CHAPTER 3: MASS TRANSIT VISION
The Overall Vision
A light rail mass transit network for Inner
Sydney could be developed over a fifteen year period:
- Light rail could be used to provide internal north-south
circulation within the Central Business District, and to
the inner suburbs.
- Initially, five key lines have been
identified (see Map):
- SE Line: Maroubra Jcn via UNSW
- IW Line: Burwood via Lilyfield
- Sth Line: Mascot via Green Square
- IW Line: Burwood via Parramatta Rd
- E Line: Bondi via Bondi Junction
- These lines could be built in stages from
the city outwards, after completion of the first CBD Loop.
- Additional routes, such as on William Street, could also
be considered.
- Interchanges would be provided in the City
(Circular Quay, Park Street and Central) and at key
locations in the inner suburbs.
- Buses on routes
paralleling the light rail lines would be progressively
redirected to provide improved feeder services and
additional crossregional services.
- Integration of all modes
(Trains, buses, ferries, light rail, taxis) would be
achieved through these new and improved interchanges, the
introduction of integrated fares and ticketing, and the
provision of real-time passenger information.
- Park and Ride facilities would be developed at selected locations,
especially along the light rail routes.
The following sections outline:
- The proposed inner suburb routes,
including integration with other services, park and ride
opportunities, and potential for future extensions.
- CBD route alternatives.
- Reasons for selecting these routes.
- How bus services could be rationalised, and the benefits in
terms of efficiency and amenity.
- How the light rail network can facilitate walking and cycling.
Description of the Routes
South-East Line (SE1 and SE2)
Location and Purpose
The route will travel past Central station to Moore Park
via Devonshire Street, then on to UNSW and Maroubra
Junction via the existing bus lane and Anzac Parade. It
will connect the south-eastern suburbs with the CBD, and
also provide reverse connections between Central Station
and the city with UNSW, Moore Park and the Sydney Boys and
Girls High Schools, removing the need for large numbers of
special bus services.
Integration
The route will connect
with the 390 series of buses, and also with buses to
Coogee. Key interconnections with buses will occur at
Maroubra Junction, near UNSW and at the Nine Ways Junction.
Potential Extensions Possible extensions include Coogee and
Matraville.
South Line (S1, S2)
Location and Purpose
The route will follow Oxford, Crown and Bourke Street to the
Victoria Park area and on to Mascot Station via Dacey
Avenue. It will connect the rapidly growing areas in the
vicinity of Green Square with the city.
Intersects the SE line at the junction of Devonshire and
Crown Streets, allowing flexibility in operations and
staging of the routes. Also connects with the 303, 352,
355, 357 and 370 bus routes as well as the airport line.
Possible further extensions Possible long term extensions
to the F6 corridor south.
East Line (E1)
Location and Purpose
The route follows Oxford and Bondi Roads to Bondi
Beach, connecting Bondi, Paddington and neighbouring areas
with Bondi Junction and the city.
Integration
Integrates with wide variety of bus routes as well as heavy rail at
Bondi Junction. Limited opportunities for park and ride.
Inner West Line via Lilyfield (IW1, IW2)
Location and Purpose
The route will follow the existing freight line
west of Catherine Street for approximately 1.7km, then
cross to Parramatta Road via Haberfield, with an extension
to Burwood Station via Parramatta Road and Burwood Road. It
will link parts of Leichhardt, Haberfield, Five Dock and
Ashfield to both the city and to Burwood. A short tunnel
under Pyrmont will cut 5 minutes travel time and provide a
direct and fast route to the city.
Integration
Connections
with buses will be made at several points including James
Street (route 445, 440, L40), Boomerang Street (routes 471,
472), and Ramsey Street (routes 437, 438, L38), while
Burwood Station interchange will allow connection with
heavy rail as well as the many buses serving this important
centre.
Possible Further Extensions
There is potential to extend to Abbotsford and to the Concord peninsula in the
longer term.
Inner West Line via Parramatta Rd. (IW3, 4)
Location and Purpose
The route will follow Broadway and
Parramatta Road, and will connect parts of Chippendale,
Glebe, Camperdown, Leichhardt and Petersham with the city,
as well as with key activity generators such as the
University of Sydney and the University of Technology, Sydney.
Integration
The route will join route IW1/IW2 at
the corner of Henley Marine Drive and Parramatta Road. It
will connect with a wide range of bus routes including the
420 series from City Road and the 430 series from Glebe at
Broadway; routes 470 and 412 at Sydney University; and
routes 445, 438, L38, 440, L40, 480 and 483 in Leichhardt.
