Transport Proposals
EcoTransit Sydney have developed a number of proposals for transport as solutions to the problems of congestion on the roads and crowding on public transport. Many of these solutions have social and health benefits for everyone in the greater Sydney area.
You'll find information about lightrail in the CBD, innerwest and eastern suburbs in the section on the BAY LIGHT EXPRESS.
More light rail proposals have been developed for the Leichhardt and Canada Bay Local Government Areas. For more information about these initiatives see our section on LIGHT RAIL WEST.
EcoTransit Sydney has also outlined proposals for improvements to some of Sydney's overcrowded heavy-rail lines. See our solution for the congested roads and lines of the southern sydney area.
Alternatives To Duplicating the Iron Cove Bridge
The proposal to duplicate the Iron Cove Bridge has been promoted as a means of improving bus services in the Victoria Road corridor, but it is not clear how it will actually achieve any of its goals.
The largest part of the problem is that it does nothing to reduce the congestion that slows bus traffic to the same glacial pace as everyone else on the road. With the RTA's own figures showing an average of 1.2 persons per vehicle in this part of the network, it is clear that more lanes will not solve the problem of slow buses. It is clearly a case of an inefficient use of public infrastructure - it's not that the road has reached capacity, but that the vehicles on the road have too few people in them.
Another part of the problem with the Victoria Road Upgrade is that although it is promoted as a 'bus proposal' it will remove local bus stops from several areas. This will require people to walk much further to reach the bus stops that remain. While this strategy might improve the time taken for express buses from outer suburbs to reach the CBD, it does nothing for the locals. Indeed, it makes it harder for local people to use public transport, and this is particularly true of older people. Older people who may find that a walk of 500 metres is within their abilities are often unable to reach a new stop that is 100 metres further away.
Finally, in removing the median strip through Rozelle and placing concrete barriers at strategic points in Drummoyne, it will make walking or cycling across these communities that much harder.
EcoTransit believes that it is not extra lanes that we need to solve most of Sydney's transport problems, it is a better attitude to getting the most efficient use out of what we already have. At 150 million dollars, a duplicated Iron Cove Bridge will be an expensive memorial to the inefficiency of our transport network. What we would like to suggest as an alternative is a development that will reduce the amount of space given over to people who are traveling into the city on their own. A road lane full of cars carries about 2000 people in an hour, but a lane that has buses or light rail can carry thousands more. Light rail, for instance, would carry five hundred percent more than a lane full of cars!
Our proposal would involve no further construction on extra lanes but a redistribution of the road space that we already have. It will involve:
- a 6 month trial of a dedicated bus lane - red paint costs a lot less than a new bridge!
- using CCTV and police to enforce the bus lane
- working with employers in the CBD to develop car-pooling programs that can take better advantage of T3 lanes
- improving the cycling network along this corridor by removing stairs and other impediments for safe cycling.
- increasing the number of buses to carry passengers on this corridor
- increasing the frequency of direct ferry services from Birken Head Point
If you would like to support any of the points above or make some suggestions of your own to the RTA, please download this form and submit your ideas and objections to the RTA by the 3rd of March 2008.
More details will be available shortly.
Bay Light Express
What is the Bay Light Express?
The Bay Light Express is a light rail proposal consisting of two links-Bay Light East and Bay Light West. The two would skirt the neighbourhoods of the
Botany Bay Region, providing fast, comfortable and convenient access between residential and commercial areas that are now difficult to access by public transport.
The proposal would provide relief to communities whose quality of life has been eroded by ever increasing road traffic. It would offer travel times quicker than cars for many trips and provide more capacity than present bus services that are currently over-crowded. This would drive a decisive shift from road to rail use.
In a climate of rising petrol prices, the superior service provided by construction of the Bay Light Express would help to secure the economic future of the region while at the same time make real progress towards protection of the environment. Large reductions in air, noise and water pollution would help to conserve the heritage and nature conservation values of the Botany Bay region.
Where would the Bay Light Express go?
The region immediately surrounding Botany Bay is home to some half a million Sydney residents and thousands of businesses. It houses the county's largest airport and busiest sea freight terminal, an oil refinery and heavy chemical industry. It is the birthplace of modern Australia and a significant part of the heritage of Aboriginal Australia as it is the site of the earliest recorded incidents of indigenous rights and environmental protest.
Like a thread through the beads of a necklace, the Bay Light Express would link all of these places, providing easy access through a diverse range of urban districts and natural environments.
The map (left) demonstrates the wealth of opportunities for eliminating congestion and improving air quality by making 'trip generators' like the shopping strips at Newtown and Oxford Street, as well as educational destinations such as UNSW and the University of Sydney accessible by public transport from all around the Botany Bay area. Imagine being able to go from Circular Quay to La Perouse in one extremely scenic journey?
This map shows an even more ambitious possibility for taking that trip all the way down to Sutherland or even Cronulla via a tunnel underneath Botany Bay's heads!
