The CARR that ate Sydney

Even the government’s urban consolidation program is being undermined. Having encouraged people to live closer together in townhouses and apartments, with the expectation that they could catch a train or bus to their workplace, public transport is so abysmal that people are still having to use their cars. A report for the Business Council of Australia noted of Sydney’s ailing, failing rail system, “until major investment occurs, poor reliability will continue to encourage people to prefer using cars”.

And does Bob ever remember what he has claimed earlier? At the opening of the western extension of the Light Rail network, on August 13, 2000, he stated, “I think the revival of light rail is going to be one of the great themes of living in Sydney over the next few decades”.

Is it any wonder that people don’t understand what is going on.

We now have 2.1 million cars on the road in Sydney, a growth of just under 10 per cent in the last five years. And as all transport experts will tell you, putting in more roads and freeways merely adds to congestion and pollution. Overall, on any day at peak hour, there are 350,000 cars on the roads of greater Sydney.

There are wider economic costs to this. Australia-wide, urban road congestion costs $16 billion a year, or 2 per cent of gross domestic product. Sydney generates between 25 and 30 per cent of Australia’s total economic activity, with the CBD accounting for about 8 per cent. Think how far ahead we would be without this road congestion.

We clearly face the necessity of doing something about our ageing public transport system. Otherwise Sydney will slowly grind to a halt, as Cityrail fails to deliver and our roads are increasingly choked with cars.

It is time to give serious consideration to how a new way forward can be achieved. Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) have delivered on toll roads and tunnels; perhaps they should be given the opportunity to deliver on public transport. Funds are available - only the political will is lacking.

A new mass transit system would do much to decrease our dependence on cars, would do wonders towards cutting pollution levels, and greatly improve the economic efficiency of our city.

A recent TV news program highlighted a statistic that says it all about the result of Bob’s decade in power, “almost a third of Sydney’s landscape is [now] dedicated to roads and car-parks - and more are being built”. So while Bob Carr might like to be remembered as “Builder Bob”, and a friend of the environment, it may turn out that he will enter the history books as “The CARR that ate Sydney”.