Fast track Sydney transport with web enhanced planning

A Leichardt Council Transport Forum was held at the Leichardt Town Hall, 22 November 2008. This proposed a fast planning process for public transport in Leichardt and Sydney's inner west using experts and the community. I suggest that the Internet could be used to gain wider public and expert input into the process. Also the political realities of NSW suggest that upgrading the bus system should be included as a sub-optimal but politically feasable option.

The Meeting

Speakers were: Dr Gary Glazebrook from UTS, Dr. Michelle Zeibots, Institute for Sustainable Futures, UTS and Councillor Jamie Parker, Mayor of Leichardt Council. As well as the listed speakers, there were people from EcoTransit Sydney present.

The forum discussed issues including the Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill Light Rail extension and the Iron Cove Bridge Duplication (also known as the Victoria Road upgrade). However, rather than proposing to deal with transport projects piecemeal, the planning experts proposed that the local councils get together with the community and planners to produce an overall plan. Such a plan could include public transport options which the NSW state Road and Traffic Authority (RTA) is unwilling to consider.

Proceedings were delayed for 20 minutes while we waited for the Mayor to arrive. Given that the expert transport speakers were present, this was an unnecessary waste of the time for the forty or so people present. The Mayor is obviously a busy person and I suggest he issue instructions that events not be held up waiting for him to arrive.

The Mayor opened the event by mentioning what was discussed at the local government summit recently in Canberra. He noted that NSW local government people were concerned about the lack of public transport planning in NSW. He claimed to have raised this with the PM and others at the event. He then expressed concern at the proposed and then cancelled Sydney metro and the new proposal a few weeks later. There was also a proposal for a $250m coordinated bike route in NSW.

Unfortunately this was all presented very rapidly by the Mayor, like a political campaign speech. There were no details provided to back up the claims made, nor any written text provided. While the Mayor sounded sincere, given the poor history of transport planning in NSW, much more is needed for a credible presentation. Leichardt Council needs to cite evidence when presenting proposals, for those proposals to have credibility.

Inquiry by design

Dr. Zeibots provided an excellent "Big picture" overview of transport planning for Sydney. Dr. Glazebrook went into more detail on light rail proposals for the inner west. Both were able to back up their proposals with credible evidence.

Dr. Zeibots advocated better planning using a process called "Inquiry by design". With this the usual years of planning and public consultations are compressed into about five days. The planners, experts and community representatives meet at the site to be planned, talk to locals and draw up options.

Some notes on the talk:

• The County of Cumberland scheme 1951 planned radial motorways for Sydney. This has been largely followed with Sydney's tollways. Unfortunately Sydney's 21 century transport is being planned using a 50 year old last century plan. Due to the cancellation of the Johnston creek extension to the motorways, Marrickiville and iron cove motorway tunnels are being considered by the RTA internally without adequate public consultation.
• Analysis of the traffic of the M4 shows that it did not greatly reduce the traffic on the existing great western highway and the total traffic of the two combined was much higher.

Enhance with the Internet and Political Realism

The meeting was useful and the inquiry by design process appears feasable. However, I suggest that the planners could usefully incorporate the Internet in their process and also inject some political realism.

Use the Internt for public and expert input to planning

The planners propose a process over a few days where the experts and community come together. However, not everyone concerned is able or willing to give up five days of their time. Only about forty of the many thousands of residents gave up a few hours for this meeting.

Therefore I suggested after the meeting to Dr. Zeibots that Internet and web tools could be used to enhance the meeting process. Experts and residents could be provided with the materials which were to be provided at the meetings and invited to provide input. As the process progressed, what the meeting came up with could be put online and the community invited to have input. This would allow wider input with minimal extra effort.

Between 1996 and 1998 I provided some web pages about planning for the Dickson p precinct of Canberra. Normally the Draft Master Plan would be displayed at the local library and perhaps an item about it placed in the local newspaper. By placing a copy online many more people could see it.

As part of the Federal Government's 2020 Summitt process I orgnaised a day long local summitt on open source with Senator Lundy. This made use of the Austrlaian developed Moodle free open source Learning Management System. Moodle was used to prepare the program for the day, solicit input and to report on the day. UTS has the Moodle system installed. This could be used to provide an online forum for a planning process. I have also used Moodle live in a classroom and it could be simiarly used to organise and present materials to people at a live forum as well as online.

Take account of political realities

The planners seemed to be curiously naive of the political process. A transport plan for Sydney may increase the chances of better public transport, it would seem more likely to be adopted if it took into account political realities.

The NSW state government has produced a number of transport proposals, such as the North West Metro, which make little sense in planning terms. These are only understandable in political terms as a way to attract votes. After the cancellation of the North West Metro and the quick creation of another metro proposal, there can be few who believe such proposals are being created through any rational planning process. Clearly these proposals are being up up in order to meet short term political aims, not the long term public interest.

Therefore any proposal put up by others needs to take into account the political issues and meet short term political needs of the government. As an example, projects which can be started quickly at low cost and employ people in NSW are more likely to receive political support, than those taking decades and using imported equipment. An example of such a project would be expanding the MetroBus recently introduced in the Inner West. The buses can be made in NSW, the bus lanes they need to run on can be built by NSW workers. The NSW government can apply for federal funding to create hybrid, large, fuel efficient buses.

