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Submission responding to the Sydney City Centre Access Strategy – September 2013

Prepared by Dr Chloë Mason

  1. First, thanks for the invitation to comment on this Strategy for transport activities associated with the installation of the CBD and South East light rail over the next five years – a veritable transformation of the city centre and opportunity for access. The Strategy is an integral part of the NSW Long Term Master Plan (draft discussed AITPM Newsletter (2012)).
  1. The Strategy is invaluable to enable cooperation and coordination in the transport changes being undertaken by Transport for NSW (with RMS) and the City of Sydney, and in engaging with people working and living in Sydney City and stakeholders – and coming to the city centre (including tourists). Its release and adoption should remove the delays to the City’s earlier plans and contracts for improvements for people walking and cycling (now working with City of Sydney on Kent Street & Liverpool Street cycleways: p.6).
  1. The Strategy’s overarching objective (pages 3 & 4) is commendable: for a greater proportion of people travelling to the city centre to travel by public transport – mode shift.Physical changes, as outlined in the Strategy, to the streets and operational services for walking, cycling and public transport will support that objective. However, the proposed West Connex into the CBD (page 10) is likely to induce motor traffic and is surely at risk of inflicting greater, unrealistic demands on the Sydney City Centre. Therefore, prior to project approval, it would be helpful to identify other measures (fiscal, regulatory, education, and communications) that as a package could support the Strategy so that it is not undermined. Organisations, as ‘trip generators’ can assist in the goal of mode shift (away from car dependence) by developing and using Transport Access Guides and implementing corporate ‘travel plans’ – as practised in other international cities.
  1. The ‘Have Your Say’ online surveyconfuses the reader as to what this city centre mobility strategy has to accomplish – it positively dis-integrates the transport modes (!). While this survey to inform planner,may provide opinions and current perspectives of users/would-be users of particular modes, it deflects from the objective of Strategy: more effective use of street space within a city centre. It encourages modal-thinking and identity whereas most people-trips into the city centre are multi-modal: most people walk in combination with some other mode rather than sharing; further, it encourages people to project their current travel experience into the future thereby undercutting the more probable result of further shifts and growth in walking, cycling, and car sharing. Therefore, its results need careful interpretation as to how it contributes to the Strategy.
  1. The Strategy appropriately concentrates on the value of “a clear prioritisation and allocation of street space” – in effect, street space in Sydney centre is a precious resource. It’s about place-space and access for goods and people, and moving about. We also like the Street-by-Street approach taken in the Strategy (pp. 50-59).
  1. With the revitalisation of city centres, such Sydney, it has become necessary, and desirable, for some reallocation of street space from car parking/storage and circulation of private motor vehicles. A small scale illustration is evident from Sydney’s Chinatown which successfully shifted the allocation of street space toward the movement of people walking, cycling, shopping, and just enjoying being on the street strolling with friends and family! (watching buskers)
  1. Internationally, urban design and transport planners work well to achieve transformative changes as intended in the Sydney City Centre Access Strategy.Consider for example, how New York City streets were made less “mean” from the informative, comic TED Talk by Transportation Commissioner, Janet Sadik-Khan (2013) and numerous other examples from internationally attractive cities (e.g. McVean 2013). In terms of transport mode-thinking, the adoption of both car-sharing and bicycle-sharing schemes, illustrated the effective use of inner city street space.
  1. The Strategy recognises the dominance of walking and the growth of trips within the city centre. Appropriately, the Strategy responds and aspires to the perception of Sydney as a more pedestrian-friendly city, something to be appreciated everyone and particularly by occasional domestic and international visitors. Currently, however, ‘reading’ the city streets still tells us that ‘car is king’ – this impression is borne out, for example by:
  • the lengthier wait-times for pedestrians at signalised intersections;
  • the omission of marked crossings at intersections, requiring pedestrians to traverse two sides of a square, e.g.Goulburn St/Wentworth Avenue ; and
  • the footway congestion where pedestrians spillover onto the roadway e.g. Elizabeth/Foveaux crossing to Central Station; Pitt and Hay Streetto the BelmorePark pathway to Central station. Thus some intersections will need reconfiguring.

Achieving positive pedestrian perceptions will require actual physical reconfigurations, in some places, and other treatments elsewhere. The movement of people as well as the traditional vehicle counts needs to be factored into the urban fabric and redesign. High occupancy vehicles (buses & light rail) need to be given better treatment in traffic light phasing, of course, and any new or upgraded signals need to include bicycle lanterns (unless there’s a change to the road rules).

