How do you solve a problem like Elizabeth?

Elizabeth & Market, morning

Elizabeth & Market, evening

The intersection of Elizabeth Street and Market Street is the major crunch point for buses before they hit Phillip Street. Elizabeth Street narrows to two lanes north of David Jones to pass the historic Old Supreme Court where Ivan Milat was tried. During the morning peak buses form a continuous queue from William Street to King Street and beyond, two deep in parts. When going to appointments north of Martin Place in the morning, I have found it is quicker to leave the bus south of William Street, actually south of Bathurst Street, and walk.

Elizabeth Street buses queued to King Street and beyond

The point to note in the photos is that the buses queue in the second lane; for good reason:

BUS PRIORITY LANE ENDS

FORM TWO LANES

MERGE RIGHT

Bus drivers merge right as soon as possible after setting down passengers. If they are trapped in the kerb-side lane they move forward until a fellow bus driver lets them move in front. During the AM peak the second lane is effectively an exclusive bus lane, and the bus lanes are operating at more than peak capacity.

The Transport for NSW brochure asserts breezily that diverting all the bus services along George Street into Elizabeth Street will not create problems because they will paint an extra lane red on each side and deploy phalanxes of motorcycle police to keep traffic moving. This does not change the present situation one iota. If TfNSW is to be believed there will be no vehicular access to the CBD north of David Jones for vehicles from the Eastern Suburbs and the south, other than for buses, during bus priority  periods.

O'Farrell's contempt for the intelligence of the NSW electorate is breathtaking. There are three possible scenarios:

1. The "Project" is a mindless, ideological attack on Public Transport.
2. O'Farrell has a secret agenda for terminating bus services that he dare not allow to be scrutinized.
3. O' Farrell has not got a clue as to what is going on, and is just floating along.

Or,all of the above. I will not deign to comment on what is going on in O'Farrell's mind, but will discuss the dire effects that a George Street tramway will have on whatever bus routes O'Farrell deigns to allow along Elizabeth Street.

Druitt Street north of Clarence Street

The other point to note in the photos is that most of the vehicles turning left into Market Street from the priority bus lane in Elizabeth Street are taxis. Understandably, there is negligible parking adjacent to Market Street. Parking under the Sydney Hilton, The Galleries Victoria and the new ANZ Tower is accessible only from Pitt Street which can be accessed from the east via Liverpool Street, from the west via Broadway and from the north via Bathurst Street. Druitt Street gives access to the same destinations as Market Street - Darling Harbour, Pyrmont, Ultimo and the Anzac Bridge. The Cross City Tunnel has connections only with the Anzac bridge. Taxi drivers know that all the vehicles in the bus priority lanes are turning left so in the evenings they turn into Market Street from the second lane as well, two by two.

George Street, Druitt Street intersection

Bus routes from North Sydney along York Street are spoiled for choice as to how they terminate. Some terminate at Wynyard Park, others at Queen Victoria Building, turning into the general traffic lane in Druitt Street then turning right across a bus only lane into Clarence Street for the trip back. M20 buses terminate at Botany, M40 buses terminate at Bondi Junction and M30 buses, and other routes, terminate at Railway Square. These Mn0 buses were seen as the way of the future before O'Farrell set up Transport for NSW. They are generally bendy buses, using natural gas, and more to the point they could return to the Harbour Bridge along Liverpool Street and Kent Street, which currently carries no bus services, avoiding the crush in Druitt Street (why don't they?)

Full size diagram from brochure

Transport for NSW intends to terminate all these bus services at Druitt Street in order to herd passengers onto cattle cars at the Town Hall.

The brochure lists: Key features of redesigning the bus network in the City Center

• Elizabeth Street will be the main north-south bus route, featuring dedicated bus lanes and stopping lanes ...
• Park Street and Druitt Street will be the main east-west bus routes, providing access for buses only between Clarence Street and Kent Street

That is to say Druitt Street will be closed for all vehicles other than buses. This will force traffic from the Eastern Suburbs needing to access destinations accessible only from Druitt or Market Streets to turn right into Elizabeth Street from Park Street then join the taxis and delivery vans queued in the dedicated bus lanes to turn left into Market Street. 

This will have a devastating impact on bus movements along Elizabeth Street and it cannot be avoided. The only access to the northern CBD grid for traffic from William Street is a right-hand turn into College Street or the right-hand turn into Elizabeth Street. The rest is inexorable.

Bound for Gore Hill, Chatswood et alia

Co-lateral Damage

The Oxford Street bus services are not threatened with termination - their passengers can never be forced to transfer to cattle cars. They are being crushed simply because they use the same route through the CBD as the Flinders Street bus routes, which must be crushed to establish the business model for the privately-operated cattle cars.

There are problems even now when Druitt Street is open for general traffic. The closure of Druitt Street makes these problems intractable. People who depend on the Oxford Street bus services will literally have no where to go.

The bus stops are widely spaced. There is a stop in Oxford Street, the next is in Elizabeth Street south of Bathurst Street and the next is outside David Jones just after the bus priority lane has ended and the road has narrowed to two lanes. There is a set-down-only stop north of Park Street for William Street bus services which is how they get trapped in the priority lane.

There is a solution to the problems if there is no tramway in George Street, that is to say, no extra routes are forced into Elizabeth Street. The solution is to reduce the number of passengers who transfer from buses to trains at Town Hall Station, which operates at over capacity during the peaks, leaving the buses to run on emptied to Circular Quay. This would be accomplished by the Liverpool Street then Kent Street bus routes.

There are currently two such services, the M40 from Bondi Junction to Chatswood via the freeway and the M30 from Railway Square to Gore Hill and there are some minor services that go all the way to Railway Square. To change destinations with the Oyster (aka Opal) Card you just get off at any stop in Kent Street and wait for the right bus - in the opposite direction you get off at any stop in York Street. The Oyster Card knows where you live and where your ultimate destination is and can impose penalties for passengers that catch a bus to Circular Quay and transfer to a Harbour Bridge train at Town Hall Station rather than transferring at Central, say, by charging for a trip to Circular Quay or by imposing a positive disincentive.

The Oyster Card collects data on source and destination on a daily basis and would identify other routes that could be profitably added to these routes, say Spit Junction to Sydney University or further along Parramatta Road or to Botany.

It turns out the solution to congestion in bus routes in the CBD at peak times lies in a late 20th century proximity-sensing electronic card. A 19th century tram system running on electricity from coal-burning solves no problems and generates mind-numbing congestion.

This will be the recurring theme of this blog.