Illustration: Simon Letch
THE O'Farrell government has proposed a hefty investment in transport that offers immense economic advantages in revitalising the central business district of Sydney through light rail and increased pedestrian space.
The city and its workers stand to gain from 227 fewer smelly, unreliable, slow and crowded buses in as soon as seven years, when routes have been streamlined, the trams have started and the north-west rail link has opened.
Pedestrian traffic in the city will increase, promising retailers some much-needed hope and tourists a more appealing city.
A potential boon for the inner south-east awaits, too, from the extension there of light rail. The route past the densely populated inner suburbs and the sporting and recreation areas near Moore Park makes sense, as does the extension to the University of NSW.
And benefits are likely to flow from better road access from the west to the overloaded Sydney Airport.
The people of NSW should be grateful something brave is being planned for what appears an affordable outlay.
But some doubts remain that pose political challenges. The 20-year transport master plan relies on the willingness of commuters to use light rail.
While trams offer more comfort, many travellers will need to use bus-tram interchanges on the city edge or in the suburbs.
Those arriving by train will still find it faster to use underground trains for a north-south or south-north trip across the CBD.
Commuters will be cynical, too, about claims that trams will cut travel times from the south-eastern suburbs. A Maroubra commuter, say, will drive or take a bus to Kingsford, then take a 24-minute tram trip to Central, then a further 15 minutes by tram to Circular Quay. Including interchange times, that's longer than a rail trip from Central to Hornsby.
The government has also left out a crucial part of the transport puzzle, in making its clearest and least satisfactory statement yet against a second airport in the Sydney basin.
The Premier has committed to push for the expansion of the airport when he should press the federal government to commit to the economic opportunity that awaits in a second airport at Badgerys Creek, near Penrith.
That oversight is among several problems the master plan poses for the rapidly growing western and south-western Sydney. The disturbing truth is that most trips across the metropolitan area involve cars and trucks stuck in traffic jams.
Infrastructure NSW under the chairman and former Liberal premier, Nick Greiner, said in its report to the government in October that ''the evidence is clear that private road transport is - and will remain - the only viable option for most journeys in Sydney most of the time'', irrespective of government reforms.
Many Sydneysiders not served directly by rail or fast bus services - and commuters from nearby population-growth areas - often shun public transport because they get stuck in traffic simply driving to rail or bus interchanges.
Then they find parking, travel times and reliability a problem. The master plan is short on solutions to that. Beyond the already announced and important WestConnex motorway plan linking North Strathfield with Mascot and the south-west rail link near Glenfield, people in the west, south and northern beaches will still be facing big traffic snarls as they travel to the city, then potentially more strife in the CBD.
About one in four peak-hour visitors to the CBD come by motor vehicle. Notwithstanding fewer buses, the risk is that trams will increase traffic congestion, especially on narrow streets such as inner Sydney's.
The concern is that in trying to make a healthier commercial and transport heart for Sydney, the limbs and arteries are being overlooked.
That said, the government should be commended for making a start.
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