Digital mischief by Greg Zhukov Greg by mischief Digital M o v i n g p e o p l e n o t c a r s r a c t o n e l p o e p g n i v o M All worth a good fight! good a worth All comprehensive public transport network for thewhole of Sydney. of thewhole for network transport public comprehensive [email protected] amenity. It also provides an opportunity to fight for a for fight to opportunity an provides also It amenity. www.ecotransit.org.au homes in the direct line of fire and preserve local neighbourhood local preserve and fire of line direct the in homes PO Box 630, Milsons Point NSW 1565 NSW Point Milsons 630, Box PO For further information: further For the RTA to back down. An emphatic NO is the best way to defend to way best the is NO emphatic An down. back to RTA the and says no to all motorway options, the Government will force will Government the options, motorway all to no says and on 9810 1916 or Email [email protected] Email or 1916 9810 on by debates over long versus short tunnel options, but stands firm stands but options, tunnel short versus long over debates by , call Jason call , Tollways Against Residents involved: If the community fights the M4 East and refuses to be sidelined be to refuses and East M4 the fights community the If Contact your local community group and get and group community local your Contact 5. working hard to secure Miranda, the state’s most marginal seat. marginal most state’s the Miranda, secure to hard working 9660 7586 9713 2999 7586 9713 9660 wetlands and parts of the Royal National Park. He was also was He Park. National Royal the of parts and wetlands Sandra Nori Angela D’Amore Nori Angela Sandra through southern Sydney, he didn’t just save hundreds of homes, of hundreds save just didn’t he Sydney, southern through otJcsnDrummoyne Jackson Port Carl Scully announced that no M6 Motorway would be built be would Motorway M6 no that announced Scully Carl Phone your local member and protest! and member local your Phone 4. government has said no to the RTA and the road lobby. When lobby. road the and RTA the to no said has government Sydney NSW 2000 NSW Sydney Park before the last state election is proof of this. In the past, the past, the In this. of proof is election state last the before Park Macquarie Street Macquarie and Drummoyne are not a done deal. Their back-flip over Callan over back-flip Their deal. done a not are Drummoyne and Parliament House Parliament The Government knows that votes in the seats of Port Jackson Port of seats the in votes that knows Government The Premier Bob Carr Bob Premier instead of a motorway. Write to: Write motorway. a of instead and community anger enter the political equation. political the enter anger community and him for a comprehensive public transport strategy transport public comprehensive a for him full public view the pressures become different. Voter backlash Voter different. become pressures the view public full Write a personal letter to Premier Bob Carr. Ask Carr. Bob Premier to letter personal a Write 3. 3. companies are big donors to both major parties. But when in when But parties. major both to donors big are companies family and friends to sign as possible. as sign to friends and family pressure on state governments and the big construction big the and governments state on pressure Photocopy the coupon and get as many of your of many as get and coupon the Photocopy 2. business! Together, these interest groups put a lot of internal of lot a put groups interest these Together, business! and make sure the media knows! media the sure make and tollway lobby always want more roads—they’re good for good roads—they’re more want always lobby tollway EcoTransit Sydney. We’ll hand them over to the RTA the to over them hand We’ll Sydney. EcoTransit industry to find the next big project. The RTA and private sector private and RTA The project. big next the find to industry strategy revealed strategy Fill in the enclosed coupon and send it to it send and coupon enclosed the in Fill 1. The State Government is under pressure from the construction the from pressure under is Government State The There’s lots to do! to lots There’s The RTA’s co-option RTA’s The though it might cost them state seats. state them cost might it though government to walk away from if the political backlash looks as looks backlash political the if from away walk to government M4 East Madness East M4 ‘Options Study’, which is low on detail and easier for a for easier and detail on low is which Study’, ‘Options time the pattern is different. Instead, the RTA has produced an produced has RTA the Instead, different. is pattern the time put through the EIS process has been knocked back. But this But back. knocked been has process EIS the through put Statement (EIS) on the community. No road project that’s been that’s project road No community. the on (EIS) Statement One slab of asphalt. of slab One of behaviour is to just dump a full-blown Environmental Impact Environmental full-blown a dump just to is behaviour of One people. One planet. One people. One project off the ground. We know this because their usual pattern usual their because this know We ground. the off project SECRETLY, the RTA is not confident of getting the M4 East M4 the getting of confident not is RTA the SECRETLY, thinks about the M4 the about thinks Tell the RTA to get stuffed get to RTA the Tell What the RTA really RTA the What R T A T R Have your say your Have P O L I T I C A L A N A L Y S I S I S Y L A N A L A C I T I L O P M a k i n g a b a d p r o b l e m w o r s e The M 4East will be a disaster for Sydney’s inner west IT DOESN’T MATTER which version of the M4 East you look at, any option would result in higher traffic volumes and congestion levels for the inner west. All options will result in more road traffic and air pollution, and all will destroy somebody’s home or ruin someone’s local neighbourhood. This is why the community must reject all the RTA’s options and demand the development of a comprehensive public transport strategy instead. Whenever the RTA rolls out a plan for a new motorway they always money to do both. Just for a start, if the M4 East goes ahead the talk about the need to reduce traffic congestion, increase travel speeds shelved Parramatta to Epping section of the Parramatta to and direct through traffic away from local communities. They also Chatswood rail link will be delayed even longer because of ▲ Modern trams: quiet, efficient and non- claim that if their motorway isn’t built the economy will suffer. But inevitable subsidies from the state government to the tollway. polluting people movers! as history shows, reality and the RTA’s claims are different. Even though the RTA and the road lobby talk up private sector Before construction, the RTA said the M5East would carry 60,000 involvement as a way of saving governments and tax payers vehicles on average each day. But within one year of opening it money, large subsidies are provided by governments in the form Public transport in inner reached capacity and was carrying around 80,000. While traffic of the Infrastructure Borrowings Tax Offset Scheme (IBTOS) and levels initially fell on some alternate routes, it didn’t take long for Tollway Cashback schemes. These cost tax payers hundreds of west was better in the 50s! them to grow and congestion to return. Meanwhile traffic volumes millions of dollars every year. Until November 1958 an extensive tramway network served across the network suddenly rose after opening, passenger journeys Clash of interests the inner west. Neighbourhoods like Five Dock, Lilyfield, on the parallel rail line fell and new bottlenecks and congestion Leichhardt and Haberfield benefited from trams in many ways: hot-spots were created. When the M5East was built, the additional traffic it generated helped to boost ailing traffic volumes on the Eastern Distributor. ■ Higher carrying capacity than buses (up to 80 passengers The M5’s tunnel is often closed because of crashes, maintenance One of the main problems with private sector involvement in the per tramcar instead of the 40-70 on buses) checks and pollution levels exceeding safety limits. This pushes construction of tollways is that traffic congestion actually helps ■ Frequent services that moved large numbers of people traffic back onto the surrounding network that the M5East was their businesses to thrive, so they encourage it. This motivation without detracting from the character of surrounding suburbs. supposed to relieve. The motorway is great in the off-peak, but so has the effect of skewing transport planning so that many decisions Streets were more livable for locals, and… was the existing network. The end result has been hugely expensive become irrational and dysfunctional with local communities ■ and counter-productive. Being electric trams, they didn’t emit exhaust fumes, and paying a heavy price.