Transport in the Blue Mountains

The Blue Mountains hosts a nationally significant transport corridor that bridges the east coast of NSW with the rural central western hinterland of NSW. The main transport corridor which consists of the Great Western Highway, the Railway and Bells Line of Road are vital for the transport of goods and people. The Great Western Highway and Railway also provides the main network for local travel between towns and villages dispersed along approximately 100 kilometres of narrow mountainous ridgeline.

The City of Blue Mountains consists of 27 distinct towns and villages and Blue Mountains residents rely heavily on cars as their main mode of transport. The Australian Conservation Foundation recently found that Blue Mountains residents generated more tonnes of Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GGE) than the NSW and Australian average as presented in the Table 1. It is likely that a significant quantity of the GGE's emitted by the Blue Mountain residents are transport related.  

Source: The Australian Conservation Foundation's Eco-Atlas

On average, a household in the Blue Mountains owns at least one car with 36.4% of households owning 2 cars, 13.3% of householders own 3 or more cars and only 9.8% of households do not own a vehicle. The percentage of households with two cars (36.4%) continues to rise and is now only slightly less than households with one vehicle (40.4%).

Despite a population decline of 606 residents in the Blue Mountains LGA during the last Census period (2001 to 2006), the number of registered vehicles increased by 563. The previous Census period (1996 to 2001) saw an increase of 1,530 vehicles. These results may be indicative of many factors, one of which may be a growing public awareness of the impact of vehicles on health and the environment. 

41.7% of residents commute to work locations outside of the LGA which may in part account for our reliance on cars. Over 57% of commuters drive to/from work and 7.3% take the train. In the Blue Mountains, 5.8% of our residents work from home and over 3% of commuters walk or cycle to work.

The Transport and Population Data Centre (TPDC) report that on an average weekday Blue Mountains residents undertake 318,000 trips, which equate to about 4,070,000 kilometres. So, an average resident will take 4.2 trips and travel 52.66 kilometres on an average weekday. In comparison, the average for the Sydney Greater Metropolitan (GMR) resident will take 3.83 trips and travel 36.40 kilometres. One reason for the greater distance travelled by Blue Mountains residents compared with the Sydney GMR average traveller is due to the distribution of our village along a ridge which has been likened to a string of pearls. As a result, service centres are generally also spread along the ridgeline and travel is necessary to meet services less in demand.  For this reason, it is unlikely that a resident living in most parts of Sydney would need to travel as far as a Blue Mountains resident to access goods and services. 

The TPDC also report that 55% of the total number of trips undertaken by Blue Mountains residents on an average weekday will be in a vehicle and 22% of the trips are undertaken as a passenger in a vehicle. 9% of trips are travelled in a bus or on a train and 13% of trips are walked. This information provides further support for the assumption that the majority of Blue Mountains residents are car dependent despite a very accessible public transport system.  In comparison with the GMR, Blue Mountains residents are 5% more likely to travel in a vehicle as a driver and 10% of GMR trips were made via public transport. 17% of trips made in the GMR were walked.   

In terms of the most favourable travel mode to work, the Transport Data Centre report that the proportion of the Sydney population that commute to work via private vehicles has remained relatively consistent at between 70.3 and 72.5% from 1991. The greatest transport behavioural change in transport mode / purpose has been a decline in the number of people that walk / cycle to an education facility /childcare. In 1991, 29.5% of the Sydney population walked / cycle to school or childcare whereas in 2005 only 18.9% follow the same mode of transport.

  (1) Railway

A large component of the transport network across the Mountains is the Railway which transports people and freight. Currently there are 207 Cityrail train services travelling from Sydney City to Lithgow and returning to the City each week.

Countrylink offer 15 services departing and returning to Sydney that travel to Dubbo and Broken Hill each week. Many other Countrylink services operate from Mt Victoria and Lithgow and connect to/from the Cityrail services. Passengers and their vehicles are also transported across the Mountains on Railcorp's Indian Pacific service which currently operates twice a week. 

Freight is moved across the Mountains via the Great Western Highway and the Railway. The Railway facilitates the transport of coal, mineral, general freight, flour and fuel. The number of freight services operating on the railway from Sydney to Wallerawang is presented in Table 2.

The number of freight railway services across the Mountains from Wallerawang to Sydney is summarised in Table 3.

Source: Railcorp Freight train timetable

(2) Great Western Highway

The Vehicle Kilometres Travelled (VKTs) on the Great Western Highway is compiled by the Roads and Traffic Authority. VKTs are a measure that is used widely to determine the average daily distance travelled by all vehicles on a stretch of road. The VKTs are estimated from the Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) count which is multiplied by the length of the Great Western Highway (km) between Lapstone and Mount Victoria to derive the number of cars travelling that distance per day. There is no distinction made between the number of passenger vehicles and the number of trucks. No information about the number of trucks transporting freight across the Mountains is available at this stage.

As shown in Figure 1, the number of vehicle kilometres travelled on the Great Western Highway continues to increase.

Figure 1

* interpolated from subsequent growth rates.