Buses are not as good a long term transport option as trams and metros. However, buses which are actually purchased are a better option than trams which may not be approved and metros which are never built.

Sydney to Melbourne by Train

As I was going to Melbourne to talk at a Green ICT Conference, I thought I should take the low carbon approach. So I booked on the Countrylink XPT train, travelling on the daylight service 24 November 2008. At just under twelve hours this is not viable for business travel, but it is a worthwhile holiday trip for those not in a hurry.

The first few hours of the trip are interesting, through the suburbs of Sydney and the countryside. After Goulburn it gets a bit dull, looking like the same countryside is repeated for the next six hours or so. The last couple of hours coming into Melbourne become interesting again. This trip is worth doing once for those who want to see some of Australia.

There is an excellent rail map of the route: Central (Sydney), Strathfield, Campbelltown, Moss Vale, Goulburn, Gunning, Yass Junction, Harden, Cootamundra, Junee, Wagga Wagga, The Rock, Henty, Culcairn, Albury, Wangaratta, Benalla, Southern Cross Station (Melbourne). The route follows the Main South line Sydney to Albury, then the North East line to Southern Cross Station, Melbourne.

The XPT trains have been refurbished and are very clean, tidy and comfortable. The refurbishment doesn't appear to have changed the interior decor and the train has a retro sixties look about it. The train has a muted blue/grey colour scheme which should wear well (but some of the shades of blue used do not seem to match).

The suspension on the XPT is excellent and it appears to float over the bumps in the suburban track. Between the outskirts of Sydney and Goulburn much of the track has had the wooden sleepers replaced with concrete ones and the ride is so smooth as to be surreal, as a result. The train feels as if it could go 50 km/h faster.

The economy class seats on the XPT are of a generous size, but I thought the padding a little hard. The new cloth seat covers do not appear to have been well fitted and there is already some fraying of the material around the edges and this is likely to need to be redone within a couple of years. One of the seat-back trays flipped down and an angle so contents tended to slide into my lap. The reading lights worked and the gold reflective coating on the windows was very good at keeping the harsh sun out.

The toilets are clean and well designed. The new stick on labels are starting to peel and need to be replaced with more robust ones. The labels on the luggage racks also seemed to be wearing off.

The service on the train is good, with clear announcements and helpful staff. Service at the buffet car is good. There was a special with "real" coffee in coffee bags (like tea bags). This was not up to the standard of the filter drip on the French TGV, but acceptable and much better than instant coffee. The staff went to a lot of trouble to have passengers reuse the cardboard trays the food was supplied on. The result was one tray would last a passenger the whole trip instead of one for each meal, saving a lot of cardboard and garbage disposal.

One of the delights of the trip is leaving from the interstate hall of Sydney Central Station. Melbourne Southern Cross also has a dramatic sense of arrival. There are brief stops at well maintained little old stations in between. The train was only about one quarter full at the start, but a surprising number of people got on and off at the intermediate stations. The train provides a useful transport service for rural NSW.

There was track work being carried out all along the route to replace the sleepers. This slowed the train down, but should greatly improve the ride, and perhaps speed up the trip, when finished. In the November issue of Railway Digest, Phillip Laird proposed removing some of the tight curves in the track between Sydney and Goulburn. He claimed this would save 1340 litres of fuel for the average freight train and reduce the trip time by 105 minutes. All of the upgrades would cost $1,827M, would appear to be a good public investment. This would also improve the XPT trip. While the Sydney - Melbourne trip would still be too long for business purposes, this and some minor improvements on the Goulburn - Canberra track would make the Sydney - Canberra trip under three hours and competitive with airlines.

Previously I have been Brisbane to Sydney by XPT, as well as other train trips.

Leichhardt Espresso Chorus, 30 November, Sydney

The 2008 Spring Festival of Music Concert Series in Annandale (Sydney), continues next weekend with the Leichhardt Espresso Chorus, 30 November at 3pm. Tickets can be booked.

The last concerts for 2009 at the Hunter Baillie Church will be Kirsten Williams, violin & Jane Rosenson, harp: Bach, Elgar, Kreisler, Saint-Saens, Westlake and Gershwin, 7 December.

Leichhardt Transport Forum, 13 November 2008

A Leichhardt Council Transport Forum will be held at the Leichhardt Town Hall, 22 Nov 2008. Issues include the Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill Light Rail extension and the Iron Cove Bridge Duplication (also known as the Victoria Road upgrade).

Start: 22 Nov 2008 - 1:30am
End: 22 Nov 2008 - 3:30pm

Planning and implementing transport in the inner west will be addressed by transport experts, Dr. Garry Glazebrook and Dr. Michelle Zeibots, and local transport groups. Topics for discussion will include the Lilyfield to Dulwich Hill Light Rail extension and the Iron Cove Bridge Duplication.

