More Money For Transport, Lower Costs For Housing

[This is our first guest post by M. Girvan]

Transport, then density: it is the approach that is needed to help overcome this city’s two most pressing issues. Sydney’s disgraceful record for housing affordability has been a well documented topic over recent years, as has its need for a much improved public transport system. But how often are these two issues discussed in the same argument? The influence of public transport on housing prices cannot be underestimated.

Sydney’s housing prices are especially high in areas that are well connected by public transport. In Strathfield, a suburb sitting on the junction of four suburban rail lines, house prices average $1.3million and apartments $480,000. Travel a couple of kilometres away to Strathfield South, where there are no rail connections, and house prices drop to $760,000 and apartments $410,000 (domain.com.au). A recent study found that Sydneysiders would be happy to pay more for public transport if it was more efficient and the majority supported the idea of major investment in rail throughout the city (Independent Public Inquiry). The people of Sydney want to use public transport, most just can’t afford to live in areas that offer it.

If I live in Drummoyne can I visit a friend in Strathfield? If I work in Parramatta could I possibly live in Sutherland? The answer to both is yes… if I rely solely on owning and running a car or am willing to spend possibly an hour or more on various buses and trains.

We have seen proposal after proposal from the state government falter and fail before construction has even begun. Cost concerns have been a major contributor to these broken promises, but a lack of support has also been a key reason for the downfall of many rail plans. Running a metro through a low or medium density area seems not to be a popular action because of the concerns over profitability.

The government plans to increase density in areas around transport hubs, but how many transport hubs does Sydney really have? In a system where virtually all transport lines run directly into the Central Business District, there is such a minimal amount of overlapping of these lines and as a consequence great pressure is being put on the CBD. This plan to increase density around transport hubs is evidence that new transport corridors do not necessarily have to serve areas of density or growth, they can also create them.

If more transport hubs are created, then surely the demand for housing around these hubs will ease.  Creating more hubs does not just involve more transport lines into the city centre. It involves a series of connections between lines to open up more opportunities between the suburbs and promote the growth of Sydney’s secondary centres such as Parramatta, Bankstown, Liverpool, Chatswood and Randwick. This will in turn reduce the pressure from Sydney’s city centre and create jobs closer to home – shorter travelling distances plus a lesser need for a car also reduces living costs.

The Government’s interest in a high speed rail network along Australia’s east coast could be used as a model for better transport within Sydney. One of the benefits of the high speed network would be the connectivity and opportunities opened up to regional centres throughout New South Wales and Victoria, taking pressure off Sydney and Melbourne. Doubters over the value of an east coast high speed rail network – those that wonder “why would I travel by train from Sydney to Brisbane when it’s faster and cheaper to fly?” – need to understand these opportunities that will be opened up to regional cities and towns. Living in Newcastle and working in Sydney (or vice versa) will suddenly be a viable option; the 20,000 residents of Wollongong that travel to Sydney for work each day could finally have a fast and direct commute; and Canberra would be less than an hour from the city. The same principle could be applied to the Sydney Metropolitan Area – connect regional centres, create opportunities, take the pressure and demand off the major centre.

Providing opportunities outside Sydney’s congested Central Business District opens up more attractive options for housing throughout the metropolitan area, reducing the stress on areas that are already highly sought after. The federal and state governments need to create transport that shapes the city, rather than following it. Transport then density, not density then transport.

Off the Rails: ABC Reports on Sydney’s Ongoing Transport Fiasco

Depressing.

That’s the first emotion that comes to mind after watching the recent Four Corners documentary on the state of Sydney’s transport network.

If you ever needed to be convinced that NSW public transport is a basket case then this well researched documentary is the way to do it.

It’s excruciating to watch the 40 and 50 year old school boys (that seems the best way to describe NSW’s politicians) who are supposed to be running this state for the good of it’s citizens, but who quite clearly dedicate most of their time quibbling, indulging in party politics, and of course, refusing to admit wrong.

None of them seem to have a strong grasp on the complex issue of public transport, nor do any of them display any sort of strategic vision which we so badly need.

Almost all the experts featured in the documentary are those brought in by Four Corners to analyse the governments plans. Everyone else seems to be a bureaucrat or apparatchik.

One of the main thrusts of the documentary is about how the new Sydney Metro rail plan has come to be. Quite shockingly, although unsurprisingly, it’s a tale of a stubborn government plan to “do something” irrespective of whether it meets current or future needs. It’s also a tale of bad economic planning of the NSW government leading to lack of funds to invest in infrastructure. What is most irksome is the fact the plan for the Metro appears to have materialised before any thorough research was done. The “supporting” research appeared after the decision was made. Sound fishy to you?

The other thing about the Metro is that only one small link is currently funded. The rest of the grand plan is unfunded, and I think we can be pretty sure the Labour government will be voted out of power (at least if every voter watches this documentary!) before the Metro is completed. And you can bet your bottom dollar the next people in power will end up scrapping the Metro plans, probably for good reason. Oh dear, sounds like history repeating…

Nathan Reese is also quoted in the docco as saying on a typical working day, two-thirds of his time is taken up with public transport issues. To be honest I reckon that is probably what is needed. It’s a bit hard to judge his individual efforts as he has not been in power for long, but the docco gives a real sense of the party machine behind everything that happens in NSW, so it doesn’t really give much hope that any lone politicians can save us.

Four Corners homepage here. Direct link to the watch the documentary here, including extended interviews.

Sydney: World’s 2nd most expensive public transport

The Economist has an article comparing the cost of public transport in selected cities for a 10km journey.