  1. For pedestrians and would-be pedestrians, the physical changes to implement a 40km/h speed limit (can they go lower?) are really important –we support these not only for road safety reasons but also for ‘improved amenity, reduced noise, and improved perception of the city centre as a pedestrian-friendly place’(p.35). Of course, it would make the city centre safer for everyone, andmore bicycle-friendly too!
  1. Consideration of changes for road safety and amenity should be given jointly for pedestrians and cyclists because it can inform the cost-effectiveness of different options. This idea was proposed to the 2010 NSW Staysafe Inquiries (a Parliamentary standing committee) into the road safety of “vulnerable road users” (a term for pedestrians, bicycle and motorcycle riders). Bicycle NSW (and supported by the Council on the Ageing (NSW)) provided a commentary on whether and how improvements for pedestrian safety is applicable to the safety of cyclists – for use in assessing the relative cost-effectiveness of interventions – a copy of the commentary is attached to this submission. For cycling, the installation of ‘bicycle storage boxes’/advanced stop lines at traffic lights, particularly, would improve clarity for all road users and improved safety of cyclists.
  1. The Strategy including the street-by-street network plan, serve as an educational tool. To enhance this tool, some more details could be:

(a)an expression as to the facets of integration in the phrase “deliver a fully integrated transport network” (p.48); a suggestion would to achieve: ease of transfer between modes (e.g. bus-walk); access to destinations (e.g. reaching Barangaroo); governance – plans and priorities and decision-making about transport in an area to be coordinated; and the extra benefits, beyond transport and urban design and amenity, having consequences for tourism, heritage, personal and public health (physically active travel, and air quality, respectively), and environment quality.

(b)more maps:

  • to complement passenger flows (p.9), a map showing flows of people walking and cycling to the Sydney city centre – illustrating the growth in residential occupancy of the City centre and the inner ring of the Sydney metropolitan area and the capacity for further growth (see p.8) and reduced demand for bus travel, especially at peak hour;
  • showing the rail lines to the city centre & the walking catchments around stations;
  • showing the feeder routes for these similar gatewaysto the catchments, within 5-10km of the city centre – therein lies the future growth in volume of cyclists – and informs the associated Inner Sydney Bike Plan.Research in the middle ring has shown how good connections can enable wider choice, so that passengers of cars or buses can become active travellers and ride into the city, confident of their safety (e.g. the Hawthorne Canal Active Transport project).
  1. Heritage experience and value of the Sydney city centre would be enhanced overall by the Strategy. It could support the retention and restoration of the Glebe Island Bridge. This would serve tourism as well as a direct feeder to the Bays Precinct. Its role is comparable to that of Pyrmont Bridge that once was threatened with removal. Now its future use has support and attention needs to be given to it. An exception to the heritage experience would be the proposed decommissioning of the College Street cycleway.
  1. A strong case can be made for careful staging of the Strategy giving attention to the sequence of its actions. The commitment to review after 5 years invites effective monitoring of the transformative changes for the city centre. The transformation of Sydney’s CBD anticipated by implementing this Strategy (p. 6) is likely to lead to changes in traffic movements that are not readily predictable by traffic modelling. Much research of similar transformations in city centres has found that displacement of motor traffic does not simply result in demand for relocation – a counter-intuitive but strategic finding in the face of traditional traffic modelling. Typically, it would be expected that the displacement of motor vehicles (from Pitt & Castlereagh, for example) would require the same road-space volume elsewhere described as the aim to “preserve access for motorists …by prioritising traffic movements on certain routes” (p.6).

In other cities, research shows that reducing capacity of some roads (for motor traffic) seems to have counter-intuitive results: the anticipated congestion in adjacent roads just doesn’t seem to occur – car trips “disappear” (trip not taken or reassigned to another mode) (e.g AECOM study in Dublin, Ireland, 2013; Goodwin, 2011). In Brisbane, temporary road space restrictions did not produce the outcomes predicted by the traffic modelling (Davies & Marinelli 2011). The study showed that the traffic modelling for the effects of closing a lane of Coronation Drive for 8 weeks, did not result in the predictions of additional congestion and delays of up to 50 minutes. Rather, the social impact resulted in:

  • four in ten people changed their travel behaviour in response to the well-publicised road works
  • a 10% reduction in traffic in the area.

The researchers found that drivers changed their route, time, mode and frequency of trips, with changes in mode and time, particularly, being sustained. "This means that road works in areas where there are viable public transport and active transport facilities could be seen as an important 'tool' or opportunity in achieving long term mode shift".

Therefore, Sydney’s Strategy needs to have a staged implementation so that its actual effects can be monitored

  1. College Street proposed “decommissioning”. Before proceeding with this proposal, it would be essential at least to complete the separated north-south cycleway and undertake the other network actions, as described (pages 36-37), and appropriately in the street-by-street descriptions.

