The spit bridge cannot be taken in isolation, the problem goes beyond to Mosman Junction. An underpass/overpass for though traffic would ease the flow at that notorous bottle neck and in turn ease the flow, typically only talked about in relation to the spit bridge. If you fix the bridge problem, please do forget the above, as it is part of the same issue, just further dwon the same narrow tube! 
 
Regards 
Julian Haskard 
Manly

I agree with Mike. Let's just get on with it. The more we argue the more reason the so called NSW Government has to do nothing. Just look at the hospital debacle. Since the jetcats stopped the E70 buses are packed from Hill Street and fly past the poor souls waiting further up Sydney Road and the Ferry's are packed to the rafters. Let's put our personal agendas aside and work together to force the government's hand.

If they had wanted to improve bus times along the Spit-Military Road corridor, they would have spent that $50 million differently a few years ago. By just using it to replace buses, they wasted it. 
They could have put half that money into resuming land and making bus bays of every stop along the way, using the rest to add air conditioning to the existing fleet and improving maintenance standards - as well as fixing that electronic bus stop signalling system that (as far as I know) remains a trial. 
 
Or they could put a small tunnel under the base of Spit Hill, allowing traffic (and pedestrians) to cross under Spit Rd, and eliminate the traffic lights there completely. Having buses stop at the bottom of a steep hill makes the journey southwards slow and laborious.

The Northern Beaches transport must be fixed, however I don't believe that bus corridors are the solution. There is simply no further land available above ground to make any further improvements to any form of transport in regards to bus corridors or the roads in general. Can you imagine a land buy back along Military Road/Spit Road and how long it would take to do this, not to mention the cost? 
 
There is only one solution and that is to build the tunnel proposed by Macquarie, and ensure that there is enough capacity for both cars AND a metro style rail system. The metro could be planned to run from Dee Why to North Sydney where it would merge with existing rail services. Phase One would be implementing a termination point at Manly Vale and use existing bus infrastructure to ferry commuters to this point to then join the rail network. Extending this to Dee Why and potentially further opens up the beaches to further investment.  
 
There has been little investment in this area for years and it shows. This would give the Beaches the lift it needs and provide an incentive for business to locate themselves here and provide greater employment for locals. 
 
All rail would need to be underground, which yes will take many years and many dollars, but you have to start somewhere. All levels of Government need to look at this proposal seriously as the Northern Beaches cannot afford to be left to rot for very much longer. 
 
Many may not agree with me, but we cannot stagnate on this any longer. The foresight was there in the 1920's to build a metro to the North Shore, they even started building the tunnels. We must continue and ensure that the Northern Beaches is exiled from a Greater Sydney basin. We are at breaking point now, action must be taken.

Hello Mike, 
 
The long Saga of North Shore transport ! ! 
I have to say that we do deserve much better. 
This, for the aged as much as for the younger coming. 
It is a case where proposals have to be put forward. Let's no longer look at party only but at the Public & the Residents. 
It is a matter of long term & vision, no longer a 1 term in politic. 
I am going on in age & after 42 years around Manly, I would be so happy to see some concrete results to leave for the future. 
I cannot think of anyone not in favour of a fast public transport, it can be done anywhere, around the World, why not North Shore ? 
Keep the drum going, you have my full support behind. 
Have a pleasant week end, 
Albert.

Yes, we all been waiting far too long for a solution on the Spit Bridge mess. Its time we put foot to the peddle and get our Public Transport System running more smoothly than it has been recently. I like the fact you are asking the community for their opinion, after all we are the ones using Buses and Ferries , so we know first hand how it works; or doesn`t work. Good on you Mike, i am with you all the way.

We all agree getting to the city should be faster, it's not going to happen with private transport, so it's public transport! People like me would use public transport more often if it wasn't for greedy councils and parking fines. I sometimes commute to the city for work by parking at Woolstoncraft then train where there is all day free street parking near the station, Cammeray free street parking and bus it, even North Sydney if your early enough, you tell me where on the North Shore can you get all day free street parking thats near a bus stop, we constantly live in fear of parking police. 
My suggestion is no parking restrictions on side streets like it used to be 20 years ago and people come down the hill from there homes and park and ride, and you don't have to drive 20 minutes to get to Narrabeen park and ride and take a chance on a space being there and leaving your car in a paddock where it can be vandalized, just think how many park and ride spots would be on the North Shore if you took away restricted side street parking and people could leave their car in there own suburb where they feel safer.

Mike, the number 1 issue is a faster trip to the city and back to the northern beaches, regardless of the mode of travel. Omitting the thousands of non bus or non public transport users is not the way to gain support.

Unfortunately, even if buses could get quickly through Mosman-Neutral Bay, you would still need to get them through to York St quickly, Unfortunately, this area is above capacity, and all you would do is have a bigger queue of buses queuing back along the bridge in the mornings. 
You would probably need a tunnel busway to add extra capacity, in addition to kerb space for passenger queues. That would, of course, need to be separate from any current or proposed train tunnels. I don\'t know how feasible that is, though clearly it would be cheaper than a rail tunnel. 
You could also licence underground shop space to defray maintenance costs, as is done with rail tunnels.