Turn the T-Way into a Truck Way

Turn the T-Way into a Truck Way

http://www.tandlnews.com.au/2012/03/29/article/Turn-the-T-Way-into-Truck-Way/WMCUXLBKVM.html

While Sydney’s monorail will be replaced by light rail, it is time to review another mode of transport.

As a manager of a national road freight company, and a parent who carpools children to school, my thoughts on traffic collide at a dangerous intersection.

On one hand, I am acutely aware of the ‘deadlines’ that truck drivers are given by the powerful retailers in the supply chains to arrive at allocated timeslots and avoid prohibitive penalties. The invidious trucks are at the mercy of the traffic laws and the retail lords.

On the other hand, I visualise an aerial view of the gridlock traffic where each truck is a bull elephant in the room, hogging up too many car spaces.

Every morning, every vehicle from motor cycles to cars to trucks share the same carriage ways, with toxic smoke bellowing out of exhaust pipes and human nostrils.

Then it dawned on me, from above. I am not referring to some divine epiphany but the beautiful T-Way, arching over the highway like a rainbow, but void of the flashing colours.

While the main roads are over-crowded, are the T-ways underutilised?

The 1998 NSW government report ‘Action for Transport 2010’ recommended seven T-Ways, which are rapid transit networks. They were considered more flexible than rail because buses can join and leave the T-Way anywhere along its route. So far, there is a 31 km link from Parramatta to Liverpool, a 17 km link from Parramatta to Rouse Hill, and a 7 km link from Blacktown to Parklea.

According to the NSW RTA web-site, the T-way benefits include links with industrial and commercial areas, reducing travel time and reducing traffic congestion.

Ironically, this mirrors the routes of many large trucks, picking up from industrial areas, delivering to commercial areas, but inevitably increasing travel time and traffic congestion for other motorists along the way.

This begs pertinent questions: Would travel time increase for the buses if the T-way were shared by large trucks? And the corollary question: would travel time decrease on main roads in these areas if the large trucks used the T-way?

We could start by piloting B-double trailers on T-ways. If it proves not to slow down the buses, then semitrailers could be considered as phase two

According to the RTA, average vehicle lengths for B-doubles are 25 meters, semi-trailers 19 meters, buses 12.5 meters and cars 4.1 meters. This means that every B-double removed from main roads equates to over 6 car spaces, which should equate to less congestion.
The NRMA’s own ‘Decongestion Strategy Report’ in May last year outlined a 10-point plan to tackle Sydney’s traffic, primarily by appointing more human resources to manage it. The majority of responses published on its own website have cynically dismissed the plan as a ‘waste of time’ as ‘none of the NRMA points go to the core of the problem’.

The NRMA proposal highlights the ‘forgotten transit lanes’ so that they permanently remain an exclusive bus zone, yet on its website readers complain that transit lanes are ‘underutilised and are empty most of the time’.

Instead, the NRMA could have recommended a review of the transit lane utilisation, and potential for further utilisation with a view to ‘decongestion’. A cost benefit analysis would reveal the threshold point at which trucks on T-ways would actually slow down the buses.

While it is recognised that buses should be prioritised because they could carry 80 customers, and public transport needs these incentives, trucks also carry the necessary daily supplies for hundreds of customers.

Traffic congestion has hit home to my family with the current M2 upgrade in the Hills area. According to the RTA report in 2010, the Hills Shire Council was ‘concerned about potential impacts …on local road congestion’. The RTA response was that ‘Traffic and transport related impacts during the construction phase of the M2 upgrade project are not expected to cause significant congestion on the local road network’.

The reality for local residents is absolute gridlock, as any eye in the sky would see between 7 and 9 AM every weekday. My own family’s travel time to school has more than doubled from 15 minutes to about 40 minutes, which has had a domino effect on bed time, wake up time, and fatigue even before we reach our destination.

The research by RTA on this occasion was clearly erroneous.

Along our route, we encounter numerous 40 km school zones where most students appear to be driven to the school by parents or buses. These safety zones are also cash cows for hidden cameras for those exceeding the speed limit during the push and shove. Like the T-Ways, it begs the questions that point to further RTA research: are the school crossings underutilised? Is there a solution above, such as overhead pedestrian bridges that would redress both child safety and traffic congestion?

My experience suggests that more creative and robust research needs to be undertaken by RTA to redress traffic congestion. Sometimes we need to think outside the grid.