The ONLY Way to Fix Parramatta Road (Sydney, Australia)
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- Опубліковано 17 сер 2022
- Make sure to contact Rob Stokes here: www.nsw.gov.au/ministerstokes
Light Rail Video #8965475286089 coming in 2023
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The beautiful song I used for the titles: • Fitzy and Wippa's "Par...
I actually didn't know radio personalities could be funny so it was a pleasant surprise lol
Sources:
• Video
www.parramattalightrail.nsw.g...
buildsearch.com.au/garage-size
www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/f...
www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Plans...
www.dailytelegraph.com.au/new...
historyandheritage.cityofparr...
pls ask robert for a light rail he didn't want to give me one :( www.nsw.gov.au/ministerstokes
Hello Chris, Sydney once had the largest light rail (tram system) in the world before politicians of the day shut it down over night - it was simple corruption. Once this tram system was gone most transport became road based, a literal nightmare ever since to go anywhere. The rebuild of the Circular Quay to Randwick light rail (that once existed) cost a fortune and took far longer to build than anticipated. I can only hope they do extend the light rail along Parramatta road to connect into George Street. Of course, lots of stops in between for commuters. But the politicians will do nothing as usual. I am glad you are trying, a good message in support of a worthy project.
Yep there's a great map in the state library from I believe the 1890s that shows that even then the tram network was far better than it is now (and included a tram down Parramatta road). At its height in the 1950s it would've been amazing.
The corruption still stands... has anyone noticed that what little light new light rail we do have connects the racecourse to the casino?
@Leo Hello Leo, your comments are spot concerning rail transport, then and now, thank you for your wise words. Today we can only lament, in Sydney, the largest tram network in the world being shut down one night in the early 1960s. For years now it has been a place that is a nightmare for motorists, user-pay motorways sucking the life out of people. As to freight rail, it is more efficient, cheaper and safer, especially the movement of fuel such as petrol, which should still be transported mainly by rail for safety reasons alone. I am not sure if Labor represents anything better than the Liberal brand of politics, both, in my view, are crook and unfit for purpose.
@@mattbartlett5211good point. It’s pathetic that the light rail to Randwick doesn’t travel an extra 1.5kms to near Coogee Beach (200m from the beach would suffice) and the terminus in limbo-land at Kingsford didn’t get extended to Maroubra, Maroubra Beach and one of Sydney’s largest shopping centres and a future home of 20,000 people cooped up in tiny apartments at Eastgardens. Truly pathetic.
The modern iteration of Parramatta road that came about during the growth of Sydney during the 1870s was designed to only run two lanes of road and a double track tramline, it explains why parramatta road is such a clogged mess as it was never designed to be a motorway substititue. Atleast the western road further way from sydney was reconfigured as the area surrounding the western road was more or less rural farmland
Yup. When is Australia gonna realise that we shouldn't try to use streets made for shopping/living etc as motorways :(
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanismafter driving around the USA and Europe, I realized how awful our cities are with shopping strips and residential homes up along “highways of traffic lights”.
Look at Pacific Hwy, King George’s Road/Ryde Road, Princess Hwy, Hume Hwy, Victoria Road, etc. Awful. Ugly. Slow. 🤮
I've lived on a street off parramatta rd my whole life and it stinks. your solution is great, too bad the state government wasted all the money funding motorways to "fix" traffic on arterial roads like parramatta rd rather than funding efficient, high capacity transit without considering that motorway tolls would deter people from using them making them useless... essentially, we've got a bunch of underused tunnels and a bunch of debt, pretty good stuff
Yeah I'm 99% sure the companies that pocket the toll cash came up with that "solution" 😬 things were getting pretty exciting for a bit when there was talk around removing the harbour tunnel toll and replacing it with a congestion tax in the city but I think that plan is dead in the water now
i like this video because it's really slaptstick and lighthearted and presents a really genuinely crushing topic in a digestible and not despressing and hopeless way
Thanks! That's the goal haha
I remember when one needed a 4WD in hope for a comfortable cruise along Parramatta road.