Venue: Leichhardt Town Hall
Norton St. Leichhardt

From: Leichhardt Council Transport Forum, EcoTransit Sydney, 2008

The RTA propose to build a new three lane bridge to the west of the existing four lane Iron Cove Bridge. My view is that a better option would be to not build a new bridge and instead devote two of the lanes of the existing bridge to buses. The funds saved on the new bridge could be spent on purchasing additional buses. This would have advantages:

• Provides for far larger capacity at peak times than an additional bridge.
• Less noise and vibration impacts on the local residents.
• Does not require relocation of underwater utilities.
• Does not require acquisition of private property.
• No impact on Birkenhead Wharf that has heritage characteristics.
• Safer, simpler alignment with the existing road.

An additional bridge would not be a good long term investment, as individual passenger cars do not have a future for peak hour city transport. An additional bridge will simply clog with additional cars at peak time. Buses can carry many times the number of passengers per unit of road space as cars. The new Sydney MetroBus has shown how a well resourced bus service can be popular.

Rail transport would be preferable, but the NSW government has been unable to prepare a credible rail transport plan, with unworkable schemes such as the North West Metro. The city will therefore have to make do with buses for the foreseeable future.

ICT Sustainability at Petersham NSW TAFE

The Australian Computer Society hosted a presentation from TAFE NSW last night on their new ICT sustainability courses. This was an inspirational evening showing the excellent work on green ICT being carried out at the Petersham Campus of NSW TAFE

Máire Sheehan, Manager Public Sector Programs, TAFE NSW gave a overview of climate change issues and programs such as the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme. She illustrated this with experience working on sustainability as a Councillor, at Leichhardt Council. This presentation was a little too long and detailed as we were a room full of computer nerds wanting to hear about computers, not climate change. However, this was a good plain English explanation. Máire also mentioned that she had purchased a low power Eee PC netbook computer and a solar panel for a visit to a developing country (I happened to have my Eee PC with me and handed it up to the podium for a demo).

Franco Salaun, Program Manager, Curriculum Centre, TAFE. Briefly introduced the modules developed by TAFE NSW:

1. Install and Test Power Saving Hardware
2. Install and Test Power Management Software
3. Install and Test Renewable Energy System for ICT Networks
4. Implement Server Virtualisation for a sustainable ICT System
5. Install and Test Web 2.0 OS and Applications on a Low Powered Workstation Fed by Power Over Ethernet
   

I would liked to hear more about the the design and development of courses (I was consulted on the outline for some modules).

Stanley Tonkins, Chartered Professional Engineer, NSW TAFE teacher and course developer talked about what the students learnt in the courses. He showed two fascinating videos with students working on PCs replacing components with lower power ones, including low power motherboards and flash drives.

The students also installed a solar panel on the roof of the TAFE and a wind generator and modified PCs to run from batteries. It is not clear why you would run your PC from batteries at a city campus, but assume this might have something to so with Máire Sheehan visiting a developing nation, where such a system would be ideal.

As well as hardware, the students learn about using software utilities to configure energy saving settings on PCs. They also learn how to virtualise servers, including the complexities of running both Linux and Microsoft Windows operating systems simultaneously on the one server.

Some of the very valuable practical insights given were:

1. Via PC3500 Mainboard: AFter searching the options for low power components, the students of the TAFE course identified the new VIA board as being a good trade off between power consumption and usability. The Zonbu NetTop PC I have on my office desk also uses a low power Via processor. It is an interesting question as to if it is worth upgrading a conventional desktop PC with a low power board, or better to replace it with a small form factor NetTop.
   

2. Power Management Tools, such as LocalCooling can be useful for teaching about power saving as well as implementing it.

3. ROI: The return on investment for power saving software and hardware upgrades can be calculated.
   
4. Learning by Doing: Students can learn by carrying out work such as upgrading PCs and explaining what they are doing while working in teams.
   

This was the best part of the evening's presentations and I would have liked to hear more about what is being done on Green ICT at Petersham Campus of NSW TAFE.

The most frustrating part of the evening was that there were no details of the actual courses. I was expecting at the end someone to say: "go to this web age at NSW YAFE for course details and how to enrol". However, there were no details given and I have been unable to find any details of the course on the TAFE NSW web site.

There is potential for collaboration between ACS and NSW TAFE on green ICT courses. I am preparing a course on Green ICT Strategies for Computer Professional Education Program of the Australian Computer Society (for progress see my blog entries). This is intended as a postgraduate management unit and will not get into the level of technical and practical detail which the TAFE provide. There is therefore scope for the ACS and TAFE courses to complement each other. Some ACS memebrs will want to undettake the TAFE courses, while others just need to know that they can call on people with those skills. Also hopefully other TAFE around Australia will contact NSW TAFE and arrange to use the developed syllabus, rather than duplicate this work.

Some links from the TAFE:

1. Sustainability Project Presentation 2nd July 2008
2. Certificate IV in IT Semester 2 2007: VirtualServerImplementation
3. and Case Study - Low energy deshtop system Patjarr School
4. Certificate IV in IT Semester 1 2008: low energy desktop design considerations and Operating system on USB flash drive
5. Ubuntu server with renewable energy system supply - design.ppt
6. Diploma in IT Semester 1 2008: Solar Panel and Wind Generator
7. Solar Panel Installation and System Testing Presentation: Low Energy Consumption PC Cary

Green ICT ACS & TAFE NSW, 17th November 2008

The Australian Computer Society and TAFE NSW are having a free Green ICT event, 17th November 2008 in Sydney, with TAFE detailing their new ICT sustainability courses: "How will the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme affect me, my job and my business?":

Two polls taken in 2008 show that while well over 70% of the population agree that Australia should act now to on climate change less than 10% understand the Australian government’s master plan for tackling climate change, the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, and how it will affect businesses and individuals.

