This paper explores the major elements taken by the city of Newcastle, NSW, Australia, to move towards a prosperous sustainable future. It aims to show how Newcastle is addressing transport issues as part of a wider range of policies and actions directed towards achieving sustainability. It expresses the view that transport policies are part of urban management, which is inherently complex, multidisciplinary, and holistic. Newcastle has adopted a pragmatic but innovative approach to applying effective urban management to achieve its Council's goals. It has good rail and road links to Sydney, and several railway stations. Because of the low density of its residential area, its public transport system is not very viable. A table shows how the modal split of journeys to work in different parts of Newcastle has evolved into more car use from 1981 through 1991 to 1996. In 1996, the modal split for the city as a whole was car (87.8%), bus and ferry (3.8%), rail (2.1%), bicycle (1.8%), walking (3.8%), and other (0.7%). There is relatively little road congestion, and car parking costs little or nothing. In 1995, the Lower Hunter Integrated Transport Strategy (LHITS) was drafted to help manage and meet transport demand in the context of the urban growth strategy for the Sydney Greater Metropolitan Region, which includes Newcastle.
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