Smart Urban Transport

Abstract

Matt Faber
Transitways Branch, Roads & Traffic Authority – Sydney, New South Wales bio

The Western Sydney Transitway Network: Inventing a 100 km Regional Public Transport System - Session 2

Home to more than 1,000,000 residents, its growth well outstripping the rest of the Sydney region's, western Sydney has long suffered relative disadvantage in its supply of transport infrastructure and services. Until two years ago, addressing this inequity - and its attendant environmental and economic consequences - through investment in better public transport meant trying either to justify costly rail facilities or to extract marginal performance improvements from traditional, "street-bound" local bus services. Then, in 1998, the announcement of both the 30 km Liverpool - Parramatta Transitway and the rest of a 90 km rapid bus transitway network for the region transformed the possibility of western Sydney transport planning. This paper describes the context and preliminary achievements of one of the world's most extensive rapid busway projects, implying lessons of relevance to the development of excellent public transport facilities in other, low-density cities.