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

Action for Public Transport (NSW) is a transport advocacy group active in Sydney since 1974. We promote the interests of beneficiaries of public transport - both of passengers and the wider community. We make this submission on the draft Central Strategic Vision dated October 2019. We take the passenger's viewpoint.

Pedestrians

Some planners don't seem to realise how important it is for many travellers (such as those with baggage, children or other impediments) that long walks be minimised. The Devonshire St pedestrian tunnel is a godsend for Broadway commuters who want to reach suburban platforms at Central or perhaps walk to Surry Hills. But its shortcomings have been apparent for decades: thousands of trips each day could be shortened by at least 100 metres if the Devonshire St tunnel was directly connected to the paid concourse at the south-western end of platforms 16..17. Yet the Central Walk part of the Sydney Metro project connects the north-eastern end of the metro platforms to Chalmers St; there is to be no connection from the south-western end of the metro platforms to the Devonshire St pedestrian tunnel nor even to the existing paid concourse. And nor will there be any direct connection to about Ambulance Avenue.

The reason why these connections are not already in Metro plans is presumably that the Devonshire St tunnel is operating at or above comfortable capacity. But the capacity issue could and should be dealt with immediately by duplicating the Devonshire St tunnel, with a connection to the existing tunnel at about platforms 16..17 and with provision for stairs up to the over-tracks level at suitable places. Why isn't this (or an equivalent) in the Vision?

Light Rail

We refer to the Inner West light rail. At the time of writing, trams take six minutes each way to traverse the 500 metres of track between the Central terminus and the off-road track at Ultimo. There are two stops, so a reasonable budget for 500 metres would be three minutes. In other words, 200-passenger trams are held up by about three minutes on every trip between Ultimo and Central. Most (perhaps two minutes) of the three minutes is due to the appalling treatment of trams at traffic signals in Hay St. This could and should be rectified immediately as part of implementing the CBD & S-E light rail. But the Pitt St crossing is not so simple. Too many buses use Pitt St - about 19 routes by our count - for trams to have absolute priority there. Something should be done about speed on the IWLR.

But there's more to do than that. The inner west light rail needs expansion. It should offer enough seats for all but the shortest trips. It obviously needs more frequent services. Further, it also needs capacity to serve a potential new line towards Rozelle and/or Balmain, perhaps via the old Glebe Island bridge. An important lesson from the CBD & S-E light rail is that the city end of light rail lines must have enough capacity to not be a constraint on the suburban end.

The opportunity should be taken to provide a second CBD terminus for the inner west light rail. One suggestion would be use the Goods Line to run trams up to and perhaps under Railway Square. There would be other possibilities. The strategic vision should anticipate the need for a second terminus and should provide for it.

Conclusion

We recommend that the draft Vision should be revised to include enhancements to the Devonshire St tunnel - duplication and direct connections to the paid area at platforms 16-17 and the metro platforms. It might be possible to vary the metro platform plans before services commence in 2023.

We further recommend that the opportunity be taken to improve the travel speed and capacity of the Inner West light rail.