Now one needs a monster truck to drive over the traffic :(
Not to drive over the traffic, but the potholes
You'd think government agencies would have a clue about what they're doing, but it's all bureaucratic, profit driven and politicised to the point where nothing will change. It's a shame these state departments use excuses such as not being financially feasible, when they subsidise transurban to construct billion dollar tunnelled roads which contradict their future transport strategy and are a complete waste of money.
Yeah it just defies logic, it's a real shame
Parramatta Road is what every major road I build in Cities Skylines looks like
I swear the only reason it exists is so people have to pay tolls to avoid it 😂😂
Similar thing should be done to Pennant Hills road now the NCX is open, but even people dying in high speed crashes on PHR isn't enough incentive to redesign the road. Govt just comes up with some pathetic excuse blaming the driver rather than a fault on their own part
Yeah, the Dutch way of thinking that sees dangerous driving as a road design problem rather than an individual/police enforcement problem is so much more sensible
There's a perfectly good M4 Motorway that runs parallel to Parramatta Road, but Parramatta Road is still one of the most congested roads in Sydney. Why? Because everyone is avoiding the Tolls, especially the re-introduced toll section between Strathfield & Granville. Parramatta Road is a blight on Sydney & I'm all for fixing it, but any plan has to also address the M4.
We'll be receiving more toll relief soon, and mode shift is just as if not more important than moving cars from one spot to another. Even though it's great that the cars on the M4 aren't on Parramatta Road, they still have to leave the motorway at some point
Good idea! Let's do it!!!
City planning channels are my new obsession
I swear, a tram line from Parramatta to Railway Square via Parramatta road and Church Street (Parramatta) could reasonably work. Many towns would have an alternate route of travel, locals can easily adapt to the new line and utilise it quickly, most locations have high number of jobs nearby or shops, Burwood North would be half redeveloped and attractive, and the benefits would keep on giving.
best of all, Parramatta road is the same width from around stanmore to granville (55ft, 16.5m) making it easy to copy a road layout throughout Parramatta road's entirety.
(I only use feet for road width, as 10ft/3m is roughly the width of a lane of traffic, and most Sydney streets are 40ft/12m wide)
Yep it would be pretty much perfect!
Nice video, very well-made! Have you seen the unofficial Reclaiming Parramatta Road report by the Committee for Sydney advocacy group? They worked out a detailed plan for implementing the sort of changes to Parramatta Road described in the video.
Thanks! Yeah I came across it in my research and based some of my ideas in this video on it. It's a shame it wasn't acted upon when Parramatta Road's recovery was being considered back in 2016
The report's from 2020, which is probably why it wasn't considered
@@exploringsydneysrailways wait hang on my bad, the most recent upgrades (Concord oval, side street renewal etc) started last year
great video, and yes transport for NSW is an absolute pain in the ass to deal with. Had to fight tooth and nail just to get one bus stop fixed...
yeah they can be so frustrating! My friend got her bike wheel caught in the disused tram tracks on the Goods Line and I contacted CoS council to get them filled with rubber or something, but CoS said it was TfNSW's responsibility, then TfNSW said it was CoS's resposibility...
funny because that's exactly what happened to me. Though I believe they have filled them in now.@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism
Also... a similar example of how that plan could work is visible on a section of ANZAC parade. It unfortunately hasn't made the parade any quieter, but that could very well be because the project ends at Kingsford Juniors, when the parade itself extends all the way down to La Perouse. It services UNSW, and the Randwick racecourse, but the community around them are kind of SoL. The same could be said of Botany and Gardners road. Both massive wastes of public space and horrible congested corridors to drive on.
Yeah for sure. I think part of the reason ANZAC Parade didn't become quieter is because it retained basically the same amount of car lanes, the LR mostly just replaced bus lanes and a parking lot at the final stop. A cycleway and wider footpaths could have made ANZAC Parade even better. There were a few missed opportunities on the Randwick end, too - I used to live in Randwick and I reckon if the tram had gone through the shopping strip on Belmore Road it would have made it heaps better. But yeah, lots of Sydney stroads out there that could be fixed by a tram.