Key interchange points will be established at Sydney
University and at Norton Street.
Possible Further Extensions
There is potential to extend to Abbotsford and
to the Concord peninsula in the longer term.
Central Business District Links
Light rail will provide for
north-south circulation in the CBD, linking with key
interchanges at Circular Quay, Park Street and Central
Station (Martin Walsh and Associates, 2004). This will also
provide a basis for the extensions to the inner suburbs.
A large number of potential CBD links have been examined (GHD
2004), and the three which are considered to have the most
merit by the City of Sydney are shown below.
Eventually both the George Street Route and one of the two other
routes will be needed to handle both internal travel and to
provide capacity for the five routes to the inner suburbs.
The choice of the first route to be built will be made
following consultation with the community and business
interests, particularly those in the city. Note that any of
the five extensions described previously can be connected
to any of the three CBD links.
Selecting the Proposed Routes
The five routes in
the inner suburbs proposed for light rail were selected on
a number of criteria, including:
- Current passenger volumes and route structure
- Potential for future growth
- Ease of implementing light rail technology
- Presence of other rail modes
As shown in the map and table,
there are seven key bus corridors into the CBD: the Harbour
Bridge, the Western Distributor, Broadway, Elizabeth
Street, Oxford Street and William Street., as well as more
minor flows on streets such as Foveaux St, Campbell Street
and Bent Street. Altogether there were 1100 State Transit
buses entering the CBD on a typical weekday peak in 2001,
and 3,500 between 7:00am and 7:00pm. In addition, the
current light rail route via Lilyfield provides a further
transit corridor from the inner suburbs.
The table shows the characteristics of these corridors in
relation to these criteria. On this basis:
- The Northern corridor across the Harbour and the Victoria Road (Western
Distributor) corridor are considered as more suitable for
metro rail than light rail, given the volume of passengers
using the routes, and the topographical and other factors
which would make implementation difficult or expensive
(extensive tunnelling).
- The Broadway / Parramatta Road
corridor is considered suitable for light rail but with
some implementation difficulties given current traffic
volumes.
- The Anzac Parade (Oxford Street) corridor is
considered highly suitable for light rail given the
patronage volumes, growth potential and ease of
implementation.
- The Oxford Street corridor to Bondi is
considered suitable for light rail given the patronage
volumes and other characteristics.
- The South corridor is
considered suitable for light rail given its growth
potential and relative ease of implementation. A route via
Crown and Bourke Streets was favoured as it complements the
existing airport rail line rather than competes with it.
- The William Street corridor is considered suitable for
light rail, but a low priority given the existence of a
heavy rail link in the corridor already and relatively low
volume of patronage and growth potential.
- The Lilyfield
corridor is considered highly suitable for extending the
light rail given its growth potential and ease of
implementation.
Current bus patronage (2001) in morning
peak STA Buses Entering CBD on a weekday in 2001 Entry
point to CBD 12 Hours AM Peak 7am-7pm 7-9am Harbour Bridge
906 363 Western Distributor 284 118 Broadway 807 209
Elizabeth Street 401 95 Foveaux Street 190 52 Campbell
Street 58 18 Oxford Street 557 123 William Street 262 57
Bent Street 66 65 TOTAL STA 3531 1100 Source: STA 2002
Characteristics of Corridors Corridor Current Volume* Ease
of Implementation Growth Potential Other Rail H. Bridge V
High Low Med Yes Victoria Rd Med Low Med No Parramatta Rd
High Med High No Anzac Parade Med Very High Med No Oxford
St Med High Low Part South Med High High Part William
Street Low High Low Yes LRT Lilyfield Low Very High High No
In considering routes, current and potential demand, ease
of implementation and competition from other rail corridors
need to be considered.
Rationalising Buses
The proposed light rail network will allow the bus network to be
rationalised over time. This will have a number of
benefits, including:
- reducing the number of buses
travelling through the CBD and using major arterials
- allowing the buses and bus resources saved to be
re-allocated to improve the frequency of feeder services
and to establish new cross-regional routes
The table shows how this could be achieved over time as the light rail
network is built up. The principles adopted in
rationalising buses are as follows:
- bus routes which are
completely replaced by an equivalent light rail route will
be dropped, and the buses saved re-allocated
- bus routes
which parallel a light rail route for much of their length
will be shortened to act as a feeder service, with
connection made at an appropriate interchange point
- limited stop or express bus routes will in general be
retained. Some of these use different routes to access the
city, such as the X series utilising the Eastern Distributor.