(3) Active Transport

What is active transport? Active Transport has been described as walking, cycling and/or using public transport instead of car travel (Mason, 2000). Although usually referred to as an alternative for daily/regular commuting, it may also include other forms of transport involving physical activity such as scooters (non-motorised), roller-skates/blades and skateboards. Although public transport is included in the description, it is generally considered to be 'active transport' when used in conjunction with physical activity like brisk walking or cycling.

As reported in the BMCC Road Safety Action Plan 2007/2008, "Australians brought more bicycles than motor vehicles in 2006. The industry-backed Cycling Promotion Fund said 1,273,781 new bikes were sold during 2006, significantly ahead of the 962,521 new cars and trucks bought. Sales rose 9 per cent in 2006 as more people turned to bikes to cut petrol costs and boost their fitness".

Cycling continues to grow in the City. In the Blue Mountains Recreation and Sporting Strategy 2002 cycling was listed as one of the top 5 activities that people would like to do more of. Recreation participation for children, bike riding in the park/neighbourhood was the second highest activity recorded. Further evidence to support this trend is the annual participation of Bike Week Promotions over the past several years. On estimate, approximately 500 people attend this annual event. This is further supported by record numbers of membership at the Blue Mountain BMX Club, Penrith Panthers Cycling Club and the Western Sydney Mountain Bike Club.Further evidence to support these claims is detailed in the responses to the Blue Mountains Cycling Survey 2005.

We know that:

• 91% have access to a bicycle
• 2/3 bicycles get ridden at least 54% of the time (monthly)
• 35% of bicycles get ridden several times each week
• Riding for recreation (21%), to the shops (20%) and to the park are the most common trips made.'

Local Action and Responses

1. Blue Mountains City Council Actions

Blue Mountains City Council (BMCC) currently develops and co-ordinates many transport related strategies. Of particular interest is the Draft 2020 Blue Mountains Bike Plan that promotes the use of bicycles as a viable transport mode. As monitored in the Management Plan, BMCC continues to increase the length and quality of dual purpose cycle ways.

BMCC actively promotes NSW Bike Week annually, as part of the Road Safety and Mobility Program, to promote cycling as a mainstream, environmentally-friendly, healthy and cost-effective mode of transport. BMCC has decided to lead by example in promoting bicycle use to and from work by providing secure bike storage, bike-racks, shower and change room facilities for its employees. BMCC has also begun establishing a staff bike fleet and booking service in order to provide council-owned bicycles and bicycle-safety equipment for use in undertaking work duties. A growing number of council staff are also choosing to take a combination public transport, walking and/or cycling when required to attend meetings and events.

In addition BMCC organises and funds the 'Bike To School' program to teach bicycle and road safety to Blue Mountains primary school students aged ten years and over (the minimum recommended age for unaccompanied cycling). To date 1150 school children have participated in the program, with 14 schools having participated throughout the mountains in 2006 /7 and 8 more schools to take part in 2008. The program involves free bike checks, a bike/road safety & bike skills workshop, installation of 'Bike To School' signs to raise awareness and promote safe driving among motorists, and the installation of school bike-racks.

BMCC also funds and facilitates 'Back On Your Bike' adult bike skills sessions to encourage our adult population to safely get out and get active on their bikes.

2. Community Iniatives

GREAT Community Transport provides Special Care - Small Group Transport for the frail, aged, people with disabilities and their carers as well as short term assistance to medical and hospital appointments for people who are "transport disadvantaged'. Read more www.greatcommunitytransport.org.au/

Blue Mountains Commuters and Transport Users Association represents the needs of commuters on public transport in the Blue Mountains www.infobluemountains.net.au/commuters/meetings-2006-09-20.shtml

Smart Link Transport (Blue Mountains, Lithgow and Penrith) www.smartlinktransport.org.au/

Blue Mountains Sustainable Transport Alliance

Blue Mountains Bus www.bmbc.com.au/ 

Explorer Bus www.explorerbus.com.au/ 

Jones Bus Service (Lithgow) www.jonesbros.com.au

Go Get (Not operating in the mountains) www.goget.com.au/

Critical Mass www.bikesarefun.org/

New South Wales Ministry of Transport www.transport.nsw.gov.au/

Action for Public Transport NSW www.transport.nsw.gov.au/

NSW Department of the Environment and Climate Change www.greenhouse.nsw.gov.au/ 

Australian Greenhouse Office www.greenhouse.gov.au/transport/index.html

 and www.greenhouse.gov.au/education/tips/transport.html

Australian National Cycling Strategy www.austroads.com.au/documents/TheAustralianNationalCyclingStrategy2005-2010.pdf

References

Department of Planning, Transport and Population Data Centre, Household Transport Survey 2004.

Mason, C., in Medical Journal of Australia, 2000; 172: 230-232From BMCC Road Safety Action Plan 2007/2008:

Ministry of Transport, Transport Data Centre, Household Travel Survey Summary Results 2007 release www.transport.nsw.gov.au/tdc/documents/hts-report-2005.pdf

This item was posted in July 2008.