It is if you’re trying to de-centralize Sydney.
Then you aren't aware of the North West Rail link and the tram systems that are currently under construction. You are probably not aware of the disentanglement of the heavy rail systems that they are still trying to work through to get the rail lines to run more smoothly, nor the fact that west connex also carries a significant bus transit capability for the huge and expanding public transport demand from the fastest growing area in Australia......
Had that on Saturday. Heading in to Newtown. Had the option of a 40 minute drive or 1.5 hour public transport across two buses and two trains. Sure it could be fixed by providing more public transport but if the demand for the route isn't there then it's just a waste of money and petrol. Plus I have to drive for work like many others in Sydney.
I'm aware of the North West Rail link - as it was first discussed more more than 10 years ago when i was living in Sydney (a place where I lived half my life), and who really knows when it will be completed - i';m actually surprised it finally strarted The tram is just plain puzzling as it really isn't adding anything, other than 3 years and counting of chaos - I was shocked a couple of weeks ago in the city at just how little progress this project has made, in most of the world it would have been well and truly finished and operational by now.
Trust me, I prefer my car, and in Brisbane I guess i have that luxury, although there is also an excellent bus service near my house too).
Well you only have to read a few posts on here to know that everyone always complains about anything and everything. It's the price of having the internet I guess. NWRaillink is powering ahead. I drove along Windsor Road last week and the lines infrastructure is already there. I don't care as I don't live over there but I seem to recollect it being about a 3 year project and they are past halfway. The tram doesn't just go up George street - it goes out to Allianz and beyond and connects to the heavy rail and light rail systems. What people don't understand is that Sydney was built long before PT was invented and to do what they have done in other states would effectively require the entire city to be levelled. That's why we are a car dependent City. You can't build tunnels everywhere due to the ironstone basin that Sydney sits in. It's just too bloody hard to dig economically.
The age of a city, is quite frankly not that relevant, to its ability to deliver PT and other infrastructure projects. Most cities in the world were founded before the train or the motor vehicle.
Age is highly relevant because the road system for the city was designed for horse and carts which means that whole city blocks of the city have to be destroyed to get the width necessary to expand the transport systems. It's OK for Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide because they are relatively new cities in the main and were designed with wide avenues and boulevards. Melbourne was laid out by Burley Griffin again with open spaces. Sydney was a convict settlement designed that way and now half the buildings are heritage listed. You are right about the topography which combined with the basin makes trains/trams etc extraordinarily expensive to implement. The other cities are relatively flat. In fact most cities around the world are like that. Sydney isn't one of them.
Burley Griffin didn't design Melbourne (he wasn't born until much later). He is famous for his circular designs (Canberra, Leeton, Griffith etc)
It could even host wrestlemania if the new anz stadium is big enough.
Quodos holds abput 20k tops.
For some reason, I'm imaging David Klemmer screaming that last sentence you wrote with the same look on his face as in your avatar!
You are 100% correct... IF built properly. ANZ does not fall into that category!
Twice the cost, in current dollars, than the SMHS.
They should have built a stadium that could easily have been converted afterwards. Designed plans that would easily facilitate a remodel. Im no architect, but surely the best architectsbin australia could have devised plans that could easily convert into something else.
Thisbis all true, but the increase in budget of almost $1B and the change of mind to knock the stadiums down and start from scratch is puzzling and unnecessary. Its clearly a typical jobs for mates situation.
So how did they manage in european cities then? Sydney is incredibly young compared to almost every big city in the world, so its not its age thats the problem, its the topography.
Two things mate. One is that most European cities are walking cities with an underground metro network which we can't do in Sydney due to the ironstone basin it sits in. And second, most if not all European cities are populated with people living in the city whereas most people in Sydney live on the outskirts so the transport systems are geared towards getting people in and out of the city not around it.