Oxford St light rail: a boon for business

Should the Coalition win Government on March 26 frequenters of Oxford Street should expect light rail to drastically alter the thoroughfare.

While details of the proposed lines along George Street stretching from Circular Quay, linking at Central and extending to Lilyfield and Dulwich Hill, have been fleshed out, mystery still surrounds the proposed route the line will take if the system links with UNSW, as proposed by the opposition state government and Council.

A spokesperson for shadow transport minister Gladys Berejiklian said that Oxford Street would be “the most likely route.”

The spokesperson said the whole project relied on a feasibility study which would not take place until a Coalition Government was formed.

Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP welcomed the Coalition’s commitment to the plan.

“Light rail to Moore Park and beyond to UNSW will solve longstanding traffic congestion during major events,” she said. “Games and concerts at the sporting stadia and former Showgrounds cause serious traffic gridlock and patrons spend large amounts of time stuck in congestion trying to get home.”

Stephan Gyory, co-owner of the Record Store, vinyl only specialists located on Crown Street, is excited about the idea of light rail running along Oxford Street.

“I think it’s brilliant we’ve been asking for it for five years,” he said. “Oxford Street is a disaster and if they put trams up there it will have a massive effect on calming the traffic and it will bring people back.”

Mr Gyory said that as the “natural gateway” to the lower-east side of Sydney, Oxford Street was “completely dysfunctional.”

“You can’t even talk on your mobile along Oxford Street at the moment because the RTA slammed a six-lane highway through a community of 20 000 residents and 350 small businesses.”

Mr Gyory said that an “on-and-off” policy toward tickets would be “spectacular for business”.

Mr Gyory also said that of all the business meetings he had been to only one objection had been raised; that if the light rail goes in the middle of Oxford Street it would ruin the Mardi Gras. But Mr Gyory theorised that the solution was simply to put the lines up one side of the street.

“You have them on one side which would then effectively turn Oxford Street into a three-lane road.”