This presentation will provide a Plain English overview of the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, its effects on businesses and individuals and hints on how you can act now to reduce its impacts on you and your business.

You will also hear about the new Accredited TAFE course starting in Feb 2009 "Sustainability in ICT Systems"

As with all TAFE courses you gain not only Technical knowledge but the practical backup.

The modules are:-

1. Install and Test Power Saving Hardware
2. Install and Test Power Management Software
3. Install and Test Renewable Energy System for ICT Networks
4. Implement Server Virtualisation for a sustainable ICT System
5. Install and Test Web 2.0 OS and Applications on a Low Powered Workstation Fed by Power Over Ethernet
   

Biography:

Stanley Tonkins

Chartered Professional Engineer NSW TAFE Stanley is currently teaching students about Telecommunications and Networks, Information Technology and developing new course units including assessment and practicum delivery strategies for the Advanced Diploma, Diploma and Certificate IV and III courses.

Máire Sheehan

Is the Manager Public Sector Programs, TAFE NSW and Councillor, Leichhardt Council.

Franco Salaun

Program Manager - Curriculum Centre at TAFE and is responsible for the design and development of courses in Telecommunications and IT Networking.

About this Event

Venue:

Mitchell Theatre Level 1, 280 Pitt St Sydney (Sydney Mechanics School of Arts- In between Park & Bathurst St)
Date: Monday 17th November 2008
Time: 6 pm -8 pm

Register

Members: $0.00
Non Members: $0.00

From: "How will the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme affect me, my job and my business?", ACS, 2008

Big Red Metrobus in Sydney

Yesterday I was in a hurry to get from Norton Street (Sydney's Little Italy) to the Sunday concert by The Song Company in the 2008 Spring Festival of Music Concert Series. In answer to my prayer, along came a big red new Metrobus. This is a new service which commenced operation yesterday and is being trialled for 12 months. As the name implies the service operates like a metro: there is no timetable, with buses instead arriving at set frequent intervals (every 10 minutes in peak hours, 15 minutes off peak, 20 minutes on weekends).

As the service had just been introduced there were two extra staff on board to hand out pamphlets and explain the service. The buses are claimed to carry more people that a standard bus, but looked the same to me. They are fitted with an electronic display showing the next stop and an automatic voice announcement. The bus I was on is a single unit, but articulated ones are also being used.

The pamphlet and the bus stop signs are an improvement on previous STA bus information. The metro style maps are easy to understand and to work out where to change to other transport. The roadside signs lack a countdown timer to tell you when the next bus is leaving, but the on-board staff explained that these signs are planned.

The buses do not accept cash and all tickets must be purchased before boarding. This will cause some inconvenience but greatly reduces bus loading time. It is also safer than the arrangement in Melbourne with trams (and buses in Thessaloniki), where patrons have to attempt to buy a ticket from a machine on-board a moving vehicle. There are newsagents and other vendors selling tickets near most bus stops.

The Metrobus is a cost effective and realistic answer to some of Sydney's transport problems, unlike the unworkable "North West Metro". However, there is a danger the Metrobus trial will fail due to a lack of investment. Some areas where it could be improved are:

1. Usable Web Site: Sydney Buses provide a minimum of information about the service on the web in a difficult to read format. Instead of large, slow to download and hard to read PDF documents, the Brochure, Route Map, Download the TravelTen calculator should be provided in the form of web pages accessible by the disabled and usable on a mobile phone. The Wikipedia entry for the service provides better information than the official government web site.
   
2. Next bus electronic sign: Each stop needs an electronic sign counting down to when the next bus leaves. These signs need to provide an accurate estimate. When I tried the Perth "Cat" system, the signs were so inaccurate as to be useless and discouraged patronage, rather than helping it. STA should invest in a reliable system which uses real time displays with wireless links to a GPS reporting bus. The signs could be solar powered in most cases.
3. Next Bus Cafe: Electronic signs could be installed in cafes near the stops and the the staff encouraged to help patrons with bus information.
   
4. Better road access: While the Metrobuses are new and have a good ride, the service suffers from the poor Sydney roads. The NSW government should repair the road surface along the bus lane for the Metrobus route to improve the ride and speed up the service. Bus priority traffic lights would further improve the service. Also the buses could be equipped with with traffic cameras, linked to the RTA Transport Management Centre, with a button for the driver to report a traffic problem. The RTA central controllers could then see and act on problems effecting the buses. An additional option would be to fit the buses out with mobile traffic infringement cameras, so that vehicles parked in bus stops and otherwise impeding the service could be issued with fines immediately.
5. Electronic tickets: Sydney needs a workable electronic ticketing system, such as the Akbil system used by Istanbul Public Transport. Sydney has abandoned one electronic ticket system (Tcard) and is planning to install another system which will not work. Sydney needs to rationalise its fare structure before an electronic ticketing system will be workable. One option would be to propose the Australian Government fund a national standardised system and have it piloted on the Sydney Metrobus.

