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

P O Box K606

Haymarket NSW 1240

7 November 2021

Future Transport Team
Transport for NSW
email: futuretransport@transport.nsw.gov.au

Future Transport Strategy

Submission to 2021 review

Action for Public Transport (NSW) is a transport advocacy group, which has been active in Sydney since 1974. We promote the interests of beneficiaries of public transport: passengers and the wider community.

This is Action for Public Transport's response to a call at https://www.haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/future-transport.

We refer to the seven topics covered by leaflets on your website, namely:

Funding the future network and operations
How we travel
Parking in cities
Resilient transport network
Decarbonising freight
Sustainable travel
Sustainable infrastructure and operations

We do not think these topics cover all that needs to be done. For example, it has recently become crystal clear that the federal government does not have an effective plan to reduce Australia's net greenhouse gas emissions to zero soon. Some state governments are ahead of Canberra in this vital matter. The NSW plan should address it.

We also make the following points which are presented in arbitrary order:

It is a truism that transport and land-use should be planned together because of their close interaction. Fortunately, these matters are currently under a single NSW ministry and therefore bringing them together should be achievable. The future transport strategy should be extended to cover land-use planning.
COVID lockdowns during 2020 and 2021 had and still have unprecedented wide-ranging effects on transport. A path out of these effects should be described. To what extent will working-from-home persist? Will the CBD regain its former place as a productivity powerhouse?
Any plan to change things should include criteria whereby the plan's success or otherwise can be assessed. These criteria should be visible throughout the seven leaflets.
Many comments on the web page press for an explosion in bicycle travel. However, those comments ignore disadvantages of widespread bicycle travel such as reduced safety on footpaths for children and the elderly. The proliferation of battery-powered bicycles has already led to an increase in cyclist fatalities that would seem to warrant hard government intervention. Meanwhile, many young people can be seen riding various types of powered scooters and other two-wheeled devices that are apparently illegal on all public land. The government should decide now whether this situation can be allowed to continue.
In our view, there is much too much single-occupant car travel in Sydney. The plan should include a statement of how much car travel is sustainable, a list of strategies to control car travel, and tactics to implement those strategies. Road access pricing is one tactic that other cities have employed. Some cities exert tight control over parking availability.
Generally we think plans for a future which might have to control activities that are currently regarded as unassailable rights (such as freedom to drive anywhere and find a parking space) would benefit from candour.