SMH Transport articles

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Foley proposes Bankstown metro extension to Liverpool, Badgerys Creek

[pandmaster]

IMHO they should draw the line with extensions at Liverpool (along the existing alignment). The money spent on a new alignment would be much better used elsewhere. The metro, as has been noted, is not particularly suited to long trips (the NWRL being already too long for it. Badgerys Creek should not be metro.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Despite 8000 jaywalking fines in two years, pedestrian fatalities continue to climb

[newbris]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Despite 8000 jaywalking fines in two years, pedestrian fatalities continue to climb

It seems to lay the blame for those increased deaths at the feet of pedestrians not drivers or infrastructure planners. I wonder whether the stats back that up ?

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Inner west traffic to worsen with WestConnex: Leichhardt Council

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydney gateway: Rail line to be moved, properties affected under plan to link WestConnex to airport

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Advocacy group says residents who live near a rail station should pay more rates

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Trains, trams, bikes and old bridges all on cards for Bays Precinct

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> New cycle helmet penalties could pump up fines to $1.5 million, minister's figures show

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> To fix the roads, more ministers should catch the bus

[techblitz]

Newcastle Herald (fairfax) --> Sydney traffic chaos: It's time to grow up Sydney, and catch public transport

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Peak hour in Sydney is getting worse – and longer, data shows

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydney residents vent opposition to WestConnex in flood of submissions

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> New motorway will derail commuters

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Documents about options for privatising trains, buses in NSW kept hidden

[#Metro]

The largest savings will come from bus reform in Sydney - simplification, feederisation etc. They would have so much surplus, they wouldn't know what to do with it all.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> On the right track? Rail privatisation a thorny topic in NSW

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> New roads not the only solution to Sydney's traffic, says business lobby

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Wynyard Station in $1 billion redevelopment after government accepts unsolicited offer

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Revealed: vast gaps in NSW's rail bridge safety system

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> 'Secrecy shrouds' multibillion-dollar Sydney rail projects

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydney Trains worker killed by train

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Government agency pays $17m for 'advice'

Sydney Trains will pay consultants Ernst & Young $17 million for advice on how to transform its business, under a government contract to run for less than a year.

The same amount of taxpayer money would buy 34 buses, or three ferries, a primary school, a police fixed-wing aircraft, or a police sniffer dog command centre, a Fairfax Media analysis has found.

The NSW government contracts website describes the $17.6 million deal signed by Sydney Trains with the consulting firm in September as covering "management advisory services".

Asked how advice could be this expensive, a Transport for NSW spokesman said "the value of the contract is proportional to the project's large scope".

"Transport for NSW is rolling out a major IT program to modernise how we do business," he said.

"We simply cannot keep running the transport network – supporting 16 million journeys a day across greater Sydney alone – and deliver a $41.5 billion infrastructure program for the people of NSW with slow, fragmented and out-dated IT systems."

The spokesman said it was usual for contractors to be hired to help make significant organisational changes to ensure they run "as smoothly as possible".

But Labor's transport spokeswoman Jodi McKay said: "Much of Sydney's bus fleet is past retirement, trains are overcrowded and prone to cancellation and the bill for some transport and roads infrastructure projects is blowing out by hundreds of millions of dollars and yet this government feels it can splash cash on consultants.

"This just shows that its priorities are all wrong."

According to Ms McKay, $17 million would pay for three suburban hospital emergency departments, or 170 experienced school teachers.

Earlier this month Labor accused the Baird government of blowing out its budget for external consultancies by $66 million across all departments.

The Budgeted Forward Estimates Detailed Report for 2015/16 showed the government spent $204 million on external consultants, 48 per cent higher than the forecast $138 million.

Transport for NSW spent $28 million on external consultants last year, which was $5 million more than had been budgeted.

According to the department, the latest Ernst & Young contract covers staff training, in addition to advice.

Sydney Trains is building a $276 million Rail Operations Centre in Alexandria, of which $90 million was allocated in the June NSW budget, to become the "nerve centre" of the rail network when it opens in 2018.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance has said the centre will use the latest technology to reduce train delays and provide faster information to customers.

[#Metro]

Depends on how much savings made and value created.

If that is equal or more than $17 million, then its worth it. The fact that it is a "big number" is meaningless.

With Gov't the numbers are often big because large systems are being run.

