Never Pleased !

The long suffering residents of Sydney have watched the speed of the daily commute diminish as more cars are crammed onto an inadequate road system, and those that use public transport travel like Sardines on overcrowded buses and trains.  For years the calls for relief went unanswered.

Sydney's Lord Mayor, Clover Moore thought that the answer was to get people to travel on bicycles as is the custom in some European cities.  To achieve that end, the city installed a network of shared bike paths and many parking spaces for cars were sacrificed, to the annoyance of the motoring public.  The plan was an abject failure.   The people of Sydney simply ignored the call to cycle and this labyrinth of bike paths went unused.

Both the Lord Mayor and many Green thinking people oppose widening roads and making travel by car easier. Their answer is to force the people to use public transport and they oppose the extension of the freeway system and the implementation of road tolls to pay for this work.  To the despair of many people, the prospect of a massive improvement to either the road system or public transport seemed a distant dream because we lacked the money to pay for it.

The state government bit the bullet - and accepted reality.   To freeup the money needed to bring Sydney's transport system into the twenty-first century it would be necessary to realise on a public asset.   It would be a case of "pawning the family silver " to take the city forward - and the electricity system was to be the sacrifice.

The leasing of this state asset delivered billions of dollars - and we are now well on the way to having the improvements that are so badly needed, and they are a mix of better roads and extended public transport.  Surprisingly, this is being criticised by the very people who were loudest in calling for improvements.

Work is well under way in constructing what is now called a "Light  rail System "to connect  Circular Quay to Kensington and Randwick in Sydneys south east..   That is just another word for "Trams ", but these are state of the art behemoths sixty-seven metres in length.  The work will turn George street into a Mall and these new trams have the capacity to move a huge number of people

At the same time, that long awaited Metro is under construction and there are extensions to the existing rail network. Sydney will get a new airport at Badgery's Creek and the West Connex will revitalise the commute from the west into the city.   Work is under way to widen existing freeways and in time the city will have an unimpeded traffic flow to its north, south and western extremities.

The fact that both roads and public transport are getting big improvements could be expected to delight both the motoring public and the ecology people calling for public transport, but we are seeing demonstrations and demands to put a stop to the work.   It is understandable that those having property resumed to make way for new work will be unhappy, but in many cases the people making demands have absolutely no involvement or personal loss because of the work.

Now it seems that the Sydney city council is preparing to renege on its share of $222 million towards the $ 2.1 billion city light rail project.    The Lord Mayor claims that "adequate results "have not been reached on the twelve kilometre route through the heart of the city.   The complaint is that not enough trees are being planted to create a boulevard effect and that the shelters to protect tram passengers from bad weather are too big - and are unsightly.   There is also grumbling that the actual trams are too long - and that they will draw attention away from the magnificent streetscape the shops present.  It is suggested that a shorter version be employed at off peak times.

This rejection of weather protection for tram patrons is unexpected.   It is suggested that the existing shop awnings would give adequate protection but that ignores the velocity of storms that are a regular summer occurrence here in the sub tropics.  The inner city would come to a virtual standstill on days of weather extremes if the pavement area was the only shelter for those waiting to board transport.

The engineers and planning people who have put this plan together have laboured long and hard to achieve a good result.   It seems that the nay sayers don't wait to see the finished product before delivering their verdicts !