Sydney's amazing new Metro opens this Sunday. I've been living in the area the last 12 months and following it closely - particularly the micromobility opportunity for first/last mile access to the 8 new Metro stations.

It's one of the largest public transport projects ever in Sydney - if not the largest. The new stations connect through 5 existing stations being "metro-fitted" and will initially terminate at Chatswood. Over the next 5 years, the Sydney Metro will be extended to the city and beyond.

The 1,100 passenger driverless trains will not have timetables and will depart every 4 minutes in peak hour.

They're set up for bikes, scooters and prams with two multi-purpose areas per train.

It's a huge development but facilities for micromobility pale into insignificance compared to the focus on the Metro itself and facilities for cars:

$8 billion development cost including car parks for over 4,000 cars

Free car parking for commuters valued at more than $10 million per year

Only 293 bike parks, representing less than 1% of daily commuters

No fare subsidy or transfer benefit for commuters providing their own "micromobility infrastructure" to get to a Sydney Metro NW Station

The Micromobility Opportunity

Huge numbers of people live within 2.5 km of the new stations - the magic distance for first/last mile bike/scooter commuting - at 15 kmh this is a 10-minute commute to a station. In 2018 Transport for NSW did a great 280-page report on the Interchange Access Plan for all stations on the NW Metro. For every station, it highlights the 2.5km "Cycle Catchment" area and also the 800 m walking catchment area.

Even though the report was only published in October 2018, it makes no mention of scooters or even electric bikes. In one of Sydney's hilly areas, these environmentally friendly electric vehicles solve the previous barriers to mass adoption of walking and cycling.

The new metro trains are perfect for ride-on, ride-off commuters with their own bikes and scooters. The area is also perfect for scooter sharing operators to provide dockless scooters around the major commuter hubs. The local population is over 400,000 and forecast to grow to 600,000 within 15 years or so.

Micromobility Facilities at the New Stations

I can't help feeling bike parking is underdone for the new Metro.

Based on around 16,500 passenger capacity per hour in peak hour, only 293 bike parking spots doesn't seem to indicate a drive for greater micromobility usage.

There are more than this many bikes parked just at Manly Wharf every morning.

The problem with using historical data is it takes no account of new trends and adoption curves. We build for the past, not for the future. Fortunately, electric scooters don't need parking, however, I think bike parking will need to be significantly expanded in the short to medium term.

Over 4,000 free car parking spaces are being provided to any commuter without restriction. These spaces will be used by predominantly driver only vehicles and cater for the 4,000 "early birds" representing less than 10% of the likely users. If car parking is to be provided it should only be free to people pooling in cars with at least 2, if not 3, people per vehicle. Driver only behaviour should not be encouraged and a fee should be charged to incentivise pooling - say $10 per day.

By providing free car parking, which has a value of at least $10/day, the early birds are getting a further subsidy of $40/week on top of the transit subsidy of around $150/week based on farebox recovery of less than 25%.

Early birds, mostly driver only car parking commuters, are receiving annual subsidies of around $40/day, around $10,000/year. The total annual car parking subsidy is over $10 million based on just weekday usage.

These "Bike Sheds" are at every station and have the capacity of 240 across the eight stations. They are free to use and available on a first come basis. They cannot be booked. Castle Hill has only 15 spaces available despite not offering any car park - I think Castle Hill may be one of the stations requiring a comprehensive micromobility rethink.

It is pleasing to see the Dutch style "double-decker" parking is provided in the secure bike storage areas at the new stations.

Free outside bike parking is much more limited - with only 5 hoops at each station. A further 13 bike spots in the form of rentable lockers are at Kellyville and Rouse Hill stations. User must prepurchase a key and pay a subscription for bike parking from a month to a year - the annual rate is $180.

Isn't there a problem with Scooters in NSW - They're Illegal!

Well, yes - now you mention it!

Apart from Queensland, Australia and the UK are lagging the rest of the world in allowing electric scooters and other personal mobility devices to be used by commuters. The UK is currently reviewing its 1835 legislation and changes are expected soon.

In Australia, it is each State's responsibility which makes it even harder to change quickly. At a Federal level, we have good laws and Australian Design Rules allowing for the import of electric bikes, scooters and personal mobility devices. These are sound and tens of thousands of vehicles have already been imported complying with these laws.

NSW and other states have been looking at how to regulate these new and emerging vehicles for some time. Why not adopt the Queensland laws and seek to have some consistency. Test them for a year and make refinements later. The Queensland laws fundamentally make sense and are enabling significant changes in mobility already - over a million shared scooter rides in 6 months with 30% replacing car use.

Five Things to Drive Greater Micromobility for the NW Metro

Actively promote bike options for first/last kilometre connections to the eight new stations. Have bike maps more readily available. Add scooters as soon as they are legal. Legalise electric scooters Allow footpath use - they're mostly empty and the most underutilised piece of infrastructure in Sydney's North West. Hills Shire - put some share scooter/bike trials in place - start in the corridor between Cherrybrook - Castle Hill - Hills Showground - Norwest - Bella Vista. Offer the TfNSW $2 transfer benefit to micromobility users connecting with NW Metro.

The new NW Metro is an amazing new transport system for Sydney let's connect it to 21st-century micromobility.