But I suggest that 'bread and butter' issues are where the savings are - Sydney still uses guards. Should go DOO (eventually).

And fix up the bus network. Auckland has done so, excellent results http://humantransit.org/2016/11/auckland-south-auckland-redesign-rolls-out.html

(Brisbane doesn't need to do this as RBOT has New Bus Network published - it's all done already, for free!)

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Limited transport is a big barrier to young people getting jobs

Darren Cini would have to leave home in Windsor at 3am to get to work at 5am at Wetherill Park, about 35 kilometres away, because of poor public transport links.

Since losing his job at a sheet metal factory after a period of illness, Mr Cini, 19, has been virtually cut off from job opportunities.

"I've had a few jobs, but haven't been able to keep them because of the problems I have getting there," he said.

Not only are transport services patchy on the fringes of metropolitan Sydney, getting a driver's licence appears to be the only solution. But this is also out of reach because Mr Cini doesn't know anyone with time to supervise his driving to get his driver's licence. In NSW, people on L plates are required to log 120 hours of supervised driving before they can sit a driver's licence test.

Mr Cini, who receives about $280 per fortnight from Centrelink, cannot afford to take driving lessons, which can cost around $80.

"I've been getting lifts from friends, but that doesn't get you far," he said.

A new report released on Monday reveals limited public transport is a major barrier preventing young people from getting and keeping a job.

Youth unemployment is close to 13 per cent – double the national jobless rate – and is concentrated in regional areas and fast-growing outer suburbs which have some of the poorest public transport links.

Tony Nicholson, the executive director for the Brotherhood of St Laurence, which completed the report: U-Turn: The transport woes of Australia's young jobseekers, said the greatest concentrations of unemployed young people are on the outskirts of major cities and in country areas where jobs are few. The bulk of job opportunities are hard to access in the cities.

The new analysis of the annual Household Labour Income and Family Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey of more than 13,000 people nationally shows 61 per cent of young people aged under 25 lacked a driver's licence and up to a quarter cite transport issues as a key barrier to getting a job.

"The issue about transport to get young people connected to jobs is as critical as their training and education to match them to employers," Mr Nicholson said.

"If they don't have transport to look for work, then maintain it, their education and training counts for nothing. This hasn't been given enough attention in strategies to tackle youth unemployment."

Mr Nicholson said one of the most common complaints his agency has received from young people is a lack of transport.

"This research highlights the extent of the problem and the fact that if we are going to be successful in reducing youth unemployment we need to have a multi-pronged attack on it. One area that hasn't been given enough attention is the transport challenge that is faced by young people," he said.

Learner drivers need to log 120 hours of supervised driving in NSW and Victoria – a challenge for disadvantaged households with one adult driver or no vehicle. Mr Nicholson said the number of hours required were inconsistent across the country with only 50 hours of supervised driving required in Western Australia.

"There appears to be no universal standard," he said. "If we are going to get better at getting young people into work, we have to revisit nationally the requirements for training for driver's licences and the burden that falls unreasonably on more disadvantaged households in the outskirts of country areas."

With more affordable housing to be found in outer suburbs and regional areas, youth unemployment, poverty and exclusion were becoming more highly concentrated there.

"Transport becomes a critical issue and it hasn't been given enough attention in the strategy so far to tackle youth unemployment," Mr Nicholson said.

While local councils had programs to help young people get driving licences, their availability depended on the supply of community volunteers to supervise driving lessons.

"I think we need a fundamental re-look at the way in which the burden of getting a driver's licence is falling heavily upon disadvantaged households and young people in the outskirts of city and country areas," Mr Nicholson said.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydney's public transport use soars, even as its buses run late

Public transport use is soaring across Sydney, putting more pressure on crowded trains and buses.

An annual snapshot by the NSW Audit Office shows patronage across the public transport network increased by 12 per cent last financial year. ...

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Public transport in Sydney's south west continues to lag behind

Public transport in Sydney's south west continues to lag behind the rest of the city despite being pushed as one of state's biggest growth areas.

The influx of residents to suburbs such as Oran Park and Gledswood Hills will have to wait years for new public transport options in the area with rail infrastructure still in the proposal stage.

Data released by AlphaBeta showed that suburbs in the South West Priority Growth Area experienced some of the worst public transport travel times in Sydney.

