One less car!

A motorist who travels 22 km a day in Sydney will spend three days stuck in traffic each year, says a transport report by the independent Centre for International Economics (CIE) titled A City Going Nowhere Fast.

The costs of traffic congestion in Sydney was around $5 billion in 1995 and could rise to $24 billion in 2020, said the City of Cities report.

Urban planners warn Sydney's economic, social and environmental welfare will suffer if its public transport problems are not solved.

While air pollution contributes to 1,400 deaths a year, according to a government report.

"The simple fact of urban life is that if we want to enable people to really remain citizens of their city we need to reduce our dependency on the automobile," says federal MP Malcolm Turnbull, who's electorate includes Bondi Beach.

from the Sydney Morning Herald online