Name of station	Stop number	Locations served	Connections
Market Place Leichhardt	22W	Leichhardt Market Place
Elswick Street	21W	Leichhardt
Cromwell Street (Eastbound only)	20/21W	Leichhardt
Leichhardt Town Hall	20W	Leichhardt, Norton Street Palace Cinema
Norton Plaza	19W	Norton Street Plaza
Norton Street	18W	Norton Street Italian Forum
Catherine Street	17W	Sydney Institute of TAFE - Petersham College
Percival Road	16W	Annandale, Stanmore
Johnston Street	15W	Annandale
Bridge Road	14W	Annandale
Denison Street (Westbound only)	13/14W	Camperdown, Annandale
Mallett Street	13W	Camperdown
Missenden Road	12W	Royal Prince Alfred Hospital
Larkin Street	11W	University of Sydney
Ross Street	10W	University of Sydney
Sydney Uni (Footbridge)	9W	University of Sydney
Sydney Uni (Main Gate) (Westbound only)	8/9W	University of Sydney
Victoria Park	8W	University of Sydney, Victoria Park, Broadway Shopping Centre
Broadway	7W	Broadway, Broadway Shopping Centre	Bus: Newtown, Glebe Point Road
Abercrombie Street	6W	Broadway, Ultimo
Unversity of Technology (UTS)	5W	UTS, Broadway, Ultimo, Haymarket
Railway Square	4W	Railway Square, Sydney Institute of TAFE, Ultimo, Haymarket	Train: Central Station Bus: Northern Beaches
Rawson Place	3W	Chinatown, Paddy's Markets, Haymarket
Chinatown (Westbound only)	2/3W	Chinatown, Paddy's Markets, Haymarket
World Square	2W	Chinatown, World Square, Town Hall
Sydney Town Hall	1W	Town Hall, Queen Victoria Building, St. Andrew's Cathedral, George St Cinemas	Train: Town Hall Station
Park Street City	1E	Town Hall, The Galeries Victoria, Pitt Street Mall	Monorail: Galeries Victoria
Hyde Park	2E	Hyde Park
Museum	3E	Hyde Park, Downing Centre	Train: Museum Station Bus: Bondi Beach, Paddington, Bondi Junction, Bronte
Brisbane Street	4E	Whitlam Square
Riley Street	5E	Oxford Square
Taylor Square	6E	Taylor Square, St Vincent's Hospital, University of Notre Dame Australia
Albion Street	7E	Surry Hills, UNSW College of Fine Arts
South Dowling Street (Eastbound only)	7/8E	Surry Hills
Moore Park	8E	Moore Park, Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney Football Stadium
Cleveland Street	9E	Moore Park, Fox Studios, Entertainment Quarter	Bus: Randwick, Coogee
Robertson Street	10E	Moore Park, Centennial Park
Alison Road (Eastbound only)	10/11E	Moore Park Supa Centa
Carlton Street	11E	Randwick Racecourse
Ascot Street	12E	Randwick Racecourse
Todman Ave	13E	Kensington
Addison Street	14E	Kensington
Doncaster Avenue	15E	Kensington
UNSW	16E	University of New South Wales
Barker Street	17E	University of New South Wales
Middle Street	18E	Kingsford
Kingsford Nine Ways	19E	Kingsford	Bus: Maroubra, La Perouse

From: Metrobus, Wikipedia, 2008

What to see from a Sydney to Melbourne Train Window

As I am going to Melbourne to talk at a Green ICT Conference I thought I should take the low carbon approach and booked on the Countrylink XPT train. Any suggestions as to what to see out the window would be welcome. Previously I have been Brisbane to Sydney by XPT, as well as other train trips.

There is an excellent rail map of the route: Central (Sydney), Strathfield, Campbelltown, Moss Vale, Goulburn, Gunning, Yass Junction, Harden, Cootamundra, Junee, Wagga Wagga, The Rock, Henty, Culcairn, Albury, Wangaratta, Benalla, Southern Cross Station (Melbourne). The route follows the Main South line Sydney to Albury, then the North East line to Southern Cross Station, Melbourne.

Sydney to Melbourne direct

		Sydney to Melbourne XPT		Sydney to Melbourne XPT
Central (Sydney) dep		07:45		20:40
Strathfield	u	07:57	u	20:51
Campbelltown	u	08:30	u	21:26
Moss Vale		09:34		22:30
Goulburn		10:23		23:19
Gunning	a	10:58		...
Yass Junction		11:29	a	00:23
Harden	a	12:16	a	01:09
Cootamundra		12:47		01:39
Junee		13:29		02:24
Wagga Wagga		13:54		02:49	Connections to Echuca, Griffith
The Rock	a	14:18	a	03:11
Henty	a	14:35	a	03:28
Culcairn	a	14:46	a	03:39
Albury		15:19		04:12	Connection to Echuca
Wangaratta		16:07		05:00
Benalla		16:33		05:26
Southern Cross (Melbourne) arr		18:55		07:35

From: Sydney to Melbourne direct Daily, CountryLink, 2008

Annandale 2008 Spring Festival of Music

The 2008 Spring Festival of Music Concert Series in Annandale (Sydney), commences today at 3pm. Tickets for the later concerts can be booked. All concerts are on Sundays at the at the Hunter Baillie Church:

1. Sunrise String Quartet: Dvorak & Haydn, 21 September.
2. The Song Company, cappella ensemble, 12 October.
3. Leichhardt Espresso Chorus, 30 November.
4. Kirsten Williams, violin & Jane Rosenson, harp: Bach, Elgar, Kreisler, Saint-Saens, Westlake and Gershwin, 7 December.

