A free City Talk hosted by Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, was held in September to examine Sydney’s public transport issues and innovative systems that work in other parts of the world. Two independent transport experts, Russell Black and Professor Ed Blakely discussed Sydney’s transport problems, how other cities have addressed the issue and what Sydney can do.
Russell Black is a Project Director with the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway (MTR) Corporation while Professor Ed Blakely is the Director of the Planning Research Centre at the University of Sydney and also the Chair of the Reference Panel for the Metropolitan Strategic Plan.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore said it is time to challenge outdated stereotypes about public transport.
“Transport shapes a city, and an ageing rail system provides us with the opportunity to influence the way Sydney develops over the next 50 years and beyond,” she said. “The answer is not more of the same – more cars and buses choking narrow CBD streets. It is Council’s role to champion the public interests of the City and we have taken the initiative to promote the discussion of the alternatives.
“The inaction of our State and Federal Governments is putting Sydney’s status as a global city and our standard of living at risk. Transport congestion is limiting Sydney’s development, damaging our environment and compromising our lifestyle.”
The Lord Mayor said we could look to cities like Hong Kong and Shanghai and learn some important lessons.
“In the 1990s, those cities barely had any urban rail systems to speak of,” she said. “Today they have public transport systems that are among the largest and most efficient in the world.” In 2004, 99.7 percent of all Hong Kong trains operated and arrived within two minutes of the schedule.
“We offer a frequent service on all lines throughout the day – down to two minutes in rush hour if demand requires and no more than ten minutes in off peak,” Russell Black said. “Stations have to be cleaned every morning as do the trains. Stations have to be bright and cheerful, easy to navigate, well signposted, ventilated or airconditioned, safe, carefully designed for smooth crowd flows and have full disabled access. Interchange between lines and to other modes of transport has to be quick and convenient.”
Hong Kong’s MTR developed and launched the Octopus contactless smartcard in 1997. The card can be used for travel on all public transport except taxis, as well as car parks, parking meters, coffee shops, fast food outlets, school lunches, two major supermarket chains and for building access control, such as entry to race courses and swimming pools.
“The danger to Sydney, to our State and to Australia’s economy is if we don’t act we’ll lose business to other regional centres like Hong Kong and Shanghai,” Lord Mayor Moore said.
She said that the talk helped people to understand important transport issues in Sydney and that it will now prompt governments into action.
“It’s the only way that we’ll be able to achieve our vision of a sustainable and livable city – a city that will be a joy to live, work and hopefully commute to,” she said. “If other cities like Hong Kong are moving at 130 kilometres an hour, why can’t Sydney.”