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism Exactly this point. Trams make Sydney better.
I CANT BELIEVE THAT CHRIS CHRISTOPHERSON REAL ESTATE DIED IM LITERALLY SHAKING AND CRYING RN 😭😭😭😭😭
This may seem cold hearted but I personally think he deserved it. Trying to rent someone property on Parramatta road is unforgivable. "Oh but that doesn't mean he deserved to DIE" some might say - but yes. Yes it does.
I appreciate all the outfit changes in this video
Looks like I'm your four hundred and sixty third subscriber.
I like your idea, and I totally agree that something has to be done about parra road, but where does the traffic that usually goes along it get redirected to while the LR is being built? We build LRs so slowly here in NSW, this could take 5 years to achieve if we were moving quickly and had bipartisan support.
With the Metro to Parra being built, this will hopefully get some of that capacity we need, so perhaps a light rail might be a good option for local traffic (ie, those between the CBD and say, Lidcombe), rather than going all the way out to Parramatta CBD.
Yeah I think tolls would have to be removed from the M4 during its construction, maybe even after (but Sydney's tolls are a whole different discussion haha). Trams aren't fast enough to replace anything other than local traffic so I 100% agree with you there. The plans put forward for a Parramatta Road light rail in 2016 finished at Burwood, which I think makes sense since Parramatta road gets a lot less walkable west of Burwood.
TfNSW's focus is on the Metro West line to Parramatta which cuts through residential areas much like Westconnex does, and that's not due to be finished for another 8 years. I think the NSW government is content to let Parramatta road die
It's a shame since Parramatta Road could be a great place
Sir i found you before the end of the term,
Btw this guy is my teacher
havent watched the whole video yet, but step 1 to fixing parra road is remove the toll from the m4. 90% of traffic is instantly gone.
Very true. Thanks to poor decisions involving transurban, though, that's not really possible :( the taxpayer would have to pick up the burden, which could work if Parramatta road and parts of the city had a congestion tax
Well said Chris!
Thanks!
Nice video! Would you make a video about the Princes Hwy (A36)?
Not a bad idea, I'm currently holidaying in Geelong and the Princes Highway has managed to follow me even there :(
They would have to close parramatta road in order to do all this work in the first place, so I reckon we just close it tomorrow, see what happens, and if it isn't the literal end of the world, leave it closed while the light rail works can take place. If the government isn't going to do that, I suggest there should be a protest group formed that goes and blocks parramatta road every day until the government builds a tram line.
Westconnex was as needed as it is needed to fix Parramatta Road. My trip time to the city has been halved
That's great that it worked for you - that being said, bringing more cars into the city isn't a good long-term plan. Focussing on speeding up public transport and halving those trip times would be better long term as people taking public transport don't require car parking spaces at their destination. The end result of focussing on car trips into the city is buildings being knocked down for parking or widened roads, which happened extensively in the USA and to a lesser extent (because of community action such as the Green Bans) in Sydney during the 60s and 70s.
Nice
No u
if you can’t counter Chris Christofferson, you deserve to deal with Pissed Pissedofferson
You don't wanna meet Pissed Pissrdofferson 😤😤😤 he's constantly inebriated and regularly in a fowl mood
Mind you, look at the 'optimism' of Newcastle trams... that didn't turn out well.
I'm not to familiar with the Newcastle tram, might have to pay it a visit. What went wrong with it? I did hear about someone being killed by it, were there other problems too?
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism It goes to no where, from no where... closing a heavy line rail for the valuable non undermined land (no expensive grouting required)...
Melbourne will become the premier city in Australia if Sydney doesn't improve itself. Both are world class cities however Melbourne seems to be passing Sydney as the best Australian City. However I live in Canberra so what would I know. Canberra means 'meeting place'.
