Libs ramp up priority for freeway - TheAge

Based on the last post, I could see this coming. A bit more today, in The Age.

A CONTROVERSIAL freeway through inner Melbourne and a new underground rail line have again topped the state's wish list for funding from Canberra, with the Baillieu government saying it wants to proceed with a series of major transport projects first proposed by Labor.

The government today will unveil its submission to the federal government's advisory body Infrastructure Australia. It marks the first release of the Coalition's transport proposals since coming to office last November.

However, the submission does not say when any of the projects detailed would be built, or what they would ultimately cost. Premier Ted Baillieu said yesterday he did not want to make these predictions until more planning had been done.

The government has backed an 18-kilometre ''inner urban freeway'' that would link the Eastern Freeway in Clifton Hill to the Western Ring Road in Sunshine. The freeway would travel via CityLink and the Port of Melbourne. It is based on a plan put forward by Sir Rod Eddington in 2008 in a report for the Brumby government. Sir Rod is now chairman of Infrastructure Australia.

This freeway plan was partially adopted by Mr Brumby's government later in 2008, when it announced plans for WestLink, a $2.5 billion tunnel linking the inner west to the port.

Public transport advocates attacked the road tunnel plan, which has been in limbo since Labor's defeat last year, saying it would only add to road congestion.

Federal Greens MP Adam Bandt vowed to fight ''tooth and nail'' to stop the freeway gaining money from Canberra. State Labor MP Richard Wynne - whose electorate the freeway would slice through - also attacked the idea. ''When Eddington first looked at this freeway, it was neither economically or environmentally sustainable. It's the same today,'' he said.

But the government's submission to Canberra argues booming traffic on the West Gate Bridge and Hoddle Street means the project is now justified. It has requested $30 million to fund a two-year planning study. ''This is a once-in-a-generation project that would transform the way people move around Melbourne,'' Mr Baillieu said.

The government's submission says the private sector may help fund construction of the freeway, raising the possibility it may be a toll road.

The submission also puts a new rail tunnel under inner Melbourne back on the agenda. Labor's 2008 blueprint detailed a plan for a 17-kilometre track from Footscray to Caulfield via Parkville, with its first stage to cost $4.5 billion. Its future was put in doubt after the election but the Baillieu government is now seeking a further $130 million for pre-construction work. While the new proposal follows much the same route as Labor's plan, it will stretch only nine kilometres...

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/libs-ramp-up-priority-for-freeway-20111116-1njco.html#ixzz1du7EHKrg

Note that there's little detail about the route, and therefore what could be at risk. The previous government had categorically said that JJ Holland Park was safe. With the prospect of the car tunnel on the agenda, I suppose it depends upon its route and how they intend to create it.

Even the more recent plans for the rail tunnel showed that the park would be safe.

For both of these, however, there's the potential disruptions to the surrounding areas during construction to think about. With the train tunnel, I'd personally view that as a short-term pain, for long-term gain. With the car tunnel, as with other roads built to 'save' the city from traffic, I believe it will fill up with traffic, just like the others, and make any arterial which its exit ramps spill onto, even worse. The 'booming traffic on the Westgate and Hoddle Street' is the product of the Monash Freeway works, and EastLink, respectively. The tunnel would certainly help through-traffic, but usage patterns show the vast majority of users would be getting on/off at some point near the city. And most of them are commuters. And many of them are driving because of the poor/non-existant public transport options.

Sprawling transport not up to par

A REPORT comparing the public transport systems of 52 cities internationally, commissioned by the State Government, has found that only North American cities have worse access to services than Melbourne.

And the Public Transport Standards Review, completed by respected transport analysts Booz and Co, has found Melbourne's public transport system performs worse than some Australian capitals in principal areas as well.

The report was completed as part of a government transport statement, released last month, and found eastern European cities invested 137 per cent more in public transport per head of population than Melbourne.

Western European cities invested 57 per cent more.