At least our public transport isn’t as expensive as Stockholm’s.  But when you consider that Paris, London, New York and Tokyo are all cheaper, are we getting good value for money from our state-subsidised system?

Calling Sydney Transport Users! Want to Contribute to this blog?

Because I am now working from home (practicing what I preach!) I do not have the pleasure of using Sydney Transport as often as I used to, and as a consequence I am less outraged on a day-to-day basis… which results in less blogging.

As a result I would like to open up this blog to other people in Sydney who would like to have a semi-constructive outlet for their thoughts on Sydney Transport.

If you would like to sign up as a contributor just contact me through the comments (to exchange emails) at which point you can email your first “post”. If it’s good I will happily post it up here and add you to the team.

While the blog is primarily ranting, at its core there are serious issues being discussed. If you would rather share your thoughts with the world instead of letting them stew inside your head (doing untold mental damage!) perhaps contributing to this blog is for you.

Mens Toilets in Town Hall Station

I would say in most of the western world, it’s pretty much an accepted norm that you don’t crap in front of complete strangers. In fact most people don’t even crap in front of people they know.

Well apparently this social norm has not made it as far as CityRail.

Anyone who has had the misfortune of using the men’s toilets in Town Hall station will be familiar with this sight:

You too can crap in front of complete strangers!

These are possibly the tiniest toilet doors I have ever seen. You can pretty much see all the way to the crotch as there is almost a metre of clearance off the floor.

Why even bother with doors? They may as well just hand out masks on the way in, then we can all just sit about in “anonimty” that way.

Come on CityRail.. give us a civilised toilet you crooks!

Transit officers get the boot (hopefully)

http://www.smh.com.au/national/police-to-replace-transit-officers-on-public-transport-20090220-8dor.html?page=-1

“TRANSIT officers on Sydney’s transport network are expected to be replaced with police officers, amid fears of a reduction in security patrols on trains and buses.

The Government had resisted axing the officers but a proposal to phase them out and use police officers on trains, buses and ferries is expected to go to cabinet on Tuesday.

A transport police command will be created to control the force’s existing commuter crime unit and the duties of RailCorp’s 600 transit security officers.

A specialist unit will also be created to crack down on commuters who do not buy tickets.”

I don’t think anyone will be sorry to see the Transit Officers go. They were just another stupid policy of the idiots in charge of Sydney’s transport system. If fare dodging was really such a problem how about actually implementing ticket gates at all major stations? Instead we got 600 unsightly/unshaven/overweight (pick one of the three) thugs in crumpled boiler suits, who spent half the day loitering in station foyers in packs of 8 having a chat, and the rest of the time fining students $200 who had genuinely forgotten to buy tickets that day (fairly easy if you buy weeklies).  Here at Newtown, a busy inner-city station, there are still no ticket barriers.

The article mentions creating a “transport police command”. Er, what revolutionary idea. Not. Is this city/state really so backward that it doesn’t have a dedicated transport police command? Maybe they should look at Britain for some inspiration.

If they really are going to have such a “specialist unit” the question arises – Should Sydney be using police to crack down on ticketing offenses?

Of course not. What a waste of an expensive resource! Most other cities cope just fine having ticket inspectors with the power to hand out fines, who are simply backed up by police where needed. Look at Melbourne. Having trained police on ticket inspection duties would be as undesirably to them as it would be to us tax payers.

Make a Suggestion on How to Improve Sydney Transport

I have created an account for Sydney Transport @ uservoice.com.

Uservoice lets users of a product or service provide feedback and suggestions that can be voted on by other users. I have intended to build something like this myself, but I guess I don’t have to now.

Sydney Commuters not Twits

Interesting project created by, presumably, another frustrated Sydney commuter…

This guy has managed to scrape all the traffic announcements from the RTA website and piped them into a twitter feed here:

Twitter Sydney Traffic

It’s a great example of how the tech community responds a million times quicker than the authorities.

What government fails to realise is that if they could publish much more of their public data in easily consumable formats (RSS, XML, REST, SOAP etc…) then I suspect you would see many of the city’s information problems being solved by the community. Not only that but it would happen much faster than if a huge government budget was brough to bear on the same task.

The scary thing is the the RTA are probably the most I.T. literate of government departments in NSW, and their Web 2.0 presence is almost non-existant.

Did you know: For every $1 you spend on tickets, it costs CityRail $4 to get you there

Spotted this on the Wikipedia article for CityRail. I read about this fact a few years ago in the paper, but I think it should be more widely known…

RailCorp requires a government subsidy of close to $1.8 billion a year—approximately 5% of the state budget and more than three times what it collects in fares. “There is an overwhelming sense,” the report concluded, “that CityRail does not promote a real commitment to quality, customer focus and a service culture.”

If those statistics don’t blow your mind then nothing will.

Now I am by no means against subsidy (quite the opposite actually) but given the fact that CityRail’s ticket prices are not radically different from many other international cities, many of which are run by private companies, how on earth is it that private companies can turn a profit on a ticket yet CityRail effectively loses $3 for every dollar of ticket revenue?

The answer is pretty simple:

Mind blowing inefficiency.

Tribute to Town Hall Station #1

This will be the first in several photo “tributes” to Town Hall (AKA Satan’s Firetrap) – almost certainly the worst station on the City Circle.

Now, I’m not one to say that City Rail and it’s staff don’t give a sh*t about the presentation of their stations, but if you turned up to an interview looking like this do you think you would get the job as a sign?