By tram down George Street
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday April 1, 2011
SYDNEY is about to be presented with another plan for light rail in the city. This has now become almost a regular event, celebrated if not with fanfare, then at least with colourful artist's impressions and bold promises of shorter travel times through the city. We reported yesterday that two studies of light rail in the city centre are about to be presented to the new government. Sydney commuters can be forgiven if they are cynical after so many years in which they have been given many, many transport plans but little in the way of new transport. This time, though (no, really) things may be different; cynicism should at least for the moment be put aside. The difference is the new government. The studies were begun for Labor but will be handed to the incoming Coalition, which has a motive to act on them: after the long election build-up it will want to show it can make a difference in Sydney transport.There are good reasons to prefer light rail in the city. Though George Street would probably have to be cleared of buses to accommodate trams, the latter carry more passengers than buses and are expected to make the trip between Central and Circular Quay appreciably faster. (A related development we believe should be a tram route along Hickson Road and Sussex Street, to serve Barangaroo - but that is another issue.) The bus gridlock around morning and evening peak periods might be eased if bus services were integrated well with tram services, and commuters used the former to travel to an interchange on the edge of the central business district, then travelled to their destination by tram. The key phrase here is "integrated well". As yet, detail is lacking on how exactly a tram service would fit in with existing bus services. The relatively new metro buses, which have been a successful innovation with frequent services on long trunk routes crossing the CBD, may well be disrupted by trams. Three metro services now use George Street.The introduction of trams would also slow car traffic in the city. That is in fact a good thing, but it must be planned for as part of a broader transport scheme for the central business district which gives priority to public transport. The effect will, though, annoy the motoring lobby, including the Roads and Traffic Authority and its allies in Treasury, which can be expected to be solid opponents of any new public transport initiative. The new government should expect a fight if - as it should - it wants to bring trams back to George Street.
© 2011 Sydney Morning Herald
