Trams vs pedestrians in Syd

["geoff dawson" <geoffrey.dawson@aph.gov.au>]

I recently suggested that a reasonable goal for congestion-free street
public transport in Sydney CBD, after building the cross city tunnel, would
be Circular Quay to Central Railway in 8-9 minutes. Someone answered that
this is unrealistic as even with PT priority traffic management there is too
much pedestrian activity.
Out of curiosity I reran my calculation supposing a maximum line speed of a
modest 36kph - surely slow enough for the safety of jaywalkers. Circular
Quay to Central comes out at 7mins 55 secs. [2400m, accelerate/ brake at
1m/sec/sec to 36kph, 9 stops with 15 sec dwell time.]
With an absurdly low max line speed of 30kph it comes out at 8 mins 25 secs.
This tends to confirm my view that today's slower bus travel is mainly
caused by red lights and traffic congestion, not by the need for low speeds
to avoid jaywalkers. The red lights and traffic congestion could be removed
by PT priority traffic management.
Note I am assuming streets much like the present ones, in which pedestrians
are meant to walk on footpaths and cross on the WALK sign. I am not
suggesting a fully shared zone like Melbourne's Bourke St mall in which
trams crawl through at a walking pace and it is rather unclear who has right
of way. I don't think this is very sensible. I suggest that trams in malls
should be fenced off with frequent breaks in the fence for people to cross
the line. The fence is not to limit pedestrian mobility, but simply to
replace the function of the kerb and gutter as a physical warning to people
that they should look out and give way when crossing.
Regards, Geoff