Yeah in the 19th century Melbourne was the #1 city for a bit, there's definitely precedence for it. Sydney's cycling infra and suburban train network is better than Melbourne's imo but Melbourne's trams cannot be beat. I'm just about to head to Melbourne for the first time in a bit though so it'll be interesting to see if they've changed anything after covid!
(I'm from Canberra too, don't worry - well, Queanbeyan, anyway)
Great video! Parramatta Road seems like such an obvious place for urban renewal and it's a shame it doesn't seem to be on anyone's agenda at the moment.
I agree! Such a missed opportunity
Not to mention that westconnex helps achieve this conversion as well.
Yeah, it's kind of like what's the point of Westconnex if they don't use it to improve the spaces above it?
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism Even getting started by extending the current line at haymarket all the way to Sydney University for a start.
Yeah true! They've extended it twice towards Dulwich Hill, it would be good to extend it the other way too
Before any of this can be considered we would need to accept that electric cars are not THE solution. They are still cars and need road space and parking space. They still cross each other's paths and need traffic lights and congestion. Dare I say they REQUIRE traffic jams. Without that recognition who is going to look at other possible solutions.
Particularly ones that encourage ( shudder) WALKING. Who wants roads that are quiet and safe to cross. That don't involve having to demolish our heritage to fit. No one that I know.
Yeah it's going to be a big shift in perspective for a lot of Australians but I can definitely see the change happening, especially with bike lanes becoming popular rather than controversial in Sydney and more and more roads around the George Street light rail becoming pedestrianised. Riding cargo bikes around with kids is a common sight in parts of Sydney too, now. The groundswell movement just needs to make its way up to the federal climate debate now so that ebikes can get the same subsidies that are being discussed for EVs.
Good take but one huge problem - you assume people don’t want to be in cars and want to be on a metro or tram. Many prefer cars as they use it as an arterial to perform business needs. A plumber needs a van full of tools. This plan is great but only if the road has a cut and cover build to push through traffic under it. Simply assuming the cars will go elsewhere isn’t feasible.
I don't think anybody prefers being in gridlock traffic, and currently any people who prefer public transport or cycling don't have the option. Parramatta Road has space for a tram, a cycleway, and car lanes. 68.3% of km's travelled in NSW are by private passenger vehicles (Survey of Motor Vehicle Use 2020, ABS) so the commercial vehicles travelling in the two remaining car lanes would have a much better time if commuters who wanted to could take the tram or ride their bike. Besides, the M2 already goes parallel.
Must be a generational thing - most people I know would prefer the air conditioned and privacy of a car to being squeezed like a sardine into public transport. Think mums with young kids, think tradies, think delivery drivers and couriers, what about sales people on the road, elderly, immobile, the list goes on and on.
As I said, it's not about taking everyone from cars to public transport, it's about creative a diverse (and therefore strong and effective) transport network that caters to everyone's needs. PT is also air-conditioned and only overcrowded when demand outpaces supply (which happens because public transport is often a very attractive option). For young children and the elderly, taking cars off the road has a particularly positive effect because it means that those who can't drive (all children, many elderly) can be independently mobile and live in places where the streets can be social spaces (impossible on car-dominated streets), which staves off loneliness, a particularly big problem for the elderly. Then those who have to drive or have a very strong preference for it (almost everyone has to drive at some point) will have access to less congested roads.
@@peters619 If PT becomes the quicker and more convenient mode of transit then enough people will switch so that it inherently clears congestion for those who need to drive (like you listed). But when there is no alternative, everyone who could have been on efficient PT will just drive and this inherently creates congestion.
Also do people really prefer being in their air conditioned car for an extended period of time? I'm more of the persuasion that people just want to get to their destinations in a timely manner. Sure comfort is definitely a factor but most people don't want to be in their cars just for the sake of it, they want to get to where they are going quickly!! And if PT is the quickest way, most convenient way, people will use it.
7:30: Surely most of the traffic on Parramatta Road should be funnelled into WestConnex? Coming from Penrith, no way I want to drive Parramatta Road! I would rather drive the toll road, or better yet, ride the train.
