Thursday, October 1, 2009

Notes From the SMH Independent Transport Inquiry

Some very interesting information from the Public Inquiry presentation:

Western Sydney (includes Blue Mountains)

- Forecast increase in population between now and 2031 – 350,000 to 500,000 (does not take into account Australia’s revised population growth)

- Estimated increase in the number of dwellings between now and 2031 – 46%

- Estimated increase in the number of jobs between now and 2031 – 29%

- Key centre for Australia’s population growth (especially given Australia’s population is set to reach 35 million by 2035)

Macquarie is set to become Australia’s 4th largest employment and business centre within the next 2 years, it is currently bigger than Parramatta and has the highest GDP growth of any centre in Sydney including the CDB.

Approximately 55% of people who work in the Parramatta CBD commute by car whereas only 25% commute by train

In NSW $22.9 billion is spent on private motor vehicles each year whereas only $3.2 billion is spent on public transport (includes fares and State Government contributions) – this gives you an indication of how our society prioritizes its transport spending

The City Metro is budgeted to cost $5.3 billion to construct a system that will only be 7 kilometres long!

Finally a financial analysis of the cost of modes of transport per passenger kilometre:

- Private car $0.83 per passenger kilometre
- Bus $0.57 per passenger kilometre
- Train (heavy rail) $0.47 per passenger kilometre

Transport affects us all, especially given more than 50% of Blue Mountains residents who are employed commute from the Blue Mountains each day to get to work. Our tourism economy is dependent upon visitors being able to get to the Blue Mountains safely and easily. The Blue Mountains is more dependent on its transport links than any other local government area in greater Sydney except for the Central Coast.

The Blackheath Highway Action Group is working on a joint submission to the SMH Independent Public Inquiry.

Kind regards,

Michael Paag
Blackheath Highway Action Group

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