The chicken ? Or the egg ?

Premier Barry O'Farrell and Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore have agreed on a radical plan to reduce car traffic in inner Sydney by thirty percent.  Australia's biggest city is about to get a return of " Trams " - now termed " Light Rail " -and this plan seeks to make the city a " Pedestrian precinct " by eliminating street parking and loading zones - and introducing more dedicated bike paths.

This has been a long planned dream of green thinking Clover Moore.  The concept has found favour in several major overseas cities and in particular, the people of Holland and several Scandinavian countries have a " bike culture " that has failed to take hold here.

We already have a network of inner city bike paths - and there is no escaping the fact that they are lightly used.  It is a big ask to ban cars and demand that people use bikes or walk - if they come into this city centre.  It would certainly need an extensive network of " hire bikes " to be available because riding from the outer suburbs would be impractical.

Thia is a high risk venture.   Retailers are already under pressure and it is unclear how the abolition of loading zones will meet their needs of stock supply.   If the public do not feel comfortable with this new arrangement and simply redirect their shopping to the suburban shopping malls the centre of this city will wither and die.

The big gamble is whether Sydney folk can be persuaded to swap the car for a bike - and that recalls the old " chicken and egg " conundrum.     Which came first - the chicken ?   Or the egg ?

Will the lack of car parking and the installation of bike paths get people to move on two wheels - or do the present arrangements need to wait until the number of people on bikes make special bike paths a necessity ?

Success or failure will probably depend on whether the planners get their strategy right.   A car free centre will only work if the car/bike exchange can allow car parking and bike hire to occur on the fringes of the CBD - and that will put enormous pressure on the facilities of the suburbs involved.

The " unknown " aspect is whether the average Sydney resident can be persuaded to adopt a continental culture and make the change of thinking that will be necessary for this plan to work.

Further down the track, this will either be the event that ushered in a Utopian dream - or the disaster that set the city back by several generations !