Metro in Sydney Transport Plan

The formation of a new NSW Government provides the opportunity to rethink Sydney's transport planning. The "North West Metro" proposed as a "European" style metro was not viablee. Sydney is not a European style city and needs a different transport system. The government should look to cities such as Perth, Adelaide and Brisbane to see how to use heavy and light rail and express bus ways for public transport.

European style metros service densely populated cities using closely spaced stations and short lines. The Sydney metro was to be a single 38km rail line with 17 stations (one for every 2 km) to cost $12B. A few months ago I visited the Greek city of Thessaloniki and saw a real European metro under construction This will have 13 stations, almost as many as the Sydney plan, but is only 9.6 km long, one third the spacing of the Sydney system. This smaller system will cost only 800 million euros, but even so has taken thirty years to build.

Instead of one long rail line, Sydney could consider some shorter genuine metro lines to service densely populated parts of the city in the next few decades. However, this should be a supplement to improved heavy rail, as Perth has done. There are also measures which can be introduced relatively quickly and cheaply, costing hundreds of millions of dollars and taking years, rather than billions taking decades. These include extending the existing light rail in the inner west of Sydney and providing priority bus lanes.

Another relatively easy problem to solve is the ticketing system for Sydney transport. The previous smart card project failed due to a complex pricing system for Sydney's diverse transport system. Istanbul has an integrated electronic ticketing system (Akbil) for the city's trams, trains, buses, ferries and even two Funicular railways. This works because the fare structure of the transport system has been simplified.

Given that transport systems take decades to implement, Sydney could look at some emerging technologies, such as hybrid buses, Guided buses (used in Adelaide), and rubber-tyred trams. The have the potential of providing the low cost and flexibility of conventional buses with the capacities of metro and light rail, using some of Sydney's existing road infrastructure. As an example some of the lanes of existing toll roads and toll tunnels could be converted to guided bus-ways. The buses would collect passengers on ordinary roads and the enter the guided way for a high speed trip to the city center.

The buses could be electrically powered from renewable sources while on the bus way. Computer control of the buses would provide a similar level of safety, ride comfort and speed to an advanced light rail system. Buses which primarily use the guided ways could be powered by rechargable batteries when away from the guide way and would not require internal combustion engines. Express buses which only used the guide way could be driver-less.

Biennale of Sydney in a Shipping Container

The best visual arts at the Biennale of Sydney 2008 I have seen is the Biennale Hub in Customs House Square at Circular Quay. This consists of four shipping containers which are used as an information kiosk, cafe and site for the DJs for Harbour parties. The containers have been painted safety yellow, with black graphics. Two smaller ten foot containers are used for storage, while all sides have been cut out of a twenty foot unit to form a marque. It is not clear if the installation was intended to be art, or was intended to be purely functional, but it has turned out to be far superior to any of the other art I saw at the Biennale.

Hit the deck with marine paint

The inner west of Sydney has a marine heritage, being the site of the old docks for Sydney. Needing to paint a deck on a house, I went into the local hardware store and selected some slip resistant paving paint from Norglass Laboratories. The shopkeeper recommended this as it was cheaper and locally made. I did not realise how local, until I read the back of the brochure and found a photo of the ferry Radar, which I went to is Cockatoo Island on a few weeks ago, was painted with the company's product. The red bits on the upper deck are the colour I selected. ;-)

Sydney Ideas to green your life

The City of Sydney ran "Live Green - Ideas to green your life" in Victoria Park, Camperdown, Sunday 17 August. I went along and was impressed with the "City of Sydney Green House". This is display in the shape of a house, fitted with environmental products.

Also impressive was a shipping container turned into a second hand clothing boutique. Windows and doors had been cut into the container, but it was otherwise unchanged, giving it an industrial aesthetic. Instead of using conventional windows and doors the steel cut from the container had been simply hinged. At the end of the day the windows and doors had been closed ready for it to be moved. It then looked like any shipping container.

Visi had some clever cardboard tables and chairs made from recycled paper.

Camping in the Middle of Sydney Harbour

The worlds greatest tourist bargain is available until early September in Sydney. The Biennale of Sydney is an art festival held at venues around the city. One venue is Cockatoo Island, in Sydney harbour.

The vintage ferry "RADAR" (which looks like something out of "Thomas The Tank Engine") takes you on a free harbour cruse past the Sydney Opera House, to the island for the free art display. The art is in the historic former convict settlement and Australian Navy shipyards. There are also camping facilities on the island, with views of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The art on display is not that good, overwhelmed by the craft art of the buildings and their machinery. However, the site is worth a visit if only to see the harbour from a new vantage point.

