Sydney bus lane proposal draws ire of lord mayor, transport advocates

A proposal for a southbound bus lane in inner Sydney has drawn criticism from the lord mayor and public transport advocates.Transport for NSW is proposing to convert a southbound lane on Botany Road between Raglan Street and Bourke Street in Waterloo into a bus lane during the 6am–10am peak.The $22 million plan would see the southbound lanes widened at the intersection of Botany Road and McEvoy streets. The middle lane would become a compulsory right-turn lane.Botany Road is a bus artery linking the city's south with suburbs such as Mascot and Botany. (702 ABC Sydney: Declan Bowring)Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore objected to "cannibalising" the footpath and tree canopy."The extra traffic and insignificant public transport benefits does not justify the $22 million price tag, nor the impacts on local amenity," Cr Moore said."It's so disappointing the government is pursuing a road-widening project under the guise of bus improvement."A traffic study document seen by 702 ABC Sydney shows bus delays are worse heading into the city during the morning peak, rather than southbound. Northbound buses' on-time performance is impacted by 6 per cent during the AM peak, while southbound bus times are impacted by just 3 per cent, according to the report.Meanwhile, northbound bus performance is affected by 12 per cent during the PM peak, while southbound buses have their on-time performance impacted by 2 per cent.The proposal would add a dedicated right-turn lane for southbound traffic. (702 ABC Sydney: Declan Bowring)The report noted that northbound buses were more susceptible to on-time performance impacts because they start their routes much further away than the southbound services.A spokesperson for Transport for NSW said the proposal provided the greatest benefit to bus reliability while maintaining traffic performance on the wider road network.They also said that the project was supporting public transport to Mascot and Waterloo, which were experiencing population growth."The project is focused on moving more people more efficiently through the Botany Road corridor, improving travel time reliability for bus passengers and supporting better connections to key destinations, including Waterloo Metro Station and Green Square," the spokesperson said.Advocates call for rethinkWalkSydney president Jamie van Geldermalsen said proposing to add capacity for private cars near the Waterloo Metro and Green Square train station was puzzling. "It's not really clear where this has come from," he said. "These proposals don't really seem to fit in with Transport's own policies, which are generally evidence-based and rightly prioritise people walking, biking and taking public transport."Mr van Geldermalsen pointed to Transport for NSW's Connecting NSW strategy, which generally prioritises walking and cycling in urban areas.Committee for Sydney think tank chief executive Eamon Waterford said Transport should go back to the drawing board."The fundamental reality is there is too much space for cars in the inner city and we need to be shifting in the other direction," he said."It's going to get more people. Those people will be using public transport, primarily."University of Sydney urban planning expert Jennifer Kent said roads should not necessarily be excluded from planning proposals, but Transport for NSW needed to consider if traffic figures had been displaced by the uptake of cycling, walking and public transport use."Does that displacement, therefore, still justify the inclusion of that infrastructure treatment?" Dr Kent said."We also need to remember that we’ve had a rapid influx of population in that area."