Race between four modes of transport from Newport to Chatswood
VIDEO: As part of an experiment, four people took different modes of transport in a race from Newport to Chatswood, ahead of the release of the transportation strategy for the northern beaches. The results — and times taken — may surprise you.
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NORTHERN Beaches Council has conducted its own investigation into east-west transport corridor options to urge the State Government for better investment in infrastructure.
Dubbed the Chatswood Challenge, four people took different modes of transport from Newport to Chatswood ahead of the release of the council’s transport strategy to 2038 at Tuesday night’s meeting.
Mayor Michael Regan took a bus to Mona Vale, then a bus to Gordon before getting the train to Chatswood. He clocked in at 91 minutes.
Pittwater ward councillor Kylie Ferguson started on the same bus as Cr Regan before jumping on the B-Line to Warringah Mall and then another bus to Chatswood. Her travelling time was a staggering 116 minutes.
It included a 30-minute wait because she missed her last bus — a day in the life of a peninsula resident.
Two of the council’s active travel officers, Michelle Carter and Phil Gray, also took part, going by car and bicycle.
Mr Gray was the fastest of the group, cycling to Chatswood in 57 minutes.
Ms Carter went via car, coming in at 64 minutes.
The times support the council’s transport strategy, which has again called for better east-west transport links, a reduction in cars and better “active travel” such as pathways and cycle lanes.
Move Northern Beaches is the council’s 20-year vision for the region.
It was informed by the discussion paper released in March which attracted high levels of community input, leading to the Manly Daily front-page report (pictured above) highlighting the impact of cars on the peninsula.
The draft strategy includes some ambitious targets, with the council calling for a 30 per cent reduction in trips by car by 2038.
It hopes to have a quarter of all trips by public transport and double the active travel trips.
To achieve this the council has called on Transport for NSW to help it, by improving public transport, specifically providing an east-west rapid transport system linking to major job centres such as Chatswood and Macquarie Park.
The council will have to step up its game, too, increasing funds for more footpaths and cycleways to make active travel more convenient. It would also need to provide end-of-trip facilities such as bike parking and e-chargers — used for hybrid and electric cars.
The strategy also discusses the need for improved park and ride facilities to allow people to get to public transport easier.
“We are trying to encourage people out of cars, but it takes an hour to get to Chatswood by car,” Cr Regan said.
“Where is the incentive to get out for the car if you need to get two buses and a train and it takes you half an hour longer.”
He said residents were constantly telling him transport was among the biggest concerns.
“We have a massive reliance on our cars on the northern beaches, which we need to address,” Cr Regan said.
“But we’ll never wean people off their vehicles if we don’t have better alternatives in place.
“The Chatswood Challenge revealed how hard it is on the cusp of peak hour just to get the 26km. We had to change transport modes multiple times and there were 10- to 30-minute waits between buses.”
They set off at 7.30am on Thursday from Newport.
While Cr Regan missed the last E60 express bus from Mona Vale — the final one leaves at 7.40am — timetables show it takes an hour and 20 minutes, stopping 33 times.
“Clearly, we desperately need more express buses, more often, more direct so people have an incentive to get out of their cars,” Cr Regan said.
“It’s crazy that it’s faster to ride a bike than to drive or get a bus to Chatswood.
“Once the hospital is open the east-west corridor will become even more critical to service with public transport.
“We have set some ambitious targets in our draft transport strategy and we look forward to the State Government getting on board to help achieve them.”
A Transport for NSW spokesman said it had not seen the council’s strategy.
“We have rolled out more than 3200 extra weekly services in the last 12 months as part of the new Northern Beaches Bus Network, which will have over 1000 extra services introduced soon,” he said. “We are committed to delivering the best possible services for customers and we’ll continue to monitor demand across all modes of public transport in this region as it develops.
“Transport for NSW monitors patronage, customer trends and demand to ensure the planning and delivery of projects and initiatives where they are needed most.
“As part of Future Transport 2056, we have identified a number of initiatives for investigation in the northern beaches, including improvements to the east-west public transport connections.
“These include trials of on-demand bus services, improved bus services between the northern beaches and Chatswood, a public transport connection from Mona Vale to Macquarie Park as well as the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link.
“Traffic flow and congestion is also being addressed by improvements to Mona Vale Rd, an upgrade of Warringah Rd and through the ongoing Sydney Clearways Strategy.”
Cr Kylie Ferguson said her almost two-hour peak hour ordeal made a clear case for the peninsula to get more public transport.
“We have great travel from Mona Vale to the city,” she said. “We have that sorted now, that has highlighted what we can do better.”
She said the council would continue to lobby for better transport infrastructure.
“We can lobby the state and say this is the benefit for the B-Line, it is a 4 per cent increase in people taking public transport in peak hour and 9 per cent in off- peak,” she said.
“If we can continue this trend it is going to be less cars on the road. It will be much better.
“Let’s get people out of cars and stop their reliance on them. Just look at all the benefits. Greater air quality, there is less stress for those in traffic. It’s a win-win for us.”
Watch the video of the Chatswood Challenge at manlydaily.com.au.