Co-founder of AlphaBeta, Andrew Charlton said that the area not only struggled with some of the longest commutes, but also some of the slowest.

"People in Sydney's west suffer both from poor transport links and a scarcity of jobs near where they live," he said.

Dr Charlton said not only did commutes take longer for people living in these areas, they sometimes required multiple modes of transport.

"People in some parts of the west have poor public transport, requiring them to take a combination of bus and train services, often with multiple changes," he said.

The Greater Sydney Commission recently released a draft district plan for Sydney's south west in which they outlined the importance of delivering transport options to meet new housing developments.

"Planning in greenfield precincts should provide for the timely delivery of transport links and ensure that these are sequenced and co-ordinated with housing delivery."

In the next 30 years, the Department of Planning and Environment is expecting 115,000 new homes to be built in the area, nearly 4000 homes every year.

According to a spokesperson from the department, Sydney's south west will experience a huge population expansion in the next 20 years.

"By 2036, the South West District's population is projected to grow by an estimated 373,000 people, to around 1.088 million."

The spokesperson also said that a deal between state and federal government would create 100,000 more jobs in the area giving the deal a "generational" timeframe.

Oran Park is one of the fastest growing suburbs in Sydney's south west but currently has one of the longest commutes in Sydney, according to the data from AlphaBeta.

For the estimated 5000 residents who live in Oran Park, the closest train station is Leppington, a 25-minute bus ride away.

The Leppington train station was constructed recently as part of the South West Rail Link to serve the expanding area with the line set to extend beyond this station at some point in the future.

There are plans to provide Oran Park with a train station, however the proposed site is currently a vacant lot. The state Transport Minister, Andrew Constance, has previously said that construction on the station could be decades away.

A spokesman for Transport for NSW said that new bus services had been introduced into the area to make it easier for residents to connect to train stations.

"In March 2016 we introduced a brand new bus route, Route 841, providing a much needed service for the new residential estates along Camden Valley Way."

The government is investigating other public transport options for the area according to a Transport for NSW spokesperson.

"Transport for NSW is currently undertaking a joint scoping study with the Federal Government to define the needs, timings and service options for rail investment to service the coming Western Sydney Airport and western Sydney generally."

Plans for a train corridor have been outlined that would connect suburbs from Narellan to Bringelly, including Oran Park, although construction dates are still yet to be decided.

Further details on the future of rail in the area will be known when the government completes its scoping study this year, identifying options to be taken forwards for further assessment.

According to Opal card statistics, 2300 people tap on along the South West Rail Link every day, with 45 per cent of those people alighting at a stop within the City Circle.

Those travelling from Oran Park could expect an average travel time of 90 minutes to the Sydney CBD.

Only around 10 per cent of those who tapped on in the South West Rail Link alighted at another station in the south west, showing that employment options in the area were only supporting a small percentage of the growing community.

The NSW Government has outlined plans to boost employment in the area over the next few decades.

The new Western Sydney Employment area will provide more than 57,000 jobs locally over the next 30 years, but with plans to have 300,000 residents in the area before then, tens of thousands of people will still be forced to commute to employment areas further afield.

The new Western Sydney Airport is expected to employ 9000 people by the early 2030s but could also improve transport links in the area.

The construction of the Western Sydney Airport could mean that a rapid transit train could be established between the CBD and the south west, cutting city commute times to 30 minutes.

A rapid transit train would be an expensive option, however, representing a cost three times that of the NorthWest Metro, at $25 billion.

While no plans are yet to be announced, Transport for NSW has said they're keeping a close eye on the area.

"Future improvements to public transport services in the area, including catering for new residential developments, will be considered in future planning as the area expands."

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Commuters will have months of pain, but Gladys Berejiklian never asked if it was worth it

Six years ago, less than two months after the Coalition won the 2011 election, Gladys Berejiklian made a decision which will soon result in a lot of people missing a lot of family dinners.

Berejiklian's decision – more on that later – looked to be a relatively minor one at the time. But the decision helped trigger a chain of events which, from next year, will mean anyone travelling to places like Macquarie University or North Ryde will be unable to catch the train for at least six months.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has been forced to defend her management of a cost blowout of Sydney's light rail project in 2014 when she was Transport Minister.

And it will mean tens of thousands of people who travel to or from places like Marrickville, Campsie, Canterbury or Lakemba will be kicked off the train for about a year, some time early next decade.