Only North American cities spent less on public transport per person than Melbourne, according to the report.

Melbourne is one of the developed world's most car-dependent cities, and the study sheds light on why: relatively poor access to public transport because the city is so spread out, and travel times 26 per cent slower than the car.

In cities with excellent public transport systems and worse road congestion — including London, Moscow, Rome and Munich — cars are as much as 50 per cent slower than trains or buses.

Western European cities such as Paris, Bern and Rotterdam had up to 13 times more services per urban hectare than Melbourne, which compared badly because of its vast urban sprawl.

Premier John Brumby last month guaranteed that the sprawl would continue, announcing a planned expansion of the city's growth boundaries on the north-west and south-east fringes...

Read the rest of the article at TheAge.com.au

Mark Knight Cartoon - Herald Sun

See the original here

Melburnians fare badly when paying for public transport - TheAge

MELBOURNE'S public transport is again the country's most expensive, after the Brumby Government announced the biggest price increase in fares in five years.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky confirmed on Friday that train, tram and bus fares will jump by 5 per cent from January 1.

With tickets up by as much as $2.20 (for a zone one and two weekly ticket), the Public Transport Users Association has compared Melbourne's fares with other Australian cities.

Melbourne fared badly, with the price of a ticket far higher in all but two cases.

Melbourne is the most expensive city for all journeys, except short trips in Adelaide, and for trips longer than 40 kilometres, since the Government abolished zone three for the outer suburbs last year.

"In extreme cases, Melbourne costs 50 per cent more than some cities," said Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen.

For a 20-kilometre single trip in Melbourne — for example, from Clayton to Flinders Street — passengers will from next year pay $5.80 (a rise of 30 cents). For a trip of the same length in Brisbane, passengers pay $3.80.

Ms Kosky, defending last week's price rise, said it was not true that Melbourne had the country's most expensive tickets.

But the PTUA said the figures spoke for themselves.

"The bulk of commuters are paying more per kilometre than passengers anywhere in Australia," Mr Bowen said.

The 5 per cent fare increase that will hit passengers next year is separate from another two increases with which they will be slugged in 2012 and 2013.

Those rises will help to finance the state's $38 billion Victorian transport statement...

Read the rest of the article at TheAge.com.au

Emergency lanes to make way for more traffic on West Gate Bridge

Ashley Gardiner

EXCLUSIVE: EMERGENCY lanes on the West Gate Bridge will make way for more traffic in a bid to tackle Melbourne's congestion crisis.

An extra lane across the bridge in both directions could make room for 40,000 more motorists a day.

The Herald Sun believes the plan will be a major plank of the State Government's transport blueprint, to be released within days.

A $2 billion road tunnel under Footscray is also tipped, as is a substantial increase in suburban rolling stock to cope with booming public transport numbers.

At least 20 extra trains and about 100 trams will be bought, and the Preston tram depot is set for a $200 million expansion.

Victoria's peak motoring organisation, the RACV, confirmed yesterday it had promoted the West Gate expansion idea.

The expansion plan would mean the scrapping of a proposal to change the direction of one lane according to the time of day.

RACV public policy manager Brian Negus said the organisation had lobbied against the so-called contra-flow lane plan.

"We have been saying that's not a desirable outcome," Mr Negus said.

Traffic would be monitored constantly, as it is on CityLink, by closed-circuit television.

A similar arrangement will be in place along CityLink's southern link when the current upgrade is finished.

Lanes could be closed in an instant from a control room using electronic overhead signs, as is done in the tunnels, to compensate for the lost emergency lane.

The bridge would be strengthened to carry the extra traffic.

VicRoads has been conducting a detailed structural investigation.

A source said the Government had decided to build only one section of the east-west tunnel proposed by transport expert Sir Rod Eddington. The tunnel would run under Footscray and the Maribyrnong River underneath Buckley St.

It would connect Geelong and Sunshine roads with Dynon and Footscray roads.

