This could be fixed in a number of ways; the cheapest would probably be to replace the heavy rail on the Upfield line, with light rail, and redirect the last past of the trip along Royal Parade (have a look at Google Maps). The more elaborate fix, as proposed by the Greens plan, is to put in a north-south rail tunnel with a station at Melbourne University, with the tunnel continuing to connect Melbourne Central, and Flinders Street.

As far as cycling goes, personally I don’t find it too bad. The traffic is so slow along Sydney Road most of the time, it’s not a hassle. And, as mentioned, there are a number of alternative routes.

Interesting point about the trains, Robert. I wasn’t aware of that. But what are the services like? Convenient? Frequent? Clean? Enough space?

Sydney road has trains 100 metres from most of its length, trams running up it every 10, a mostly off-road cycle path along the train line. There are bike lanes on just about every cross-street, too, and cross-city buses.

The alternatives are more satisfactory in this particular area than just about anywhere else in Melbourne. Frankly, it’s got me buggered why anybody bothers to drive on Sydney Road at all; it’s almost always quicker to head across to Lygon Street and go round.

“The best solution for congestion on Sydney Road is of course road pricing.”

Actually, that’s not the case. Road pricing, just like taxing the carbon content of fuel, can only go so far if the alternatives are not widely, cheaply and conveniently available. Unless and until Melbourne’s public transport, cycling and pedestrian infrastructure is upgraded to the point where it can easily accommodate a very substantial influx of extra passengers, the only impact of road pricing will be greater inequity and more pissed off Melburnians.