This column is not arguing against temporary inconvenience. It is not even arguing against privatisation. Rather, it is arguing against the arrogance of governments cannibalising public assets without properly understanding what they are doing, while refusing to expose their decisions to the glare of scrutiny, analysis, or consultation.

The most consequential examples of this dynamic in NSW, I think, can be found in decisions made about Sydney's rail system during the Premier's time as transport minister. To get a sense of the issues here, it is worth comparing Berejiklian's rail plans to what she did to the ferries.

Berejiklian privatised the running of the ferries. The result seems to have been a success. Ferries arrive on time. They remain embarrassingly pleasant. The government, according to the Auditor-General, saves about 12 per cent a year on running costs. Ticks all round.

But imagine if it had not been so easy to privatise the ferries. Imagine a scenario in which, to privatise the ferries, services needed to be suspended for a year. In which commuters were forced onto buses for months so the private operator could replace wharves with ones suited to their preferred vessels. In which these vessels were smaller than the old ones and had fewer seats. And though ferries might arrive more frequently under the private operator, the process lumped taxpayers with a huge bill.

Would it still have been worth it to privatise the ferries? It would be worth asking the question.

But this is exactly what is happening to Sydney's rail system. And people were never genuinely asked about it.

This process started under Berejiklian in May 2011. In that month, her department called for designs of the north west rail link. But the shape of the requested design committed trains on the North West Rail Link to run in only one pattern. The design allowed trains to run only underground from the north west through Epping Station to Chatswood. It did not consider the possibility of trains from the north west running on a second path to the city via Strathfield.

Because Sydney's rail tracks are so crowded, this design limited the number of trains that could run on the north west rail link. When the Herald pressed Berejiklian about the implications of her design limitation, she insisted it would not be a problem.

But within months, the government used their claim that only four trains an hour could run on the north west rail link as the justification for a decision to overhaul the plans for that line, and for a good chunk of the entire rail system. In order to run more frequent services on the north west, Berejiklian signed off on a plan to hand the existing Epping to Chatswood line to a private operator to run single-deck "metro" trains in a shuttle from the north-west to Chatswood.

This plan in turn triggered a need to extend that new line through the city. And because the trains would need somewhere to run south of the harbour, a decision was made to run them on the Bankstown Line.

This series of works, worth about $20 billion, should be finished in 2024. It will of course deliver large benefits, particularly to those areas getting a rail service for the first time. But it will also involve stunning levels of disruption, and shocking levels of waste, as two lines are closed so they can be "upgraded" to run metro trains. Closing a rail line for a year to replace perfectly good, though sometimes liftless, stations? Yes, they actually want to do this.

What was never explored was whether Berejiklian could simply have built the north-west rail link to accommodate Sydney's regular trains. Doing so might have delivered substantially the same – or even larger – benefits without the need to close lines. Transport for NSW could have indulged its fetishisation of private metro trains on genuinely stand-alone new rail lines.

What's more, other benefits claimed for the coming works are also questionable. The government says that by removing Bankstown Line trains from the City Circle, the project will enable 20 trains an hour to run on the existing Inner West Line and the Airport Line. This claim becomes less impressive on analysis. Already 12 trains an hour run on the Inner West line in the peak hour. To get to 20 an hour, the government would have to stop running express trains to the city from places Lidcombe or Liverpool. This issue could also affect trains from Sydney's south-west.

When rail lines start to be closed next year to accommodate the metro "upgrades", there will be a huge campaign to tell the public that the disruption represents the inevitable price of progress.

The propaganda will be false. The closure of those train lines will be because of choices made, and never properly justified, by the current Premier.

Jacob Saulwick is city editor.

[SurfRail]

That's some good dogwhistling boy.

[#Metro]

This series of works, worth about $20 billion, should be finished in 2024. It will of course deliver large benefits, particularly to those areas getting a rail service for the first time. But it will also involve stunning levels of disruption, and shocking levels of waste, as two lines are closed so they can be "upgraded" to run metro trains. Closing a rail line for a year to replace perfectly good, though sometimes liftless, stations? Yes, they actually want to do this.

What was never explored was whether Berejiklian could simply have built the north-west rail link to accommodate Sydney's regular trains. Doing so might have delivered substantially the same – or even larger – benefits without the need to close lines. Transport for NSW could have indulged its fetishisation of private metro trains on genuinely stand-alone new rail lines.

