A proposal to investigate installing light rail in Wollongong has been received with hesitancy, with other councillors suggesting there are other priorities when it comes to the city's transport.
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Liberal councillor John Dorahy will put forward a light rail plan at next week's Wollongong council meeting, suggesting the council begin an investigation of introducing a network across the Wollongong LGA.
He will ask the council to deliver a report into the potential costs and benefits of light rail - as well as trackless trams - as well as a plan to drum up support from politicians, business leaders and other stakeholders.
Labor councillor Ann Martin said she believed traditional light rail was far too expensive for Wollongong to consider, and said the region's heavy rail link to Sydney needed to be a priority.
She also said light rail would date quickly, and believed the council would be better placed to wait for advances in eco-friendly driverless buses or trackless tram-style vehicles.
"For me our priority has to be the Wollongong to Sydney heavy rail... and then let's see where the technology is and investigate one of these trackless options, or the driverless buses," she said. "I don't think we can be digging up Crown Street, and I don't think its fair on our retailers either. But cheap, fast, accessible public transport does have to be in our future."
Greens councillor Cath Blakey welcomed Cr Dorahy's motion to investigate future transport options, as well as his suggestion that light rail could help to reduce Wollongong's carbon emissions.
However she did not believe light rail was the best option, and said it was important to focus on things the council could fund, like bike paths and roads.
"I definitely support advocacy about transport infrastructure, so that Wollongong can get its fair share of funding from the NSW Government," she said. "I think we need to deal with the infrequency of services on the South Coast rail line, and I think investment there, into heavy rail, would deliver more quick wins for the city."
Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said any investigation of Wollongong's future transport system needed to be much broader than light rail.
He said, for instance, that Japanese-style electric buses, trackless trams, or even a duplication of the heavy rail South Coast line may be more feasible.
"I would suggest a broader scope where we look at how we're going to cope with mass transit issues," he said.
"Whether that's electric buses or a light rail system or some other configuration, we have to get our head around that, because Wollongong is a major employment hub."
Cr Bradbery said a local commuter service, with more frequent trains running from Helensburgh to Kiama, could be an option.
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Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