Definitely! Replacing car lanes on Parramatta Road with better options for local trips like a tram and cycleway would serve the double purpose of encouraging long-distance drivers to take WestConnex or catch the train
Sustainable busses along Parramatta road? They're joking. I take one of the busses that goes all the way down Parramatta road from Central and every single time these busses are the oldest, leakiest, smelliest ones on the network. Hanging around the Central bus stop you can watch all the green busses going to Lilyfield lmao.
Yeah when my bike was in the shop and I had to catch a bus to my job in Strathfield it was a pretty rude shock after getting used to the nice electric 470s
Wait are you a transit engineer because this is too technical for mass market.
nah I just watch too much Not Just Bikes lol
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism You started actually doing planning work. Not Just Bikes stops short of planning work and just funnels everyone to strong towns.
It's a good idea to pick an audience now when you're special.
True. Which parts did you think were too technical?
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism You stated doing a design for the street, either double down in the technical aspects or just present your case and move on. Good video though, but without picking an aspect it won’t blow up.
The answer is monorail
Why monorail?
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism because you can add it without altering the road capacity below snd thereby not leading into large works to re do the road network. Lower cost, lower risk, and better political prospects. Then get rid of the bus lanes and have parking.
@@duncanfell6447 ahh like German suspension monorail style? That would certainly be cool, but one of the reasons on-road light rail improved George Street so much is because it removed car traffic and made it a pleasant place to walk and hang out. I would be open to seeing how a Parramatta Road monorail would work though!
I found the fault in your thinking. That is, creating wealth for people who aren't paying massive bribes to political parties. The only way to get politicians to listen is to transfer an incredible amount of money into their bank accounts.
Serious question... Trucks, heaps of trucks use Parramatta Road daily. Which roads would they use?
Yup the politicians are the tricky part haha.
The Western Distributor and M4 are already pretty solid alternatives. The T2 also runs parallel to it, so more freight could potentially go by rail, and some countries like the Netherlands and Germany are even moving freight via light rail tracks at night, but that might be a bit advanced for our government. But, for the truckies who can't take any of those options, the amount of commuters switching to the hypothetical cycleway and light rail would clear up heaps of traffic - one lane of car traffic each way doesn't mean trucks can't use the road. These are just ideas, though - I'm not an expert.
Banana
sussy minion is always watching
Speaking to so many people who use Parramatta Rd or roads parallel to it trying to avoid it, the majority don’t even live anywhere near the inner west!
Most people are going into the city, eastern suburbs, west to Parramatta from the east, etc all using Parramatta Rd and surrounding roads choking everything and everyone in between.
Shame the new tunnel is so expensive with tolls and same for the M4 west of Strathfield.
The only way to bring some sanity is to either remove the tolls or reduce their cost and fix Parramatta Rd and surrounding roads once and for all. Enough!
Build the damn tram all the way to Parramatta. Widen the footpaths and plant trees. Build the cycle way. Only 1 lane for traffic and make surrounding roads less desirable for through traffic.
Watch it improve by this stealth move as were the streets of Surry Hills done when they improved Bourke St, etc.
What’s stopping them? It’s a road uglier, dirtier and unsafer than many I’ve seen in 3rd world nations.
100% agree! Everything you've mentioned needs to be done. I genuinely have no idea why it hasn't been done, and the now that parts of Victoria Road are getting a tunnel, the Inner West Council has come up with some great plans for Victoria Road but the NSW government won't fund them, just like with Parramatta Road. It boggles the mind
@@ChrisTopher_Urbanism thanks buddy. Do we have politicians that truly care? This is a serious issue as well designed towns and cities creates healthier, safer and happier environments.
It’s a win for businesses, people and healthcare. It’s such backward thinking and I’ve resigned to the fact our nation is run by people who don’t care. Sad.
I’ve spoken to councilors in the past about environmental improvements and all I got was blank looks. They don’t care.