Comments closedAn extra 1.3 million people in Sydney by 2030 is an enormous load on our roads and transport system.
Dye (2019-09-16)
Tag: Sydney
More than 66,000 commuters have piled onto Sydney’s new driverless metro trains on average each weekday in their first two months of operation despite a spate of disruptions, figures show.
The weekday patronage in June and July makes the 36-kilometre Metro Northwest rail line from Chatswood to Rouse Hill in Sydney’s north west almost as well used as the Eastern Suburbs line, the city’s fourth busiest.
O’Sullivan (2019-08-19)
Frequency is Freedom
Comments closedMathew Hounsell, a transport data analyst at the Institute for Sustainable Futures, said the new line’s patronage showed that people responded well to frequent all-stop services.
O’Sullivan (2019-08-19)
Comments closedCommuters on Sydney’s busiest rail lines are regularly unable to get home on time during the evening peak on weekdays, as new figures show the T1 Western and T8 South lines have been the worst performers over the last year for passengers.
Trains on the T1 Western – one of the most heavily patronised – and T8 South lines did not meet on-time performance targets during the evening peaks on three out of five weekdays in the 12 months to early July.
The T8 Airport and the T2 Inner West and Leppington lines also failed to meet on-time targets of 92 per cent of services running on time on almost half of weekdays over the past year.
The T4 Eastern Suburbs line, which benefits from the fact it is separated from the rest of the network, was the best performer during the evening peak from 3pm to 7pm. Trains on the line were on-time on 222 of the 256 weekdays captured by data from July 2 last year to July 5 this year.
O’Sullivan, Gladstone (2019-07-10)
Read two articles to understand the history of trams in Sydney and the marginal utility of motorways.
Comments closedComments closedIt was a historic moment that passed Sydney by.
Without any public fanfare, a giant tunnel boring machine named Kathleen has completed digging the first rail tunnel under Sydney Harbour for a new metro train line.
O’Sullivan (2019-11-21)
Dr Zeibots discusses the fundamentals including the Mogridge Principle. A transport expert explains the traffic numbers. WestConnex doesn’t add up unless more motorways are added…
Comments closedThe submission #426 is available as a PDF or from the NSW Legislative Council Public Accountability Committee Inquiry – “Impact of the WestConnex project” established on…
Comments closedTransport for New South Wales collaborates with a range of final-year Capstone students from the University of Technology Sydney. These collaborative research projects have led to creative and innovative approaches for improving our transport system.
Comments closedI told you so …
“However, according to the numbers contained in the EIS and Appendices the widening of the M4 will actually reduce the total amount of traffic in the corridor. The government acknowledges that there will be an increase in traffic on Parramatta Rd as motorists compare the toll to their Value of Travel Time Savings (VTTS) and find it to be too high. However the government does not mention the fact that there will be a total reduction in traffic within the corridor as discretionary or impulse trips are deferred or redirected to other transport modes like public transport.”
Read the full NoW PT submission on the M4 widening (PDF).
Excerpts from the submission:
2010s
Tolls and Patronage
On 16 February 2010, the concession on the M4 Motorway expired and ownership was transferred from Statewide Roads to the NSW Government. The toll on the M4 Motorway was removed at this time. Immediately prior to its removal, the motorway toll was $2.75 for cars and $6.60 for trucks [excluding the Cash-Back program]. ([EIS] – Appendix D – Page 91)
From the RTA’s assessment there was a 500 vehicle drop in traffic on Parramatta Road in the four hours of the morning and a 1500 vehicle increase in vehicles on the M4 (Western Expressway). This represents an induced traffic effect of over one thousand vehicles. The effect is evident by the immediate visible increase in road congestion and reduction in travel speeds experience on Sydney’s roads. After the toll was removed, the average monthly rail patronage started to slide because of the significantly reduced patronage caused by mode shift to private vehicles. With each month, the new reduced baseline pulled the twelve month rail patronage average lower.
You can see quite clearly on the below graph where the slower timetables and removal of the toll on the Western Expressway have significantly reduced the patronage on the Western Line. However you can also see that the trend is holding for over 150% growth (300,000 passengers a month) above the 2001 figures.
