Article: M2 loses its outbound bus lane - ouch

[somebody]

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/chaos-on-buses-as-lane-plan-reversed-20110418-1dls2.html

Chaos on buses as lane plan reversed
Jacob Saulwick
April 19, 2011

TENS of thousands of bus commuters face hours of extra gridlock each week because traffic authorities have removed the requirement for an afternoon bus lane during widening of the M2.

As part of the conditions attached to the $550 million M2 upgrade, Transurban was asked to set up a ''tidal flow'' bus lane to replace two bus lanes removed during construction. The flow of traffic on such a lane is reversed from morning to afternoon to match the heaviest traffic.

The Roads and Traffic Authority and the Department of Planning under the previous government dropped the requirement for a bus lane out of the city in the afternoon peak and agreed with Transurban the lane would be dangerous.

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Commuters face hours of extra gridlock every week. Photo: Elizabeth Dobbie
The new Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian, said yesterday she had asked for a briefing on the issue.

Since construction on the upgrade began in February, commuters say, the lack of a westbound bus lane has added up to an hour to their travel time. This is likely to persist for two years.

Erica Wood travels by bus between her city law firm and Baulkham Hills. She said the afternoon trip used to take 45 minutes but since the bus lane had been removed the journey had not been less than 90 minutes.

''Before we used to get into the bus lane straight after the Beecroft tunnel and we would just fly home,'' Ms Wood said. ''But now, rather than having 50 per cent of your journey sitting in gridlocked traffic, its 100 per cent of your journey.''

A condition of the Part 3A approval for the upgrade was that Transurban set up a ''tidal bus flow arrangement from Windsor Road to Pennant Hills Road and from Pennant Hills Road to a suitable merge point near the Kirkham Street bridge''.

This meant a citybound bus lane in the morning would be converted to a westbound bus lane in the afternoon.

That decision was abandoned in January because the westbound lane would need concrete barriers to separate it from eastbound traffic, which would cause chaos if a bus broke down.

According to the Planning Department, the RTA said it had since done more traffic modelling and the lack of a bus lane would not affect travel times much. The RTA could not provide any extra modelling yesterday.

A spokeswoman for Planning said: ''The department and RTA agreed the changes were consistent with the approved project and a modification to the approval was not required.''

The chairman of the Hills Transport Working Group, James Fiander, said residents supported the widening but bus journey times had increased considerably. ''It is pushing people back into the car,'' Mr Fiander said.

Last month Transurban reinstated a stretch of the westbound bus lane between Barclay Road and Windsor Road after a Westbus was involved in an accident that injured 10 people.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/chaos-on-buses-as-lane-plan-reversed-20110418-1dls2.html#ixzz1K6kdRK00

[somebody]

ABC news video article:

States that the clauses preventing the NWRL have been negotiated away, but at the cost of the bus services.

[#Metro]

Ugh.... Will the "decrease in congestion" be a result of the toll or a result of the widened lane?
Somehow I think any widening will just be filled in with more traffic.

Why not just put the toll up??

[#Metro]

Seriously, what is wrong with Sydney. They have a gigantic, absolutely GIGANTIC train network with over 300 train station, heaps of train lines everywhere, an underground loop...

What are they doing???!!!

[somebody]

CityRail doesn't serve most of the M2 catchment.  This bus lane removal is a disgrace similar to the removal of the Coronation Drive bus lane, but at least the Sydney one has a perceived PT advantage.  I personally believe that perception is incorrect, but that would not be the opinion of the majority.

[#Metro]

Why didn't they just build a busway? Two lanes, could be two busway lanes. Increase capacity by 15 000 pax/hour.
Some surcharge on the buses during peak hour.

[somebody]

Why didn't they just build a busway? Two lanes, could be two busway lanes. Increase capacity by 15 000 pax/hour.
Some surcharge on the buses during peak hour.

They did.  Not as good as the SE Busway, bit still eminently functional.  Now they are closing it in one direction for car lanes.

[Jonno]

The transport planners in Sydney seem to be stuck in 1960 when fuel was cheap and the world believed that you could build enough road space to keep ahead of congestion.  40 years later petrol is heading to $2 a litre,  all the road building has only encouraged growth in car use and 1600 people die a year on our roads.  Even a prep class at a primary school could identify the need to try something different rather than just doing more of the sane faster!!

[somebody]

The transport planners in Sydney seem to be stuck in 1960 when fuel was cheap and the world believed that you could build enough road space to keep ahead of congestion.  40 years later petrol is heading to $2 a litre,  all the road building has only encouraged growth in car use and 1600 people die a year on our roads.  Even a prep class at a primary school could identify the need to try something different rather than just doing more of the sane faster!!

Sydney isn't nearly as bad as Brisbane.  At least they have the Harbour Bridge bus lane, a reasonably functional bus system and a patchy train system.  In Brisbane, things are pretty well all bad except for integrated ticketting, BUZ services and the busways.