Sydney snarl-ups threaten its reputation as a global city

SYDNEY - As the 2000 Olympic city, Sydney gained international praise for its efficient transport.

Six years later, it's a different story.

The rapidly growing city is being choked to death with cars, public transport is suffering after years of under-investment and a new toll road network, rather than easing congestion, is adding to the chaos because of poor planning.

Each night, traffic reporters flying above Sydney in helicopters warn office workers of gridlock, with TV footage showing clogged freeways.

"This city is the most gridlocked in the nation and the most gridlocked it has been in many years," Christopher Brown, head of the Tourism and Transport Forum, said.

During the Olympics, visitors were impressed by the new underground rail line from the airport to the city centre and a dedicated rail line and river taxi service to the Games site.

But in reality, only a small portion of Sydneysiders use public transport.

The sprawling city of about 4.2 million is a car town, with private transport accounting for 70 per cent of trips, compared with public transport accounting for only 10 per cent of commuter journeys.

A motorist who travels 22km a day in Sydney will spend three days stuck in traffic each year, says one report on the transport crisis.

The city's morning and evening "peak hours" now stretch from 6am to 9am and 3pm to 7pm, says the Australian Traffic Network, which monitors Sydney's traffic flows.

The network's Justin Kelly says an accident on any of Sydney's major motorways can cause chaos, with a morning car accident on the Sydney Harbour Bridge causing city-wide snarls as motorists try to escape the congestion.

And the transport crisis will only deepen.

The city's population is expected to increase by an average of 42,000 people a year until 2020.

Road traffic volumes are forecast to rise by 29 per cent in Sydney between 2005 and 2020.

A recent transport report by the independent Centre for International Economics (CIE), titled A City Going Nowhere Fast, concluded Sydney's transport system was no longer working.

It said that reliance on the car cost A$18 billion ($21.7 billion) in 2005 if you calculated the cost of congestion, accidents, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

The report warned that if nothing was done the cost would rise to A$24 billion in 2020 as more motorists took to the roads for longer periods due to congestion.

Mayor Clover Moore has said Sydney risks losing its status as a global city unless its transport crisis is fixed and, like many, blames a lack of Government investment in public transport and roads.

"There are clear signs that Sydney's transport infrastructure is unable to meet the needs of industry and the travelling public," said a 2005 transport infrastructure report by the CIE.

"Under-investment in public transport has driven greater reliance on private vehicles ... "

It said Sydney's ageing rail network was failing to keep pace with housing and employment growth. The state Government in 1998 promised a rail link to northwest boom suburbs by 2017, but no land has yet been purchased for the rail corridor.

"Traffic problems are not just in the CBD, there are wildcat glitches in new areas where people are driving on goat tracks. Suburbs of 100,000 people are still using roads made when the areas were farms," said Kerry Barwise, Sydney director with CIE, referring to the CBD.

Toll road anger is rising, with the opening of the east-west Cross City Tunnel last year and six other private toll roads since 1990.

The opening of the tunnel, which was designed to ease congestion in the city centre, actually resulted in chaos.

Motorists boycotted the tunnel after the Government closed or changed 70 roads to try to force motorists to use it.

Patronage of the tunnel is about 34,000 cars a day, barely a third of projections and the Government has been forced to reverse 13 road changes to appease motorists before a state election in March 2007.

A new A$1.1 billion tunnel just north of the harbour will be choked with traffic almost from the day it opens early next year because it is not wide enough.

Sydney's reliance on toll roads is also becoming expensive for motorists.

A commuter travelling from a northwest suburb into the city will face a daily toll bill of A$15.80 or A$79 a week.

Barwise said the new toll roads were not properly connected to the city's wider traffic network, resulting in gridlock around toll roads and on intermediate roads.

Green politicians say Sydney's transport crisis can only be solved by providing commuters with a mass public transit system similar to London's Underground.

They say commuters will not leave their cars at home without a viable alternative.

In May, the state Government announced a 10-year, A$41.3 billion capital works programme focused on building roads and rail, energy, hospitals and schools.

The largest portion of next year's infrastructure spending will go to transport, with A$1.4 billion on roads and A$1.6 billion invested in public transport.

But the investment might not come soon enough and with a state election due in 2007, many in Sydney believe the city's traffic crisis could bring down the Government.

"The community is screaming out for transport solutions," Brown says.

"There will be a battle for the hearts and minds of commuters."

- REUTERS