SMH Editorial Mentions Peak Oil
Posted by Big Gav on April 22, 2008 - 9:23am in TOD: Australia/New Zealand
Topic: Miscellaneous
Tags: peak oil, public transportation, sydney [list all tags]
It was interesting to see today's editorial in the Sydney Morning Herald (the link will succumb to linkrot shortly I'm afraid - I'm not sure what permalink scheme they have for editorials) mentioning "the threat of peak oil clouding the future of motoring" as one of the reasons for giving up on trying to widen sections of traffic clogged Victoria Road and instead commence building the proposed Sydney metro line.
Does it really matter if 500 metres or so of Victoria Road gets another lane of traffic? Surely the poor, put-upon motorists from Drummoyne, Gladesville, Ryde and points north-west who drive up and down its unlovely length each day deserve a break. After all, that stretch of Victoria Road is a car sewer as poisonous and repellent as any of Sydney's worst - and there is stiff competition for that title. King Street, Newtown, Parramatta Road, Military Road, Canterbury Road and many another suburban artery have been turned into visions of urban dystopia by this city's over-dependence on cars. What's so special about Victoria Road, Rozelle? Nothing, really. Nothing at all. And that is Sydney's problem.
Before it happens, of course, there is the small matter of whether another lane of traffic can be squeezed into the width of the existing roadway. Transport consultants doubt it. The Roads and Traffic Authority, however, and the Roads Minister, Eric Roozendaal, have declared it possible - but that might be just another Iemma Government wish, another in its long series of transport dreams that are announced with a fanfare and subsequently ruled out. But let us assume that it can be done. Should it be done? We believe not - and for the same reason that the duplication of the Iron Cove Bridge a little to the west should not go ahead.
In both cases, a lot of money will be spent on work that will not solve the problem the RTA wants to fix. It will simply move the traffic jam a kilometre or so up the road. It will, however, raise motorists' expectations, and encourage them to stay in their cars and not to seek an alternative. With the problem of global warming growing ever larger, the likelihood of an impost of some kind on carbon-emitting energy, including petrol, firming into a certainty, and the threat of peak oil clouding the future of motoring, the Victoria Road plan pushes Sydney further down the wrong path.
The Government knows the answer. For once, it even has a plan. That is the metro rail line, which will follow Victoria Road for most of its length and provide drivers with the alternative they now lack. Why not reduce the RTA's works budget by the cost of the white elephants it plans at Iron Cove and Rozelle, and divert the funds to the metro rail line?
There is much to do. We should start now.
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When will our supposed elected leaders get the idea that Business as Usual is not going to work any more and things need to change? Homes further away from public transport are falling in cost and other closer to transport hubs are rising. Low income families are being forced into car dependent homes away from services and a disproportionably suffering.
Expanding the roads will offer short term gains for no real return on investment.
The local minister in Canberra has stated that he does not have 900 million dollars for a light rail system for Canberra. They have just opened the Gungahlin drive extension for $120 million with one lane each way.
The cost of Light Rail/ Tram network at $15m per km (average cost) allows us for $150 million per year 10 km of rail. After 3 years you have a network that will start making an impact on the cities transport.
Why is every other country in the world expanding public transport funding and we are still investing in roads?
The Sydney tram network was the largest in Australia in 1945 and most of the right of way is still available.
As a tram network is powered by electric system is can be powered by 100% renewable energy.
ANZAC day is on Friday and I wonder what these men and women who gave so much will say today.
It’s not hard to come up with solutions, just the will to put it into practice.
My view was the 2020 summit on the weekend was a waste of time and resources. It did not discus any issues of any substance.
Peak Oil not mentioned.
Ramifications of Peak Oil on the Australian Economy not mentioned.
I thought the election was last year and the electioneering was over.
I voted for the Greens as they had the best ideas, knowing full well that could not effect any changes with the Liberal/Labour (BAU) party blocking any substantive changes.
See the changes the Greens and Democrats tried to put into the legislation for the Infrastructure Department. It was blocked by both Liberal and Labour senators.
It's nice to see the papers getting behind useful change. I mean, it's not like the SMH is a pinko rag, either.
Slowly, slowly, things are turning...
Well - the SMH is the paper for latte drinking liberals like me who live on the north shore and in the eastern suburbs, so I wouldn't say this means the whole mainstream has been won over - but it is a fairly influential readership - so its not the Green Left Weekly either.
I see the roads minister responded with a letter to the editor today :
A narrow view of Victoria Road project
Your editorial ("Vision narrows on Victoria Road", April 22) ignores the public transport benefits this significant infrastructure project will provide.
The project, which includes 3.5 kilometres of new bus lanes, is designed to improve bus travel times for the 200,000 bus commuters who use Victoria Road services each week. Disentangling buses from general traffic will provide significant savings of up to eight minutes for commuters on this busy corridor.
The goals were made clear when the project was announced in 2006 as a bus priority measure under the State Government's $660 million Urban Transport Statement. The Iemma Government took this project to the last election and is delivering on this commitment to improve public transport infrastructure on Victoria Road by 2010.
Doing nothing is not an option, that's why the Roads and Traffic Authority spent three months consulting the community and commuters and is now refining the project using their feedback.
Getting buses, with their stop-start movements, out of the general traffic lanes is the first step to improving traffic flows on this road.
Eric Roozendaal Minister for Roads, Sydney
Notice how he finishes up, though. Making cars go faster is still the main meal in his mind. Buses going faster's just the side dish.
Cars come first, everything else second.
My cynical take on this is that in the US you start a war to funnel the funds to the people who pay you...
In Oz you build a yellow brick road!