Tag Archives: public transport

How are you dealing with high petrol prices?

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After months of watching it go up, the price of petrol has finally fallen.

But how long will it last? By all accounts the price of petrol will go back up and keep rising, as demand outweighs supply and oil reserves grow smaller.

Months of very high prices have given motorists more than a taste of what’s to come and a lot of people are acting, some by choice and some by necessity. We want to know what you’re doing.

The number of commuters using public transport has reportedly risen to its highest level since 1999. Have you found public transport to be a cheaper option?

Are you trying to be more frugal with your petrol or have you altered your driving technique so you use less?

Have you been getting your car serviced regularly, checking your tyre pressure weekly, going easy on the air-conditioner and carrying as little weight as possible?

Maybe you’ve signed up for a new credit card that offers discounts at certain petrol stations.

Perhaps the cost of petrol has prompted you to sell the V8 for a more economical four cylinder car.

Have you decided a vehicle that runs on alternative fuel is the answer and bought a hybrid, converted to LPG or bought a new turbo diesel?

Or are you going about your business as normal and waiting to see what happens?

What are you doing to cope with high petrol prices?

Making Sydney’s CBD car-free

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Lord Mayor Clover Moore plans to redesign Sydney’s CBD to make it more environmentally sustainable. Part of the proposal includes making George Street a ‘pedestrian-friendly’ boulevard from Town Hall to Circular Quay, removing the Cahill Expressway and introducing car-free ‘green zones’.

Sustainable Sydney 2030‘s Integrated Transport for a Connected City plans are intended to reduce traffic congestion in the city as “current levels of motor vehicle use to, from and within the city are unsustainable”.

Some of the changes aimed at reducing carbon emissions and traffic congestion include:

  • • extending the existing light rail system;
  • • leaving George Street open only to pedestrians, bicycles and light rail;
  • • ’relocating’ the necessary surface streets so that traffic not going to the City Centre avoids going through the city;
  • • increased housing in the city to reduce the number of people needing to commute long distances to and from work every day.

By increasing public space and increasing the number of motor vehicle-free roads, it is believed that people will be more willing to walk, cycle or catch public transport rather than use their cars.

Is this a realistic solution to the city’s traffic problem? Should Sydney’s Central Business District, and the CBD’s of all Australia’s major cities, be closed to all private vehicles?

Would you catch the train if you could Park and Ride?

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A new report from NRMA Motoring & Services has found that the main reason motorists don’t catch the train to work is due to a lack of sufficient and secure parking facilities at train stations.

43 per cent of those surveyed said they would use ‘Park and Ride’ facilities if they were provided. But the report found that some of the busiest stations in NSW are severely lacking in adequate parking:

  • • Strathfield 23 spaces – 10,700 commuters. 
  • • Hornsby 350 spaces – 7,290 commuters.
  • • Parramatta 780 spaces – 15,190 commuters.
  • • Bankstown 170 spaces – 4,720 commuters.
  • • Kogarah 330 spaces – 6,770 commuters.

“More than 80 per cent of motorists currently drive to work – we could get that number down considerably if motorists were given the option of driving to the station and parking in a secure, well-lit parking space,” NRMA President Alan Evans said.

He said it would be a great way to get motorists off the road and onto trains, reducing traffic congestion and pollution.

Transport Minister John Watkins said the NSW Government is expanding park and ride facilities at Seven Hills, St Marys, Glenfield, Werrington, Holdsworthy, Blacktown and Wenthworthville.

The report also showed that some of Sydney’s busiest stations don’t have any ‘Kiss and Ride’ areas – legal and safe areas for dropping off and picking up that would allow people to get a lift to the station rather than drive.

Would you catch a train to work if there were proper parking facilities at the train station?