- Bus routes in the city centre will be
restructured to connect with the light rail network so as
to reduce their impact on the CBD where possible.
Benefits from these changes include:
- Reduction of 1669 buses
needing to travel northbound through the CBD every weekday,
based on current timetables.
- Saving of 167 buses required
to operate the current peak timetable (including spare
vehicles for maintenance). These can be used to improve
crossregional routes and feeder services
- Substantial savings in bus operating costs.
- Substantial improvement in amenity in the city.
- Reduction in the amount of space
required for bus layovers in sensitive areas such as Circular Quay.
As shown, assuming bus volumes were to grow
to accommodate increased demand plus a small mode shift
(27% increase by 2021 assumed), then there would be an
estimated 9,420 State Transit buses travelling through the
city centre on a typical weekday. The introduction of the
light rail network would cut this to 6,000 per day, a
reduction of 36%.
Re-organisation of bus services Route
Re-organisation CBD Loop City Road all-stops buses (422,
423, 426, 428) terminated at Eddy Avenue interchange.
Victoria Road buses for Circular Quay redirected to Park
Street Interchange and Eastern Layover. William Street
Buses for Circular Quay redirected to Park Street
Interchange and Western layover. Inner West Stage 1 Routes
436 and 437 redesigned as feeders, terminating at Norton
Street. 50% of route 438 and 440 services terminated at
Norton Street Inner West Stage 2 Route 461 terminated at
Burwood Inner West Stages 3 and 4 Remaining route 440 and
438 services, and route 480 and 483 buses terminated at
Norton Street. South Routes 301, 302, 303 of route 343
services re-organised as feeders to Green Square South-East
Routes 391, 392, 393, 394, 395, 396, 397 and 399
re-organised as feeders, interchanging near UNSW (later
Maroubra Junction and the five-ways). East Routes 378
terminated at Bondi Jcn. Route 380 replaced by light rail.
Benefits from Bus Restructuring (Based on current
timetables) Light Rail Route Reduction in weekday
northbound buses in CBD Reduction in number of peak buses
required CBD 608 21 Inner West 327 43 South East 332 50
South 120 16 East 282 37 Total 1669 167 Trends in STA buses
travelling through City Centre with and without the light
rail network 2430 1900 600 760 4900 2810 0 3420 0 1000 2000
3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10000 2001 2021 No of
STA Buses Entering and Leaving CBD Daily Other (no light
rail) Other (with light rail) W Distributor Harbour Bridge
7,400 STA buses now 9,420 without light rail 6,000 with
light rail
Facilitating Walking and Cycling
Walking is the most important mode in the CBD now in terms of the
number of trips taken. However with further residential,
tourism and employment growth the existing footpath space
will come under increased pressure.
Cycling, however, is
currently a minor travel choice in Sydney, especially
compared with the situation in many European cities. The
lack of safe cycle routes is a key inhibitor to people
using bicycles more.
Cities such as Copenhagen, which
introduced a network of cycle-lanes, have shown how
important this mode can become if properly catered for.
The proposed light rail network in the CBD will allow more
space to be dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists. For
example the Pitt / Castlereagh (Figure 8) option would
allow sections of both Pitt and Castlereagh streets to be
redesigned to carry:
- One dedicated light rail line
- One lane for general traffic
- One lane for parking
- A bicycle route
- Wider footpaths
This would also allow more street
trees to be planted, and a much improved urban streetscape,
with more space for outdoor cafés etc.
The reduction in
traffic in the city centre from the Cross-City Tunnel will
also allow some streets such as Druitt Street to be closed
to general traffic. In time, as the balance shifts to more
walking, cycling and public transport, new streets can
become fully pedestrianised, adding to Martin Place, Pitt
Street Mall and Circular Quay, reclaiming the city for
pedestrians rather than cars.
Beyond the CBD, the
development of light rail routes can also facilitate key
cycle routes linking the regional cycleway network to the
CBD. For example, Devonshire Street can be redesigned to
carry two light rail lines plus a cycleway, which can
connect the CBD with the Moore Park area and with cycleways
to the Green Square area. These opportunities will be
further developed in the cycle strategy currently being
developed by the City of Sydney.
