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 Stage 1 Public Domain Strategy documents.

We note Council's desire for a more engaging and resilient BD. Achieving that will be a challenge due to the busy roads, the hills and several unique features such as the scattered nature of the BD. But the area has benefited from longstanding Council policies restricting car parking in new developments. On the other hand, it suffered when railway modernisation in 2006 closed all seven shops on the station site, including a takeaway shop on Blue St. That left Greenwood as the sole retail on Blue St, with the disadvantages that it closes nightly by 7pm, is closed on Saturday afternoons and doesn't open at all on Sundays. Blue St is an important transfer point between bus and rail, especially when Greenwood is closed and the escalators at Victoria Cross are therefore unavailable.

We are particularly concerned at the suggestion that Miller St should be closed to all vehicles between Victoria Cross and Berry St. That block carries hundreds of buses daily, including routes 168, 173, 209, 227, 228, 229, 230, 254, 287, 291, E50, E54, 151, 188, 200, 202, 207, 208, 245, 247, 252, 260, 261 and 286. It is impossible to divert as many buses as that without seriously disadvantaging many people. Council should realise that the compactness of North Sydney's BD is only possible because so many of the people there travel by public transport. North Sydney compares very favourably with Parramatta, where most people arrive in the BD by car, despite Parramatta's aspirations to be Sydney's second CBD.

The bus stops in front of the MLC building are heavily-used in daylight hours. When the Metro station opens (2024?) they will become handy for interchange between metro and bus and are likely to see increased usage at all hours. That is a further reason why removing buses would be a mistake. Older passengers especially are concerned to minimise walking distance to and from public transport.

We offer two examples of adverse consequences of displacing buses:

• Old Northern Rd, Castle Hill - buses divert via Terminus St and Crane Rd. This delays passengers and is uncomfortable owing to grades and curves. Meanwhile, cars are allowed to drive past the shop fronts.
• George St, Sydney - buses divert via Pitt St, Hay St and/or Goulburn St. This delays passengers and is uncomfortable owing to turns.

For completeness, we think that facilities should be provided on the Warringah Expressway for B-line services to stop somewhere near Mount St. But that does not mean that buses which run along Miller St should be diverted via the expressway.

We recommend that the placebook and the draft transport master plan should be revised to retain buses in Miller St while removing other traffic in business hours. Miller St could be narrowed by at least a lane if traffic levels were reduced. The area so freed could be landscaped into a pedestrian mall carrying buses only.