Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

NEWS RELEASE: RTA fails Can-Bay residents, and thousands of north west commuters

posted Sunday 6 August 2006

The Roads and Traffic Authority's proposals for relieving traffic congestion at the Lyons & Victoria Roads intersection are simplistic and outdated, reflecting its obsession with moving vehicles, rather than people, according to Action for Public Transport.

The RTA plans to carry out major changes to the Lyons Rd and Edwin St intersections with Victoria Road, in Drummoyne, to facilitate vehicle movements from Lyons Rd to Victoria Rd.

"If this and the Edwin Street intersection are to be re-designed, it must be to move more people, not more cars" Action for Public Transport Convener, Kevin Eadie said. "This principle will be imperative during peak hours, where current congestion is at its worst. Providing more lanes for cars is short-sighted in the extreme, but typical of the RTA's 'nineteen fifties' thinking" Mr. Eadie said.

"Any additional road lanes will quickly be filled by new car trips", he said.

"What will the RTA plan achieve? It will just get a few more cars out of Lyons Road and into the peak-hour gridlock which is Victoria Road!

"The RTA is non-committal about relocating bus stops. Will they too be relocated to facilitate car movement and discourage bus use?"

"The innovative use of bus lanes has great potential, but it appears to have been rejected by the RTA, perhaps because RTA culture lies more in road building than in transport planning. Up to 80% of the vehicles using the present Transit Lane are illegal single-occupant vehicles. Policing, such as there is, is a failure. Long strings of one-person cars delay buses carrying up to 70 passengers".

"This represents very inefficient use of road space", Mr Eadie said.

"The Harbour Bridge bus lane carries about 50% more people than all the other five southbound lanes combined (Transit Australia Magazine, August 2006). Bus Lanes can be effectively policed with cameras, more so than transit lanes".

"The RTA proposal also ignores a bigger impending threat. When the Lane Cove Tunnel opens in 2007, its toll, and the simultaneous narrowing of Epping Road, could cause a significant shift to the Victoria Road corridor".

"In summary, the clever use of bus lanes could move significantly more people, now and into the future; the RTA's current plan will not".

Contact: Kevin Eadie 9819-6052 Allan Miles 9516-1906

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