This is utter nonsense.

A driverless metro train with no driver and no guard versus a train with 2 staff both on 90K each (or thereabouts) - which one do you think will have more benefits?

Major projects undergo scrutiny and business case.

Ho-Hum!

[Gazza]

When you complain about catching a bus for a year, whilst ignoring that that has been a daily reality for the Northern Beaches because the high running cost of Sydney Trains has hampered its expansion there.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> F6 planners told to ignore public transport, build roads, documents show

The NSW government has been instructing transport officials to ignore public transport alternatives to motorway projects, according to explosive internal documents obtained by Fairfax Media.

The revelation emerges in a memo prepared within Transport for NSW into potential rail improvements between Sydney and Wollongong – a project that could compete for funds with the proposed F6 motorway from the WestConnex interchange at St Peters to Waterfall. 

But the document also suggests that the government has excised the development of public transport alternatives to other major toll-road projects. These include the Western Harbour Tunnel project, which is to be an extension of WestConnex, and the Beaches Link tunnel that is to extend that road to the northern beaches.

The memo prepared within Transport for NSW says a new rail tunnel and freight line could cut the time taken for commuters to travel from Wollongong to Central from 90 minutes to about 60 minutes for as much as $10 billion less than the cost of the toll road. ...

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Transport department criticises plans for 3400 new homes on Sydney's northern beaches

The NSW government's plans to deliver thousands of new homes on Sydney's northern beaches have been heavily criticised by the state's transport department, which has refused to support the project until further assurances are made.

In December, the NSW government unveiled its plan to transform 700 hectares of land in Ingleside, near Mona Vale, into a new community comprising 3400 new homes for as many as 9000 residents, while conserving large parcels of bushland.

Sydney's population continues to rise, putting pressure on more than just housing. Will new road and light rail project be able to keep up?

According to the Department of Planning's draft strategy, the timing of the development will be "co-ordinated with the increased capacity to be provided by Mona Vale Road upgrades," which will involve the road corridor being expanded to two lanes in each direction.

But in a submission to the government's draft strategy, Transport for NSW attacked the assumption as inaccurate, noting there was "no forward budget for these proposed upgrades".

"The report inaccurately assumes that the Mona Vale Road upgrade East and West would both be completed by 2021," said the submission signed by Clare Gardiner-Barnes, Transport for NSW's deputy secretary for freight, strategy and planning.

"Mona Vale Road currently experiences congestion due to the configuration of one lane in each direction for the majority of this road. Adding extra traffic to this road before the upgrade works are complete would lead to an unacceptable level of service."

In an accompanying letter, Ms Gardiner-Barnes stated the transport department would not support a move to rezone 40 per cent of the land for development without further assurances.

"Without a funding commitment for both Mona Vale Road upgrades and increased bus service levels, Transport for NSW cannot support the potential rezoning," Ms Gardiner-Barnes said, unless it was shown that the development "will not adversely impact on road network performance and transport customer outcomes".

Transport for NSW's submission was among 420 others received by the Department of Planning. Many of the submissions raised traffic and environmental concerns.

Transport for NSW also rejected the Planning Department's claim that proposed bus services would operate every five minutes in peak periods via Mona Vale Road.

"This is incorrect, there has been no past or current planning for this option," the submission said.

The proposed Northern Beaches' B-Line bus service, which is set to operate every five minutes in peak hours between Mona Vale and the CBD, would service Mona Vale via a stop along Pittwater Road, not Mona Vale Road, and there were "no current plans to extend to Ingleside," the submission noted.

A spokeswoman for the Planning Department said the two departments were "working closely" to "resolve the issues [Transport for NSW] raised in their submission on the Ingleside development".

Announcing the strategy last year, then planning minister Rob Stokes said the new community would "showcase a high standard of sustainability" and would be developed with environmental protection levels higher than ever seen before in Sydney.

But a separate submission from the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage detailed concerns the draft strategy had "missed some key opportunities" to achieve this.

Among them were concerns a wildlife corridor would be severed by the proposed development, and that two other corridors had not be accounted for in the planning.