For the first time, this year the Biennale takes over Cockatoo Island – the largest island in Sydney Harbour and Australia’s most unusual urban park. A former prison and shipyard, Cockatoo retains many remnants of its past. Its prison buildings have been nominated for World Heritage listing, along with other convict sites around Australia. For this year’s Biennale, 35 artists are utilising buildings and sites across the island. Spend a few hours exploring the exhibition at this wonderful location. A free ferry service leaves hourly every day between 9.45 am and 4.45 pm from the Commissioners Steps outside the Museum of Contemporary Art and from Pier 2/3, Walsh Bay. This shuttle service will also return from the island. Last departure 5.15 pm. ...

World Youth Day comes to Sydney

World Youth Day 2008 (La Giornata Mondiale della Gioventù) is on across Sydney. I assumed it would only be in the center of the city, but stepping out the front door in the inner western suburbs I came across pilgrims visiting a local church and billeted at the local school. While the organizers claim this is a bigger event than the 2000 Sydney Olympics, there did not appear to be he crowds of people I saw downtown during the Olympics. There were groups with national flags out and about, the French were most noticeable, waving Tricolour and singing La Marseillaise (it is Bastille Day).

World Youth Day (WYD) is the largest youth event in the world and will be held in Sydney from Tuesday 15 to Sunday 20 July 2008.

WYD is a week-long series of events attended by the Pope and hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the globe. It has become the largest single mobilisation of young people in the world.

The week culminates in a Final Mass celebrated by the Pope on the last day (the actual World Youth Day). Typically, it is the largest event of the week and, overseas, has drawn millions of people.

From: About WYD08, 2008

Sustainable Sydney Plan

The Sydney City Council has released a "Sustainable Sydney" plan, with a light rail in the city centre, more pedestrian malls, and a green corridor. However, before you get too excited, this is a plan for 2030 and is a long way from being funded or implemented.

• Cover Letter by Lord Mayor Clover Moore MP | 550kb PDF
• City Vision
  
• City Futures
  
  1. A Globally Competitive and Innovative City
     
  2. A Leading Environmental Performer
  3. Integrated Transport for a Connected City
     
  4. A City for Walking and Cycling
  5. A Lively, Engaging City Centre
  6. Vibrant Local Communities and Economies
  7. A Cultural and Creative City
  8. Housing for a Diverse Population
     
  9. Sustainable Development, Renewal and Design
  10. Implementation Through Partnerships

Appendices

Unfortunately the City of Sydney has created a very difficult to use web site for the plan. The council seems to have gone out of its way to make the document hard to find and read. The web site states: "Accessible versions of the Sustainable Sydney 2030 document will be made available here shortly." This is contrary to the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.

Sydney to Canberra by Train

In 2005 I wrote about a trip from Sydney to Canberra on a Swedish X2000 high speed Tilt Train, being tried. While very comfortable, the tilt trains were not that fast, due to the poor track and were not purchased. The regular run from Sydney to Canberra is carried out by Countrylink's XPLORER trains. Having some time on my hands, after a Sydney workshop on energy saving, I thought I would try the service. It happens that in the press today there is a proposal to look again at a high speed Sydney Canberra Melbourne train. New technology and a new government now make this more feasible.

Magic in Castlecrag

The Walter Burley Griffin Society created magic in Sydney today, with a talk by Jack Perry Brown, Director of the Ryerson & Burnham Libraries of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Institute released a web version of Marion's book The Magic of America, last August and this talk about the book was held in the Haven Amphitheater, designed by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin.

The Haven Amphitheatre is at the corner The Scarp and The Barricade, Castlecrag is in a bushland gully with native trees. The seating is on rock terraces, with a wooden deck and bush backdrop.

The Magic of America was completed in 1949 by Marion Mahony Griffin after the death of Walter Burley Griffin in India. The unpublished work is half original text by Marion and half transcripts, newspaper clippings and other materials. Jack Brown argues that it is her final work of art, covering the time of her her husband's work in India, Canberra, Castlecrag and Chicago.

Unfortunately I had to leave the excellent talk early. The question I wanted to ask, but did not get the chance, was could Marion's work now be published. The manuscript was not in a form suitable for use other than for scholarly research. Placing the manuscript on the Internet has made it available for research, but it is still not something readable by a wider audience. Could the material be edited into one or more books suitable for online and print publication? By the time the material which was from other sources (and so would be difficult to obtain copyright clearance to include) was removed the work would be a more manageable size. With other editing, could it it be made into something with more of a conventional narrative, or would that destroy its essence?

The fact that the full manuscript is already available should allow the work to be edited without doing it any great harm. An electronic abridged version could have a switch to allow the reader to see what had been removed. By using online collaborative tools, the editing need not be an overwhelming or lengthy task. By using the approach used in developing open source software, where disagreements between editors could not be agreed, different versions could be produced, with the result being a discussion and analysis of the work, a process and not just one supposedly final result.