This is a beautiful cycleway. It runs from Whitlam Square alongside Hyde Park bounded by a sandstone wall, right up to the Greenaway entrance to Macquarie Street; it has heritage value, with potential for promotion among international and domestic cycle tourism.Bear in mind,too, the growing proportion of older people who cycle for transport (& enjoyment),usually outside peak to get to facilities and events on Macquarie Street (lunch time concerts; the library; the gallery, Sydney Hospital café etc).

In the context of this 5 year transformative Strategy, it is prudent to support the recommendation of Bicycle NSW that:

…no removal should occur until at least the alternatives are in place. College St is a critical part of the existing network and well used by many commuters who would be severely disadvantaged by its loss

Concretely, these alternatives include the major north-south links: Castlereagh-Pitt and Kent Streets (access in different location with inferior amenity), as well as their E-W linkages. Toward the five year monitoring period, another option would be to consider an elevated cycleway along College Street, from Whitlam Square over William Street, possibly on the western boundary – if the block between William Street and Oxford Street was still really needed for motor traffic.

Summary of recommendations

[1] Support the framework for this Strategy for Sydney city in valuing street space and planning for mode shift (away from car dependence); for good integrated planning and results, we recommend strengthening the transport social geography approach (a more holistic or ecological approach) as against the segmentation of the issues by mode or demographics (the abstraction of factors from place, space and interactions). {above paras 4,6,7,12}

[2] We support the adoption of 40km/h speed (or lower) in the whole area, extending to the ‘gateways’ into the Sydney city, as defined by the map on page 7. And measures to enable pedestrians and cyclists to cross roads with less delay and less risk. And, for road safety, ‘bicycle storage boxes’/advanced stop lines, particularly at signalised intersections {above paras 7,8, 10}

[3] We support the use of a Street by Street network plan. {above para 5}

[4] We encourage staging of the implementation of the Strategy’s plan. The plan actions need to be carefully sequenced. We recommend that research drawing upon on comparable transformation projects in city centres be undertaken to inform the methods for monitoring the impacts, over a period of time, and enable the next stages to be modified or changed. {above paras 1,2, 13}

[5] Associated with a staged approach, we strongly submit that the transport planners defer “decommissioning” of the cycleway on College Street, at least, to allow time to consider changes in mobility patterns over the coming 5 years. {above paras 13,14}

  • Cycling catchment and feeder routes into the City strategic cycleway network
  • College Street.

[6] Give greater attention to feeder routes into the City centre for cycling and walking, including consideration of Glebe Island Bridge as a link between the heavily populated areas of Rozelle and Pyrmont.{above paras 11,12}

[7] Recognise that West Connex proposal stands as a risk to the integrity of this Strategy and take actions to reduce demand for motor vehicle access to the city centre.{above para 3}

REFERENCES

Copies available on request.

AECOM (2013), Study of road space restriction, Dublin Ireland.

AITPM NSW (2012) “Draft Long Term Transport Master Plan” Commentary by Roshan Aryal, Newsletter Article, 17 September.

Bicycle NSW (2011), Submission to Staysafe Inquiry into Vulnerable Road Users: Commentary onRTA’s position on recommendations from theStaysafe inquiry into pedestrian safety (2 June 2010), Appendix 1. NSW Parliament.

DaviesRobyn, Marinelli Paolo (Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads) (2011),“Time and space travel by Brisbanites during road space restrictions: Are people smarter than traffic models?”, Australasian Transport Research Forum 2011 Proceedings, 28 - 30 September 2011, Adelaide, Australia

Publication website:

Goodwin P (2011) “Providing road capacity for automobility: The continuing transition” in Geels, F., Kemp, R., Dudley, G. and Lyons, G., eds. (2011) Automobility in Transition. Routledge. ISBN 9780415885058

Hasham Nicole (2013) “Glebe Island Bridge is rotting away” Sydney Morning Herald, 3 April 2013.

McVean BruceThe New City lecture,given on Monday 11th February 2013

at Cambridge University (Boston) Department of Architecture. You can read Part 1 here.

Rissel C., Passmore E., Mason C., Merom D.(2013) “Two Pilot Studies of the Effect of Bicycling on Balance andLeg Strength among Older Adults” Journal of Environmental and Public Health, Volume 2013, Article ID 686412, 6 pages

Janette Sadik-Khan, Transport Commissioner NYC (2013) New York's streets? Not so mean any more, TED Talk,

Zander A, Passmore E., Mason C. Rissel C. (2013) “Joy, Exercise, Enjoyment, Getting out: A Qualitative Study ofOlder People’s Experience of Cycling in Sydney, Australia”, Journal of Environmental and Public Health,

Volume 2013, Article ID 547453, 6 pages