Bay Light East
The Bay Light East is a 27km link providing high capacity services between Sydney's CBD and the densely populated districts of Darlinghurst, Kensington and Randwick. It then continues through to La Perouse before crossing the heads of Botany Bay to Kurnell in a tunnel. From Kurnell it would proceed along Captain Cook Drive and Elouera Road to Cronulla. This last section would provide unprecedented access between the north-east and south-east districts of the region at travel times vastly superior to those possible by car.
Benefits
- Massive reduction in road traffic along Anzac Parade. This would facilitate traffic calming and improve pedestrian amenity along this axis.
- Mixed-use commercial and residential development could see reductions in the need for car parking as public transport would become more convenient and preferable to car use.
- Provides a quick direct route from the Sutherland Shire to large trip generators like Fox Studios, the University of NSW and the Sydney Cricket Ground. Where traffic chaos exists now, large crowds could access these sites in comfort with low impacts on local communities. Travel time saving would be in the order of half an hour to an hour.
- Support transit-based recreational activity at La Perouse, Kurnell, Botany Bay National Park and Towra Point-areas of immense heritage and natural significance.
- Provides improved access to Kurnell while preserving the village atmosphere of the Kurnell community.
- Give high quality public transport access to the beaches of Bate Bay, including Boat Harbour, Wanda, Elouera, North and South Cronulla. Many of these spectacular foreshore areas are threatened with the prospect of multi-storey car parking constructions. Solving accessibility problems by giving people real alternatives to the car will eliminate this threat.
Bay Light West
The Bay Light West is a 25.5km link beginning at Central Station and following an on-street alignment down Broadway before turning onto City Road and King Street Newtown. From St Peters railway station, the route would pass through disused industrial areas before connecting with the International Airport Terminal. It would then continue through to Rockdale,servicing a large, densely populated residential area-currently without direct rail access-along Crawford Road and Chuter Avenue. The line would then proceed over Captain Cook Bridge, passing light industrial areas along Taren Point Road before feeding into Caringbah's commercial and residential areas.
Benefits
- Provides excellent access for large, densely populated residential catchment and major retail districts, recreational areas and big trip generators like Kingsford-Smith Airport, Sydney University and the King Street restaurant strip. Travel times offered by the Bay Light West would easily out-compete those for car travel; thereby offering the opportunity to shift massive numbers of cars off some of Sydney's most congested roads.
- Enhance pedestrian amenity at key locations like King Street Newtown, the restaurant districts of Rockdale and the shopping village of Caringbah.
- Extends the coverage of the rail network by creating rail interchanges with the East Hills, Bankstown and Western Suburbs rail lines. This will increase the potential for cross-city trips to be undertaken quickly by rail, generating yet more opportunities to remove traffic from some of Sydney's most congested roads.
- Protect the area from freeway development as motorists are offered a superior alternative to car use. Large areas of endangered wetland will be saved from destructive motorway development.
- Big reductions in car traffic would potentially reduce air and water pollution. The Bay Light would in many areas be able to run on existing hard surfaces, generating little or no additional urban run-off. In some areas like Chuter Avenue, the Bay Light would run on grassed islands in the middle of the road, reducing noise while placing no additional burden on already over-loaded storm water systems.
Staged Construction and Estimated Costs
The construction of the Bay Light Express could be done in stages with immediate benefits for each section. Bay Light East would be built in three stages at an estimated cost of $690 million. The Bay Light West would be built in four stages at an estimated cost of $355 million.
Bay Light East
Stage 1 - Sydney CBD to La Perouse
This link follows the historic tramwayalignment from the Sydney CBD along Oxford Street before joining Anzac Parade through Kensington to Maroubra Junction and then down Anzac Parade to La Perouse. It is 14kms long with an estimated construction cost of $270 million.
Stage 2 - La Perouse to Kurnell
This link involves construction of a twin-track tunnel underneath the heads of Botany Bay to link La Perouse and Kurnell. It would be approximately 3 kms long. Early estimates put its construction at $320 million.
Stage 3 - Kurnell to Cronulla.
This section would link Kurnell to Cronulla by rail with an on-street alignment along Captain Cook Drive and Elouera Road. It would terminate just south of Cronulla railway station. It is approximately 10kms long and would cost somewhere in the order of $100 million to build.
Bay Light West
Stage 1 - Central Railway to St Peters
This link follows an on-street alignment from Central Railway station down Broadway, City Road and King Street Newtown before terminating just south of St Peters railway station. It is 5kms long with an estimated construction cost of $90 million.
Stage 2 - St Peters to International Airport
This link is approximately 3.5kms long and passes through currently disused industrial land. It would have a dedicated carriageway and cost $60 million to construct.
