Article (from Jan 2010): Slow trains push commuters onto motorways

[somebody]

I know it's old, but I think this article is worth reproducing as nothing has changed too much.

Slow trains push commuters onto motorways
Andrew West TRANSPORT
January 16, 2010

THE decision to slow down Sydney rail services has increased traffic on the city's main roads, including motorways.

In an analysis for the Herald, Michelle Zeibots, a researcher at the Institute for Sustainable Futures at the University of Technology, Sydney, compared official travel speed data from the Roads and Traffic Authority and on-time running statistics for CityRail.

She found a pattern between the decline in the performance of CityRail, the growth in congestion and the decrease in average road travel speeds during the morning peak.
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''It's a relatively simple nexus,'' Dr Zeibots said. ''The slower and more unreliable the rail service, the more cars you get on those roads that run parallel to major rail lines.''

Between March 2004 and March 2005, when the CityRail system melted down during Bob Carr's last year in office as premier, on-time running fell to between 50 per cent and 55 per cent.

At the same time, the average traffic speed on seven major roads - including the F3 between Wahroonga and Newcastle, the M4 between Strathfield and the Blue Mountains, the M5 between Liverpool and Beverly Hills, and the M2 between the Hills district and North Ryde - fell from 34km/h to 31km/h in the morning peak period.

Between mid-2003 and mid-2004, another period of chronic unreliability on the rail service, there was a 2.2 per cent slump in train patronage and an average 4 per cent increase in traffic volumes on motorways.

In mid-2005, the Government changed the definition of on-time running: trains that arrived within five minutes were considered punctual. A new timetable, introduced later that year, slowed the trains permanently.

''Average road speeds in Sydney dropped and have stayed there,'' Dr Zeibots said. She points out that nearly all proposed motorways run along the routes of existing rail lines.

''In the real world, most people base their transport decisions on the fastest option,'' Dr Zeibots said.

''If taking the car is quicker, they'll drive. If rail is faster, they'll take public transport. This is how the speed of the rail network affects road speeds and why it's vital that governments invest adequately in rail.''

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/slow-trains-push-commuters-onto-motorways-20100115-mcgl.html#ixzz1Vp67AQKK

Of course, it isn't just the "slow", there have also been service cuts at around the same time.