Another was to look at the manuscript would be as Marion Mahony Griffin's blog. After all, the Griffin's were early pioneers of multimedia, producing a film promotion for Castlecrag in 1928. ;-)

See also:

• Books about Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin

Urban Freight Role for Sydney Light Rail Extension

Perhaps Sydney's light rail (tram) line could be used for delivering freight into the center of the city, as is being done in Amsterdam. This would reduce the number of large trucks in the city. The proposed extension of the current like from Sydney Central Station to Lilyfield out to Summer Hill would make this more viable, as would extensions from Central Station further in the CBD.

While some European cities have adopted cargo tram as a means of transporting specific commodities, the idea of setting up logistics networks using light rail remains relatively unexplored. But as Keith Barrow discovers, Amsterdam is embarking on a bold plan that could offer a very attractive and sustainable alternative to city centre road deliveries. ...

City Cargo Amsterdam, the company set up to operate the cargo trams, subsequently drew plans to bring the concept to Amsterdam and in November 2006, the city council approved a four-week pilot project. This small-scale trial ran in March this year using two LRVs loaned by Amsterdam Municipal Transport (GVB). During the trial, trams were loaded from lorries at Lutkemeerpolde, near the terminus of Line 1 in Osdorp, before running to two transfer points between Plantage Parklaan and Frederiksplein, where the freight was offloaded onto electrically-powered road vehicles for the remainder of its journey to the customers’ premises.

For the first two weeks the trams ran empty to assess the impact on traffic patterns. During the final two weeks of the trial, the trams operated with customers’ freight that normally would have been delivered by road. The trial was deemed successful enough for the city council to grant City Cargo Amsterdam a 10-year concession to operate cargo trams on the GVB network on a commercial basis from next year. Under this concession, City Cargo Amsterdam must operate without any subsidy from the municipality or central government, and has to guarantee that GVB’s passenger operations will not be disrupted by its activities. ...

The cargo trams will operate from distribution centres, called cross docks, situated on the outskirts of the city close to the highways that radiate from Amsterdam. These cross docks will be supplied outside peak traffic hours ...

From: Light ideas for urban freight, by Keith Barrow, International Railway Journal, IRJ, November 2007

Much of the route of the Sydney Light Rail was previously a goods line, so there are several existing warehouses and sites for new facilities along the route. These have good road and rail access. These could be used to interchange cargo to specially build goods trams, or to a cargo compartment built into some of the existing trams. As with the Amsterdam system the cargo would be transferred using standard size pallets, making for quick loading and unloading.

Using an existing warehouse adjacent to the tram line, such a system could be implemented for less than a hundred thousand dollars. The trams could be loaded and unloaded in a few minutes, allowing this to be done on the main line, without the need for a siding and without the need to interrupt passenger operations.

The trams could also be used for transport of mail and small packages. One way to make a flexible system would be to transfer items using the existing passenger stations and trams. The platforms would have small courier offices, accepting items and arranging for their dispatch.

Sydney Light Rail Extension

When in Sydney some Saturdays I walk to the Orange Grove Farmer's Market. This is near the terminus of the Sydney Light Rail (Metro Light Rail) at Lilyfield (the other end is at Central Station in the middle of the city). The light rail is on an old goods line. A flour mill which used the line for goods further on has closed down and so more could be converted to light rail:

Kevin Warrell, the head of Metro Transport Sydney, which runs the existing service between the city and Lilyfield, said it would cost $10million to $15million to extend it to Summer Hill. "It is actually a very nice bit of railway … it would be a simple and cheap extension." ...

The new owner of the site, EG Property, wants to convert the flour mills to residential and commercial use. Additional public transport would offer any development a premium on the value of the project. "There is no other user of this line," said EG's chairman, the former union leader Michael Easson. "Given it is a transport corridor, it should be adapted for transport users' use."

But the State Government, which owns the line, would not commit to converting it. A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Transport would only say "the Government will consider any proposal put to it"...

From: Light rail opportunity left idling on the track, Catharine Munro, Sydney Morning Herald, October 15, 2007

Mildly Offensive and Mostly True

On Saturday I attended the final performance of "Deeply Offensive & Utterly Untrue", a play based on the transcript of the inquiry into AWB at the CarriageWorks in Sydney. The play was okay and the venue is worth a visit anyway.

The pay consists of selected excerpts from the inquiry into payments to the Iraqi government by the Australian company AWB and the complicity, if any by Australian politicians and bureaucrats. While transcripts were used, there were selective and the playwright clearly was not happy with the outcome of the inquiry, which cleared the politicians, criticized the bureaucrats a little and the company people more.

A combination of acting acrobatics and multimedia are used on a large, mostly bare stage. There were two large screens dominating the room which showed documentary material to link the live material. TV displays showed an actor located out in the foyer at the bar playing the part of a slightly confused minister for foreign affairs (the best part of the performance).

There was a little too much of theater sports type improvisation for my liking. I would have preferred if the action had been grounded in a set designed like the courtroom like hearing room. (which was equipped with video screens and looked a lit like a set).

Some of the content was inexplicable, such as a cage with a mouse trap and an apparently real mouse (zoomed in on screen via a camera).

The action in the foyer of the CarriageWorks was more entertaining than the play. There were WiFi equipped people acting as characters in a video game being remotely controlled by players at flat screen displays, a performance of some sort of sculpture and a hole in the floor through which people kept appearing.