Sydney Metro is Great, But...

Sydney Metro is one of the biggest transit projects in the English-speaking world and will connect up Sydney with its fast, automated, sleek trains. But the project isn't perfect, and in this video we'll tell you why.

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Ever wondered why your city's transit just doesn't seem quite up to snuff? RMTransit is here to answer that, and help you open your eyes to all of the different public transportation systems around the world!

Reece (the RM in RMTransit) is an urbanist and public transport critic residing in Toronto, Canada, with the goal of helping the world become more connected through metros, trams, buses, high-speed trains, and all other transport modes.

[nansatdefqon.]

I’m a Bricklayer currently working on the Victoria Cross Metro station at North Sydney and from what we’ve seen here, we also think it’s stupid that none of the metro lines are interconnected. It would definitely benefit the city so much if they were. Plus we’re hoping that the western Sydney airport line will extend out past Bringelly down towards Oran Park and Narellan not just for work purposes but to also help service all the people including myself who live out there as for the last 25+ years we’ve had to go to Campbelltown for train services.

[illiiilli]

I've just assumed that Sydney Metro is just positioned to be a spiritual successor to Sydney trains (suburban rail as opposed to a metro). Which makes it even more puzzling that different sydney metro lines are not intercompatible with each other (i.e. with other Sydney Metro lines) as is the case with Sydney Trains

[RubyChiang]

Literally was taking the Sydney Metro to Chatswood just a couple days back. One thing I do love about the connection from Tallawong-Chatswood so far is that 'shortcut'. I can go straight to Chatswood without having to go all the way around in a giant semi circle.

While these projects take 500 years to come to fruition or they don't at all, it's a much faster form of transportation and I'll happily take it.

[dodgeybrother]

The incompatibility of the lines was a deliberate political decision to make it harder to integrate them with Sydney Trains when the government left office

[Jokrono]

Super excited to see Sharath on here. His channel is great!
It'll be interesting to see what the next additions to our rail network in Sydney settle on now that there are competing standards in the network.

[paulmiller]

Well said Reece. It was a puzzling call by Sydney.

[TheRicoboy]

7:36 As someone who has been involved in the design of the Hunter Street Station, one of the major issues is all the other underground stuff.

I absolutely agree, Wynyard and Hunter Street should be in the same location, but the reason for the weird arrangement is entirely due to space constraints.

[Dobuan]

Hey Reece, I think it’s time you came to Sydney and meet all the bloggers and local fans as well as see for yourself.

[LetsJamFunk]

So inspired to finally see Sharath get noticed and do a collab with you! A lot of urban planning content out there tailors to the NAM-European audience and it's great to see that APAC is getting noticed. So much more development with the emerging markets and it'll either be a golden or missed opportunity.

[LGTC]

The Hunter St station location actually makes a lot of sense, as it's between Wynyard (T1, T2, T8, T9) and Martin Place (T4, Metro). Will be a very short walk in either direction for an interchange.

I'm also no fan of Park and Ride, but Kellyville (in the Hills) was notoriously car dependent, and essentially semi-rural until recently. Comparing Kellyville and Chatswood doesn't really make sense - very different histories and locations, as well as different planned roles going forward. Urban transformation takes time.

As a Sydneysider this video was a strange one - feels like it demonstrates the limits of a desktop review, as it doesn't capture the deeper context or experience of using the network.
Also a big fan of Building Beautifully, but many times it's evident that he hasn't worked in the industry, and a certain naivety as to why things are the way they are. Reminds me of myself many years ago before becoming a planner. Looking forward to seeing his journey now that he's started a civil engineering degree.

[nperceived]

I live just 800 m from a new metro station, but the incompatibility is something I've always been concerned about.

[nightowldickson]

I'm from Sydney and have only realised that the metro trains aren't compatible across the lines from watching your video. Would have thought it was common sense to get the same rolling stocks and electrification system but apparently not! Hopefully this doesn't cause problems in the future but I suspect it will.

[cityraildude]

Hey mate, I live in Sydney, and this is where you're wrong. We need giant carparks at stations because people need to park at train stations as they live far away from stations. By not building parking, you actually disincentives transit use because fewer people can commute to the station, even if the station has high density development. And sure, you can argue for buses, but buses are slow and take too long

[OpEditorial]

Fun fact: Up until 2013 Sydney also operated a monorail system, which conveyed a small tram's worth of passengers (mostly Asian tourists) around the various skyscrapers a few stories above street level.

[colinharris]

Sick shout out for Building Beautifully. But yeah, we suck at making good decisions out here. As someone who has to come from the Illawarra region to access various parts of the city/suburbs, there is minimal good connections to anywhere.

[banjopiggottwright]

As a proud Sydney Sider myself, the criticisms of the Sydney Metro network are valid especially in regards to you and Sharath mentioned, the lack of Metro/Train interchange in North West Sydney and South West Sydney when the soon to be Nancy-Bird Airport Metro Shuttle link opens.

However, with that said, the Sydney Metro is still a fantastic mode of public transport especially for the people of Hills District in North West Sydney, where reliable public transportation was non existent for decades prior, and for people travelling to Chatswood from Epping and Macquarie Park the time that it once took to travel from A to B on the standard train line was gruelling, but now the time that it takes to get to A to B on the metro line is an absolute breeze and when the City extension opens in early August this year, travelling to the city by metro will be both easy and efficient for commuters to utilise.

Also, when the Sydney Metro West line opens it will provide the heavy rail deficient areas of Olympic Park, North Strathfield, Burwood, Five Dock, Rozelle, Balmain & Pyrmont with fast and reliable heavy rail services, which has been long overdue for those that live and work in those suburbs.

Is the Sydney Metro perfect? NO, not in the slightest, but hopefully as time moves forward the powers at be will look to rectify the mistakes made when first conceiving the Sydney Metro network.

Great video as always Reece.

[static-san]

Sydney has been trying to do this sort of big upgrade for quite some time - for many decades, in fact. A big part of the problem is politics and fighting between the existing commuter rail system and successive governments. This has seen projects proposed and die several times. More cynical observers might say that going for Metro systems instead of expanding the existing system are partly intended to cut out the rail union from the process.

And yes, the government has also been accused of short-sighted thinking multiple times about things like why multiple standards and incompatible rolling stock. Unfortunately, we'll have to see in time if that was a good decision or not.

[DoorsClosingTransit]

Intercompatibility tends to be one of the more overlooked features what truly makes a great transit network, not just system, and I couldn’t have said it better than you did in the video. So massive up as usual for putting out great content!

Also, although I live and make transit content in Dubai, I’d love to hear your thoughts about the Cairo Metro network - Africa’s first metro system ever, and it’s made quite a bit of progress. Not only with the new “LRT” project, but with new trains, new lines, and better equipment. As usual, looking forward to your next one! :)

[timtam]

WIth TOD, there are plans for TOD around every station. Of the 13 stations in the existing line, it's only 2 stations (Kellyville and Cherrybrook) which has nothing going on right now. Believe me, every other station is being built up right now.

There's plans but the problem is Sydney's slow and disastrous, NIMBY favouring planning system.

[liamnugget]

The North West was the last thing my uncle was working on before he died, and he was super proud showing me around the proposed sites. This was before the link to the CBD was proposed, let alone the Parramatta, Bankstown or Western Sydney lines. It’s kinda surreal seeing so much development in places like Castle Hill when last time I was there it was basically just a field