Upgrade our public transport

The roads on the Central Coast cannot keep up with future growth.

Many of our roads already have more demand than they can support, and this is only set to grow.

Potholes in town centres may not be repaired for months, and minor accidents can cause chaos for hours to come.

Some major roads, like Pacific Hwy and The Entrance Rd, are being upgraded to address this.

Some, however, can’t be upgraded without significant property buyouts or wildlife devastation – Brisbane Water Dr and The Ridgeway come to mind.

Public transport is hardly a viable alternative for everyone.

Even at major train stations, you might be waiting 30-40 minutes between services, and our buses spend too much time on residential streets to adequately compete with cars.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

A bus is only four times bigger than a car, but it can still hold 26 people with everybody having a double seat to themselves.

And a four-car train can easily hold 150 people, still with everyone getting a double seat to themselves.

If most of us are travelling to the same town centres anyway (less than 30% of residents work outside the Central Coast), why not upgrade our public transport and get some cars off the road?

Shuttle trains between Wyong and Woy Woy could reduce wait times from 30 minutes to 10-15, making use of idle trains already stabled at Gosford.

Streamlining bus routes could see them taking comparable times to private car journeys, while also allowing them to run more often.

Heck, commuter ferries often offer journey times faster than driving, while also doubling as a huge tourist magnet.

The best part is, none of this puts drivers at a disadvantage.

All it does is give people the choice not to drive.

And if there’s one thing Sydney has taught us, it’s this: when public transport is good, people will use it.

Email, June 5
Theodore Brown, Tumbi Umbi