[ozbob]

Sydney's worsening congestion lengthens wait times for business vehicles https://t.co/1sCEZ4Yrbz | @Mattonews

— smh.com.au (@smh) May 16, 2017

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydney commuters opt for buses, trains over cars in travelling to CBD

Commuters travelling to Sydney's central business district are increasingly choosing to leave their cars parked at home and taking trains and buses each morning instead.

The latest government figures show an 11 per cent fall in vehicles travelling to the CBD during the morning peak since 2015, when the government launched a campaign to encourage people to opt for public transport.

In contrast, patronage on all modes of public transport in and out of the CBD between 5am and 10am has risen by more than 10 per cent to 32.9 million trips in the first six months of this year, compared with the same period in 2015.

The pace of growth in public transport patronage during weekday mornings has been greatest between 5am and 6am, which surged by 75 per cent to 634,372 trips in the first half of this year, from the same period two years earlier.

The traditional rush hour of 8 to 9am is still by far the busiest period, however.

Almost 15.5 million trips were made in that 60-minute period in the first half of 2017, a 7.3 per cent rise on the same period two years earlier but a slight decrease on the first half of last year.

The data based on trips using Opal cards shows more people travelling in the shoulder period between 9am and 10am. It shows a 14 per cent rise in patronage during that one-hour period since 2015.

The government undertook a major shakeup of bus timetables and routes in the CBD in 2015, which was timed to coincide with the start of construction on the $2.1 billion light rail line from Circular Quay to Kensington and Randwick in the south east.

Transport Minister Andrew Constance said the "travel choices" program had encouraged an increase of 3 million trips to the CBD on public transport since it was rolled out in 2015.

"It is the two-year anniversary of this program, and judging by the numbers it has been a success in changing travel behaviour for commuters who might have otherwise driven into the CBD," he said.

NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said the motoring group had seen a steady increase over the years in people using commuter car parks at suburban train stations, and catching public transport into the CBD.

"With improvements in public transport, more and more people are choosing to leave their cars at home," he said.

Mr Khoury said changes to commuters' habits had been sustained since the government raised public awareness two years ago about the need to alter ways of getting to and travelling within the CBD due to the light rail construction.

The government recently announced plans to add 300 train services a week on the two main rail lines between western parts of Sydney and the CBD – the T1 and the T2 – from November, when a new timetable for the network is rolled out.

Geoffrey Clifton, a senior lecturer in transport management at Sydney University, said he believed the increase in travel on public transport outside the 8am to 9am peak was due to changes in people's work habits and greater congestion on roads.

"People are being pushed out of the peak by congestion on roads or public transport ... and people are changing the way they live and work," he said.

"Employers are more accepting of flexible work hours. More people are working outside the normal 9 to 5."

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydney's most congested CBD commutes revealed

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> $700 million stripped from spending on NSW transport operations

Almost $700 million in spending on day-to-day operations will be stripped from the budget of NSW's transport agencies this year and an immediate freeze put on hiring new staff, sparking fears services will suffer.

The transport agencies are under pressure to cut their budgets for existing operations amid record spending on multibillion-dollar projects such as a metro railway and light rail lines in Sydney's central business district and Parramatta.

Commuters in Sydney respond to the McKell Institute's proposal to fund improved public transport by increasing fares.

In a briefing note to staff obtained by Fairfax Media, Transport for NSW secretary Tim Reardon said his deputy secretaries had been told that operating budgets for all of the agencies' divisions had been cut by 15 per cent this financial year.

That amounts to a drop of up to $687 million in operating expenses across the transport agencies, which includes Sydney Trains but not Roads and Maritime Services, based on the forecasts in the state budget in June. However, the cuts do not include longer term costs such as bus contracts.

"Over the last six years in TfNSW we have made savings to meet our requirements, however our [operating expenditure] costs have increased," Mr Reardon said in his note.

Mr Reardon said a freeze had been put on hiring casual staff and creating new positions in order to gain "additional immediate savings".

Paying for consultants out of budgets for operating expenses will also require approval from Transport for NSW's top brass.

Mr Reardon said a focus on increasing revenue streams was also needed because "fares and other revenue" did not cover the full cost of operating the transport system.

Opposition transport spokeswoman Jodi McKay said it was a massive cut by any standard and would inevitably impact safety, staffing and services across the public transport network.

"You can't cut almost a $687 million from the operating budget without affecting every aspect of the road and rail networks," she said.

Ms McKay said the need for the transport agencies to find new revenue streams could lead to fare increases to plug the gap.

