By Jacob Saulwick
MIKE BAIRD'S vision of a rapid bus system for the northern beaches might be what the area needs, but it will not come cheaply, if it comes at all.
The shadow treasurer and member for Manly has called for expressions of interest to build a dedicated busway to speed commuters from the northern suburbs of Dee Why and Mona Vale to the city, cutting through the Military Road and Spit Bridge corridor.
Life in the fast lane ... Gladys Berejiklian and John Robertson at the forum last night.Credit: Dallas Kilponen
Mr Baird has not put a price on the idea, but said he would like proposals to consider a tunnel underneath Military Road, Mosman. ''It is an exciting vision and … enough experts have suggested it would work in the area,'' Mr Baird said. ''We have to take cars off the road.''
At an election transport forum hosted by the Herald last night, the opposition's transport spokeswoman, Gladys Berejiklian, said detailed plans would be considered after a feasibility study. The plan is ''one solution that would alleviate the massive transport problems on the northern beaches'', she said.
The forum at the Epping Club was also addressed by the Transport Minister, John Robertson, the Greens transport spokeswoman, Cate Faehrmann, a former head of the Roads and Traffic Authority, Paul Forward, and the transport consultant Sandy Thomas.
Mr Baird's preference is for a bus rapid transit (BRT) system on the route, a mode of transport that would operate like a tramway for buses. The idea is to run buses through the middle of the road, separate from the general flow of traffic, with commuter stops also in the middle of the road.
Mr Baird suggested that BRT services could arrive every three minutes on weekdays, and every 15 minutes at weekends.
One transport consultant said running services every three minutes would require the construction of tunnels or flyovers at road junctions to prevent cross traffic being blocked.
David Hensher, the director of the Institute of Transport and Logistic Studies at the University of Sydney, said a longer tunnel under Military Road was the only real way to deliver major time savings for bus commuters.
''I'm actually very supportive of this idea,'' Professor Hensher said. ''In terms of a location this potentially makes good sense.''
A study by the chairman of public transport at the Institute of Transport Studies at Monash University, Graham Currie, put the cost per mile of BRTs in the US at $US13.5 million in 2001, almost a third the price of light rail. In today's dollars, that would equate to about $200 million for an 18-kilometre busway from Dee Why to the city, which would not take in the cost of tunnelling or a new Spit Bridge.
In 2009, the Roads and Traffic Authority rejected an unsolicited proposal from Macquarie Bank and a community group to build a $1.2 billion tunnel linking the Spit Bridge and the Warringah Expressway.