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.