But a spokesman for Transport for NSW said it would not be making any decisions that impacted on "customers' experience, safety or service reliability".

"Managing operational or day-to-day costs is a normal requirement for any budget, and prudent when fares and our other revenue sources, including advertising at stations and on trains, cover less than what it costs to operate the system," he said.

Sydney's train network is under increasing strain due to population growth and commuters seeking alternatives to congested roads.

Passenger demand has risen by almost 20 per cent on some lines over the past year, while across the rail network trips increased by more than 11 per cent, or 3.1 million, to 30.7 million in July, compared with the prior period.

[ozbob]

^

https://twitter.com/TransportforNSW/status/916081535337582593

[Cazza]

IMHO, the SE light rail should have never been built. It is not an area which will see a housing boom in the next couple of years (as there is not any more space to build). The only thing the SE region needs is a redesigned bus network. There is so much duplication it isn't funny.

For example: Route 396: Maroubra Beach to Circular Quay via Maroubra Junction and Anzac Pde.
This service runs from the Maroubra Beach terminus to Marboubra Junction for only 2.4km (along with Route 395-MB to Railway Square, Route X96 and overlaps another 6 services along this stretch [Routes 316, 317, 353, 376, 377 and X77]) then runs along the congested and bus chocked Anzac Pde into the City.

Sydney has a complex bus network (much like Brisbane's) with confusing timetables, inconsistent frequencies and many overlapping and duplicated services.

All the network needs is a re-vamp, not a multi billion dollar light rail. Need to increase capacity? Truncate services, run higher frequencies on these services, have dedicated bus lanes right along Anzac Pde. Simple.

[ozbob]

Sydney Morning Herald --> Sydneysiders the nation's biggest users of public transport for work commute

Sydney tops the nation for the proportion of people using public transport to travel to work with about one in five residents catching trains, buses, trams or ferries for their daily commute.

In a further sign of the demand for Sydney's rail and bus network, the city has easily earned the title of the country's public transport capital with 20.9 per cent using it to travel to work, followed by Melbourne (13.4 per cent), Brisbane (10.5 per cent), Adelaide (8.3 per cent) and Perth (8.1 per cent).

But the latest release of data from the 2016 census shows the household car remains by far the preferred mode of transport to work for people across the nation, including Sydney.

Adelaide scored the highest proportion of people driving to work by car at 79.9 per cent, followed by Perth (79.3 per cent), Hobart (76 per cent) and Brisbane (75.3 per cent).

Sydney had the lowest proportion of people driving to work among Australia's capital cities at 65.5 per cent in 2016, which was a decrease on the 66.9 per cent recorded during the 2011 census. Those figures do not include people travelling in cars as passengers.

Nationally, 73.8 per cent of the working population commuted to work by car – either as a driver or passenger – in 2016, a slight reduction on the 74.3 per cent recorded in the 2011 census.

Bindi Kindermann, the census program manager for the Australian Bureau of Statistics, said the data showed Australians were still "very much primarily reliant" on cars as a means of travel.

"[But] when we look at the capital cities individually, the data tells us some interesting stories. Unsurprisingly, residents of Sydney were significant users of public transport," she said.

The 20.9 per cent of people using public transport in Sydney to get to work in 2016 compares with 18.3 per cent in 2011.

Sydney boasts one of the most extensive public transport networks in the country, and the state government has embarked on a significant expansion of it over the coming years.

The first stage of a $20 billion-plus metro train line between Rouse Hill in Sydney's north-west and Chatswood is due to open in 2019, followed by the second stage to the CBD and Bankstown in the city's west by 2024.

Trips across the rail network rose by more than 11 per cent, or 3.1 million, to 30.7 million in July, compared with the same month a year earlier, the latest figures from Transport for NSW based on Opal card usage shows.

While Sydneysiders are bigger users of public transport, the latest census data shows the city trails Canberra, Hobart and Darwin in the proportion of people walking or cycling to work.

Canberra recorded the highest rate of people cycling or walking to work at 8.4 per cent of the working population, which Ms Kindermann said might reflect the smaller size of the nation's capital and town planning.

Sydney ranked No.4 among the nation's capital cities at 5.9 per cent – down slightly from 6.1 per cent in 2011 – followed closely by Melbourne at 5.4 per cent.