Category Archives: Public Transport

North West Rail Link – all change at the 2019 election?

With contracts let and tunnelling boring machines (TBMs) in the ground it is clear that the North West Rail Link (NWRL) is going to be built as a single-deck automated metro, to open between Chatswood and Cudgegong Road by early … Continue reading

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Trams in the CBD and heavy rail across the Bosphorus – examples for Sydney

Recently I looked at what Sydney could learn from Istanbul’s electronic ticketing system, which is part of a much wider story about how the public transport in Turkey’s largest city is being transformed through a massive investment in public transport … Continue reading

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The Akbil and the Istanbulkart – lessons from Istanbul in electronic ticketing

Before I post my follow-up to the fare integration post, I thought I’d make a short diversion to Istanbul which is where I am at the time of writing. Apart from its intrinisc fascination as a city, Istanbul is also … Continue reading

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Another small step for fare integration…

The recent partial integration of Sydney’s Metro Light Rail (MLR) ticketing with the MyMulti/MyZone system is another welcome if very modest step towards a true integrated ticketing and fares system for Sydney’s public transport. You can now use a MyMulti … Continue reading

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Will the new NSW Transport Authority succeed?

Yesterday’s announcement by the new NSW Government of the creation of a new Integrated Transport Authority (ITA) not only fulfils a major election promise but also highlights the extent of the government’s transport ambitions.   The announcement also echoes many … Continue reading

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Update: Seven things O’Farrell should do in the first 100 days

A couple of updates on my last post: First, a letter from Sandy Thomas (another member of the Sydney Morning Herald Public Transport Inquiry that reported last year) published in today’s Herald offers another and probably more achievable scenario on how … Continue reading

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Seven things O’Farrell should do in the first 100 days

There is no doubt that Mr O’Farrell and his party scored an emphatic victory in the NSW election, rewriting the record books in the process. While the main factor in the result was the electorate’s obvious dissatisfaction with the performance of … Continue reading

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What are the real differences between bus and rail?

Recently transport consultant Jarrett Walker posted an interesting article on his Human Transit blog regarding the intrinsic and non-intrinsic differences between rail and bus technology, drawing on an article in the Infrastructurist blog which had asked its readers if streetcars … Continue reading

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Nets of iron

After my last post about rail infrastructure, my attention was drawn to the apexart website. apexart is a not-for-profit contemporary visual arts organisation located in Lower Manhattan, New York. Through exhibitions, international residency, publication initiatives, and programs and events, it is committed … Continue reading

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Rail infrastructure – a sorry tale of three continents

Two media articles today paint an interesting picture of the current status of rail transport in Australia – and also provide a disturbing contrast with what is happening in the rest of the world. The first is a Fairfax article … Continue reading

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