Stage 3 - International Airport to Sans Souci
This section would be constructed as a combination of dedicated carriageway and on-street alignments. Making use of selected parts of the proposed M6 freeway corridor, the cost of land resumption would be kept low as RTA owned land could be transferred to light rail use at little cost. This section is approximately 8.5kms long with an estimated construction cost of $130 million.
Stage 4 - Sans Souci to Caringbah
This link is approximately 6.5kms long and runs on an on-street alignment over Captain Cooks Bridge and along Taren Point before joining the Kingsway to pass through Caringbah shopping village. It has an estimated construction cost of $75million.
Updates
Bay Light Express Updates
November 2000 -Successful Launch!
The Bay Light Express proposal was launched on 11 October 2000 at Parliament House.
MS CLOVER MOORE, the Independent Member for Bligh, hosted the launch and outlined problems with inner city bus services—chiefly not enough capacity to meet the high demand. MLC Lee Rhianon and Sutherland Shire Environment Centre Chairman Bob Walshe stressed the need to improve public transport generally and reintroduce light rail to Sydney.
Download whole update as pdf
November 2001 -Bay Light Express or M6 tollway
TRANSPORT DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN SYDNEY has been dominated by the question of what will happen to the M6 motorway corridor. The community Bay Light Express and Illawarra Heavy Rail campaigns are both reactions to this. These successfull campaigns are a testament to the community's desire to see development of a comprehensive public transport system over more motorway construction.
Download whole update as pdf
October 2002 -Campaign to save Anzac Parade light rail needs your support!
PLANS for a light rail link to the eastern suburbs are again under threat. Residents of Kensington and Randwick—one of the densest urban areas in Australia—are crying out for better public transport. But Randwick Council still isn’t listening.
Download whole update as pdf
Coogee Light Rail
The proposal for the Coogee Line is a combination of dedicated corridor(light rail only) and on-street alignments, linking the University of NSW and Randwick Racecourse on the north western end with Coogee Beach at the south eastern end.
A document from the 1930's attests to the extraordinary capacity of Sydney's former tram system in this area, showing levels of efficiency which are unparalled by any form of public transport today.
In 2001, this route is an integral part of EcoTransit Sydney's public transport plan, and one which is acknowledged by authorities as a logical progression. The rest of this campaign site provides details of the Coogee Line, including a less favourable alternate alignment that could be used if building constructions are allowed to block the dedicated light rail corridor.
Where will it go?
Developed in conjunction with the current proposal for the Botany Bay Region (see the Bay Light Express), the Coogee Light Rail Line will run from Anzac Parade, through the CBD of Randwick City, past the Unversity of NSW, Prince of Wales Hospital, and through several recently developed high density areas.
The Coogee Line will also cover key sections of older residential streets as well as the popular beachfront area. The route will be deliver the most direct access to the suburban train network and will be instrumental in increasing the amenity of Coogee residents.
What is the Coogee Light Rail Corridor?
The Coogee Light Rail Corridor is the last remnant of a tram route that serviced the Coogee area up until the 1960's. EcoTransit Sydney's proposal to reintroduce light rail in this densely populated area will utilise these historic pathways to improve the efficiency of public transport in Randwick and Coogee. Local residents along with students and academic staff from the University of NSW, have fought for many years to preserve this corridor.
In late December 2000 the Building Trades Group of the CFMEU announced their decision to place a Green Ban on any construction within the corridor. Sections of this corridor have now been sold off but could be re-acquired by the government if necessary.
Light Rail West
Public Transport In The City Was Better in the 1950's
Until November 1958 an extensive tramway network served the inner west. Neighbourhoods like Five Dock, Lilyfield, Leichhardt and Haberfield benefited from trams in many ways, including higher capacity and much less pollution than the buses that have in most cases replaced the old tram routes.
This efficient and high capacity network was dismantled, despite local opposition. The result was noisy and inefficient diesel buses battling to do the work of the trams. The increased car traffic caused by people who abandoned the inferior public transport services have led to the pollution , gridlock and deteriorating travel times experienced on the roads today.
Light Rail West
light rail west routesDespite being one of the only light rail proposals to fail the feasibility study test, the Lilyfield "extension" of the last remaining section of the Sydney's old tram network has exceeded the expectations for numbers of passengers.
Far from being the 'toy train' that many feared it could become (a repeat of the monorail experience), it provides a great service, prompting calls for further extensions throughout the highly congested inner west.
Light Rail West has been developed by EcoTransit Sydney as one alternative to the current proposal to create a motor way through the inner west.
Although it has been recognised that such a motorway would only increase travel speeds for 18 months or so (based on several other Sydney motorways) the proposal is still being pursued by the RTA and the NSW State Government as a means of 'reducing' congestion.
Light rail, on the other hand would give our current system much more capacity by increasing the efficiency of the current number of lanes on our roads. It would achieve this with less noise and pollution. Light Rail West includes several branches through the inner west and could easily extend to a line up Parramatta Rd to Parramatta itself.
Download the PDF of the Light Rail West Proposal