Trains. It’s always trains.
That’s half the answer I think the other half would be.
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Run at a decent frequency - minimum a train every 15 mins off-peak, every 10 if possible. Peak every 3-5 mins.
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Run expresses from first to last train, this is put to great effect in Sydney but prior infrastructure needs to be completed beforehand. E.g. main routes are minimum 4 tracks, some 6. Dedicated freight lines also help so they don’t conflict with passenger services. What I like is that Cityrail isn’t afraid to run an almost empty all stopper next to an almost empty express.
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New lines to be done with metro. They seem to be better than trains as they can run every 2 mins, compared to trains would be hard pressed to run every But the main point is that it is faster than even express trains, meaning you can have way more stops but still be competitive with time. Nothing tells me that I should drive than seeing trains fly past my station due to it being classified as a “small station”
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Suburban interchanges - not everyone wants to go to the city so it’s important to provide interchanges in the suburbs. Sydney is terrible at this, for example there needs to be a Hurstville to Macquarie Park line. There is not so two of the most congested roads follow this path because there’s no option but to drive.
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Station integration - connecting directly to places of interest like shopping centres. And over station developments. Density helps a lot too.
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Get rid of car centric suburbs - many stations depend on park and rides which decentives public transport use.
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Better integrated transport. For example trams, they have their use on street in the city where the stops are closer and it already duplicates a faster line, but once it is out it should be running on dedicated tracks so they don’t need to stop at traffic lights. Similar to parts of L1 and soon Parramatta light rail in Sydney where it is completely segregated with other traffic.
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Tackling congestion is something that should be done, it is a huge drag on productivity as well as quality of life. The challenge as I see it is the tough decisions that would need to be made and the political capital that it would cost the decision makers - as such I don’t see any Australia govt and any level doing much to fix the problem for decades still.
As I see it there are a several main setting changes that need to happen to contribute to the overall goal.
- Reduce demand - Decentralise cities, give people the right to WFH, develop 15 minute towns/villages, satellite CBDs, regional hubs etc.
- Incentivise other modes of transport - create more comprehensive public transport networks and make it free, tax incentives for active travel (purchase personal mobility devices with pre tax income, interest free loans etc), increase shared user path construction, reduce speed limits, build sensible regulations around personal E-Mobility devices, develop last mile logistics that utilise E Cargo bikes and other alternatives to large vehicles in CBDs &town centres etc.
- Disincentivise single occupier personal vehicle use (this is the hardest one!) - introduce CBD/inner ring time of day and/or congestion charges, variable peak hour commuter toll charging, KM travelled based charging for vehicle use, or similar, create slow streets and other car hostile town planning.
It is impossible to stop people driving cars, but COVID certainly showed that making changes to how people work and incentives/disincentives to traveling can have a large impact.
I acknowledge that many people will still need and want to drive personal vehicles, I I bet by pulling all these levers together then it would significantly change the way people move around Australian cities.
Don’t forget schools. On 11% of primary school kids take the bus to school. It’s a little better for high school but still nowhere near where it should be.
That’s a great point that I forgot about.
Back during COVID lockdowns reintroduction of school in my area saw the local streets go from basically empty to back to 80% load, all be it only for the one hour of drop off in the morning, and maybe 60% in the afternoon pick up.
It was striking how so much of my local traffic was people driving kids a few hundred meters to school (I live in a very school dense area).