash of politicians, councils and bureaucrats are now pondering the crucial matter of where the trams will go. The wrong decision could still sentence Sydney to second-rate public transport.

The new plan is welcomed by almost everyone, not least because it comes in at $500 million compared with the $5.3 billion budgeted for the Metro – a comparative bargain which will also take far less time to build, cause far less physical damage to communities and the city, and serve many more people more efficiently.

However the plan appears, like the original announcement of the Metro, to have been read from scribblings on the back of an envelope.

A media release from Premier Keneally says the “CBD section route stretches from Haymarket (Chinatown) to Circular Quay via Barangaroo (using Sussex Street and Hickson Road and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is 4.1kilometres.”

Ignoring the missing parenthesis, that means trams delivering “10,000 people per hour” would have to head down narrow Sussex Street against the one-way traffic, to Barangaroo which will house 20,000 workers but will not be built for years, with only the first building stage promised by 2014.

This would be great if all those workers lived in the inner west, where the light rail line will run, or if all those 10,000 people per hour worked at Barangaroo. But they won’t, and this route ignores the central rule of efficient public transport – that it integrates with other modes and routes, so commuters can get from anywhere to anywhere in Sydney with a minimum of time-consuming interchanges.

The route also takes a long detour under the Harbour Bridge before it gets to Circular Quay, on a line that already suffers from time-consuming detours as it winds through the inner west.

Meanwhile the City’s 2030 plan has trams running up a pedestrianised George Street at Town Hall. This is a logical route as it would deliver people right through the city centre, and people could change at Town Hall for all major heavy rail lines, especially to the east and north. The route could also loop through Barangaroo, solving the problem of where to shunt and store trams now the Opera House is built on their old terminus.

But George Street’s future is problematic given that the state Transport Blueprint calls for an extra 1,000 buses, more than cancelling out the buses light rail would replace. (One light rail set equals three buses.) George Street is already a conga-line of buses during peak hours and excess western route buses are having to be shunted around the streets of Woolloomooloo. So before George Street is turned into a quiet, leafy paradise, all those buses have to be sent somewhere.

Nevertheless, and despite not being mentioned in announcements, “George Street is still on the agenda” according to a spokesman for Transport Minister David Campbell. He said the City of Sydney had contributed $100,000 towards a feasibility study on light rail. This was now being upgraded to an environmental assessment plan.

Furthermore, it seems that having girls at the top could see a new era of co-operation between the City and the State Government, with Kristina Keneally and Lord Mayor Clover Moore “working on a Memorandum of Understanding to address: Public transport; Movement on laneways and streets – particularly George Street; and Planning issues such as pedestrian-friendly areas and civic spaces,” according to the Premier.

Clover Moore is thinking big: “ I hope that the State Government’s light rail announcement will be the catalyst for a network in the CBD and surrounding areas, particularly to Green Square and the Moore Park Sporting Stadia,” she said.

And the George Street route is on her agenda: “The City’s preferred light rail route includes George Street, with priority for light rail, walking and cycling to enable workers, shoppers and visitors to easily and safely move around the CBD.

“By clearing the current log-jam of buses and cars, we can help transform George Street into one of the world’s most loved avenues. The State Government has offered to discuss route options with the City in preparation for an environmental impact statement for light rail. The State Government has committed to light rail from Central to Circular Quay via Barangaroo, but there is no specific route currently.”

Cross fingers – maybe this town has finally escaped the miasma of stupidity that has enveloped its transport future for too many years.

by Michael Gormly