Endure the traffic nightmare or risk a broken down train? The great Sydney Olympic Park debate

The Age

4 days ago

It's a question everyone asks when heading to an event at Sydney Olympic Park: how do we get there? Hop in a car and brave the roads, or use the train and risk a transport meltdown?
As 80,000 fans descend on the sporting precinct on Saturday to watch the Wallabies face off against the Lions, the latest major event held at Sydney Olympic Park, traffic and parking remain a live point of debate.
Parramatta reporters Anthony Segaert and Mostafa Rachwani debated the best ways to get there.
Anthony: So, Mostafa, car lover. You're headed to the Lions v Wallabies game at Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday (along with about 80,000 other people). How are you getting there?
Mostafa: So, I live in Belmore, which means I have two options. One is to take a group of different public transport options, which include a bus to Strathfield and then a train to Sydney Olympic Park. I would have to do the same trip on the way back, which can be long and arduous, especially late at night.
Or, I can book parking and drive my very reliable Mazda there. See, the most important factor here to me is comfort and control. With a car, I can choose when to leave, when to get there, when and where to go to dinner, who I interact with and who I smell. All within the comfort of my car. How would you do it?
Anthony: If you have a ticket to the game, you get free public transport access across the whole network. So I'll be getting on my free bus to Central Station and then my free express train (leaving every six to eight minutes) to Sydney Olympic Park. And there are also the major event buses, which take people from places as far as Narrabeen Lakes, Maroubra, Sutherland, Tallawong and the Hills Showground, Cronulla and Dural. Take your pick! How much is your parking costing?
Mostafa: Pre-booked parking is $35. Which can be steep if you are going alone, but can be reasonable if you car-pool. It does require some planning, but I would prefer the convenience to standing around waiting for trains before being shoved into a box like a bunch of sweaty sardines.
Anthony: I don't know if catching a train is the hellish picture you paint it out to be. When I was leaving last year's Taylor Swift concert, for instance, it was a short walk to the train station where special event trains were leaving every few minutes. It was extraordinarily smooth. Honestly, it was beautiful to watch.
Mostafa: You raise Taylor Swift, I raise the Women's World Cup saga.
Mostafa: The problem in my eyes is that catching the train isn't as efficient as it is made out to be. For a full stadium of a little over 80,000 people, it would take between half an hour to a full hour to get out. Which is exactly the same, if not longer, than driving in some instances.
But that wait is only to get out of Sydney Olympic Park, you still then need to traverse the network to get home. All the while, I am in my car, AC on, cool, calm and collected. I'm chilling.
Anthony, stomping his feet: You're chilling in your car as you sit in the car park for ages, waiting to get out of the multi-storey building that has one entrance. You're not cool, calm and collected by the time you make it to the ground level: you're yelling, screaming, tailgating the car in front of you as you try to make it to Hill Road or approach the dreaded DFO roundabout.
Or you make it to Newington, the suburb just west of the precinct, where you're facing the wrath of residents whose driveways have, once again, been blocked in by fans trying to find a car spot. You took one of the few available spots at P1, so this was their only option. It's now been 30 minutes stuck in this car. There's no chill left.
Mostafa: But let's be honest, using Sydney's train network isn't always a joy either. Over the past year, nearly one in five trains in NSW has run late, with only 82.5 per cent running within five or six minutes of their scheduled time.
And that is beside the instances of breakdowns or emergency works causing delays, which have not been infrequent over the past 12 months.
It all means that, while you might be able to get out of Sydney Olympic Park fairly smoothly on a good day, a bad day can quickly become a terrible day. And any delays that ripple through the network could make it a catastrophic day.
Anthony: Having everyone drive just isn't the answer. It's the classic 'one more lane' problem: thinking that adding more capacity for traffic will fix congestion. Actually, it won't – it'll encourage more people to use it, and that will cause congestion. So we just add one more lane … and we're soon in an American stadium hellscape, where stadiums sit in the middle of kilometres of parking lots.
Mostafa: No, I think the inherent structural problem here is that Sydney Olympic Park only has one train station that is within a reasonable walking distance, not that there are too many people going. You can't walk to Lidcombe station. And while buses are certainly an option, they are the only alternative.
It makes for a restrictive public transport environment. If there were more options that connected more parts of Sydney, I would maybe be inclined towards changing my mind.
Anthony: I've got some wonderful news for you: Metro West, which will run between the CBD and Westmead, will stop at Sydney Olympic Park in 2032. And a year or so after that, the second stage of the Parramatta Light Rail, connecting to the Parramatta CBD and beyond, will also arrive. These huge projects are going to make it easier to get around – but I accept we're not there yet.
Mostafa: Look, I agree that there are better options on the horizon, but this is about getting out of Sydney Olympic Park right now. It's almost irrelevant what's planned for the future, because events are being held there today.
And for people coming into SOP from other parts of western Sydney, that can be a challenge. There aren't cross-city trains that can take people from south-western Sydney or north-western Sydney into Olympic Park.
So what you are saying is that this is yet another example of how divided Sydney is. There's a transport divide now.
Anthony: There is, and there has been for a long time. And it comes down to the fact that all our train lines go via Central Station. That no longer suits a city as large as Sydney.
Mostafa: I do understand what you're saying, but I maintain that I think it's unfair to expect western Sydney families to lug themselves around a transport system that doesn't feel designed for them – especially when driving remains a viable option. It just doesn't make sense to me otherwise.
Anthony: Here's my message: if you can take public transport, take it. If you can't, drive. But don't be that person who could easily use public transport and still takes up a parking spot.