Australia is one of the most urbanized countries in the world with 87% of its population living in cities and suburbs. Being car dependent is a political choice pushed by the car industry for decades. Getting people into public transports, onto bicycles or their two feet requires reducing the vast space cities waste on privately owned cars. Super blocks that focus on active travel, less surface parking space and slower speeds are what is needed.

I cycle in Sydney, and wish more others did. I have no car.

But there's a few things that make this trickier in Sydney, than, say, much of European cities:

* Sydney is too hot/UV to comfortably cycle between 9AM-5PM for at least 4 months of the year. Maybe tree-lined corridors could help that.

* Sydney is very hilly. It didn't have centuries of being flattened. This makes it challenging, even for experienced commuters. Ebikes could help.

* Sydney has low density: houses are big, detached, and thus spread apart. This makes relevant cycling distances further.

EVs are much more aligned with Sydney, at least for tackling the polluting issues with cars.

I don’t think congestion charges would cover building/maintaining public transport.

All infrastructure for cars and the fallout from their pollution (don't forget the tyres) is heavily subsidized by the tax payer and not as cost effective as a tram or railway.