Saving Bondi Road

BY PETER McCALLUM
The current protests in Bondi Road against weekend clearways have highlighted the problem of this busy thoroughfare, a popular and successful shopping strip.

There has never been a better time to consider the future – or the fate – of this corridor.

Too much has been expected of Bondi Road for nearly half a century. It has the distinction of being Australia’s highest capacity public transport street and it is a favourite commercial centre – and it has become an arterial highway, notoriously so on beach days.

Obviously, this street cannot possibly continue all three roles so which one can we eliminate, with the least disruption’ If we allow the shops to wither away with increased use of clearways, even more traffic will be drawn to it and public transport, already dysfunctional at the busy times, will be even further blocked.

If we divert public transport to other routes, existing users who have chosen their locations for the convenience of transport, will suffer disruption to their lives and most will endure longer journey times. Shops, already dependent on public transport users, would encounter an enormous loss of trade.

So what about the third option, elimination of traffic’ That’s too simplistic. The Bondi Chamber of Commerce has come up with the right notion. ‘Cut down through traffic,’ has been their call. They have been the first to differentiate between shopping traffic, which is reasonably light, and the far heavier stream of through traffic where drivers are simply using the route to travel from one place to another.

Diverting through traffic away from Bondi Road would enhance public transport and allow residents to use their local shops.

But can the two types of traffic be separately catered for’

The answer is ‘yes’ and it has been done elsewhere. It would mean a relatively modest investment in opening up a few choke points to alternative routes in our over-built up suburb but would be cheap compared to solutions like Bondi Junction’s Syd Einfeld Drive where all the properties on one side of Grafton Street were bought up.

Traffic could use two existing streets by means of access routes through a very small number of property purchases. To ensure that through traffic avoids Bondi Road, controlled bollards, as used in Perth, could allow public transport and legitimate delivery vehicles to run the length of Bondi Road. Shoppers’ cars could enter and leave by side streets as they do already.

This is not difficult, yet it won’t happen quickly. The RTA is yet to agree willingly to any solution that favours public transport. It will take a major push on Bondi’s public transport to see this rational use of Bondi Road. Political intransigence, mostly in key bureaucracies, will delay this until global realities win the day.

The ultimate solution for Bondi Road is light rail. The fate of Bondi Road’s shopping strip hangs on just when this reality is accepted by all players.