Demographia Policy Shorts

Policy Point #7:
Urban Rail Expansion in Sydney:
No Help to Traffic

To the Sydney Morning Herald:

Re: Radical $30B Raill Plan to Bring Whole City Online

To the Editor

The $30 billion Christie rail plan will do little to alleviate future traffic congestion in Sydney. The reason is quite simple. Virtually the only places in the metroplitan area that can be reached by auto competitive public transport are the central business districts of Sydney and North Sydney. Nowhere else is public transport's market share significant because everywhere else it is simply too inconvenient or takes too long. The Christie plan will not change this. More than 90 percent of employment is outside the central business districts. Even if all of the trips on the new rail lines are taken from cars, auto transport demand will be reduced by barely two percent. All of this means that the new rail lines will confer benefits on a comparative few, and at great cost.

Sincerely,
Wendell Cox
Principal Wendell Cox Consultancy
St. Louis, USA

Published 28 February 2002

Demographia is Affiliated with The Public Purpose, A Top National Journal Internet Site
Demographia is "pro-choice" with respect to urban development.
People should have the freedom to live and work where and how they like.

DEMOGRAPHIA and THE PUBLIC PURPOSE
are undertakings of
WENDELL COX CONSULTANCY
P. O. Box 841 - Belleville, IL 62222 USA
Telephone: +1.618.632.8507 - Facsimile: +1.810.821.8134
Send E-Mail

DEMOGRAPHIC
BRIEFS
CITY
ON A HILL
NEW & REVISED
ITEMS
BOOK
STORE
SUBSCRIBE
(FREE)
(c) 2001 www.demographia.com --- Wendell Cox Consultancy --- Permission granted to use with attribution.