Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size When I came to Sydney from Europe in 1975, I knew little or nothing about Sydney except that it had a fabulous Opera House on the harbour.
I thought that there would be a metro. But I was wrong ( “How Sydney’s new system stacks up on a global scale” , August 20). I had to wait almost 50 years for a metro.
But we have it now so let’s celebrate! Eileen Kennedy, West Pymble Sydney Metro certainly does make you feel like a VIP (“ May Sydney’s future citizens never know pain of sitting in soul-crushing traffic”, August 20 ). But that feeling quickly dissipates when you step outside the stations. To access our local station, Waterloo, we must cross four sets of traffic lights, each with a waiting time of up to two minutes .
These can almost double the time needed to walk to or from the station. And no one likes waiting next to a noisy road inhaling fumes. Transport for NSW sets these excessively long waiting times to allow for more road traffic, but this means thousands fewer residents can access stations within an acceptable walking time.
Metro has put a massive dent in the state’s finances, so you’d think Transport Minister Jo Haylen would want to maximise its benefit by making station catchment areas as large as possible. Prioritising road traffic ove.