By providing a new link to the ports area, the tunnel would remove much of the truck traffic from the inner western suburbs.

A source said a decision not to build a road tunnel under Kensington, Carlton and Fitzroy for now was politically easier.

The Herald Sun has previously reported the Government's decision to go ahead with the first stages of the underground rail tunnel from Footscray to Caulfield.

The Tarneit rail link, between Sunshine and Werribee, will also form part of the package, as will electrification of the rail line to Sunbury. Extending rail services to South Morang is also expected.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the Government appeared to be ignoring several of Sir Rod's recommendations.

"The road (tunnel) project doesn't appear to be what Sir Rod wanted," Mr Mulder said.

Releasing his report on east-west transport this year, Sir Rod cautioned against cherry-picking his recommendations.

"Not only are they cherry-picking, but also altering the recommendations of Sir Rod," Mr Mulder said.

The decisions on which projects to adopt have been affected by the global financial crisis.

State Government transport spokesman George Svigos declined to comment when contacted by the Herald Sun yesterday.

Read the original article at HeraldSun.news.com.au

Our font size increase and bold, above.

Secrecy over $500m in transport money - TheAge.com.au

Clay Lucas

CONTROVERSIAL laws have been used to stop the public finding out how Connex and Yarra Trams plan to spend over half a billion dollars of public money.

The Brumby Government has relied on commercial-in-confidence laws — which it attacked repeatedly while in opposition — to keep secret the two operators' annual planning documents.

Under freedom of information, The Age requested that the Government release Connex's and Yarra Trams' last five franchise business plans.

The business plans must be given to the Government annually to show how the companies plan to run Melbourne's train and tram network.

After speaking with Yarra Trams and Connex, the Department of Transport deemed the documents too sensitive to release.

"Disclosure would be likely to expose Connex and Yarra Trams … unreasonably to disadvantage," the department's legal adviser, Yvonne Han, said.

Access to Connex and Yarra Trams' most recent business plans was also blocked because it would hamper their bid to keep the lucrative contracts to run trains and trams here, she said.

Both companies are bidding to retain the contracts to run Melbourne's trains and trams for another 15 years. The winning tenderers for the contracts will be announced next July.

Connex and Yarra Trams refused to release their franchise business plans to The Age, also citing "commercial-in-confidence" reasons.

The companies will get $537 million in government payments this financial year, while each also earns over $200 million in fares.

Connex is owned by French company Veolia, and Yarra Trams is owned by MetroLink Victoria — a joint venture between France's TransDev and Australia's Transfield Services.

The Public Transport Users Association said the plans should be public because a privately run transport system needed complete transparency.

"A lot of taxpayer money is going to these companies, so we have a right to know how that money is being spent," president Daniel Bowen said.

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky declined to comment on the issue.

As opposition leader in the 1990s, Premier John Brumby repeatedly attacked the Kennett government's use of the commercial-in-confidence laws.

Mr Brumby, who promised greater transparency when he became Premier last July, told Parliament in 1994 that the Kennett government had a "propensity to hide behind freedom-of-information legislation and … use expressions like commercial-in-confidence" to keep documents secret.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said: "Mr Brumby's hypocrisy in hiding these documents is exceeded only by his inability to deliver the roads, rail lines, trains and trams Victorians need."

Read the original article at TheAge.com.au

Outer suburbs 'missing out' on services - TheAge.com.au

Jason Dowling

ONLY one out of every 100 residents in some of Melbourne's outer suburbs use public transport alone to get to work, a report shows.

The parliamentary report into outer suburban economic development found that in one of those areas, the south-east's Casey, almost 70% get to work by car alone.

The Victorian parliamentary committee report highlighted failures in the "availability, reliability, and cost of alternative transport, especially public transport" and called for "more timely, responsive and cost-effective" transport improvements.

"Many residents either willingly or unwillingly endure lengthy, time-consuming and expensive daily commutes by greenhouse-polluting private cars - driven along increasingly congested roadways - to reach their workplaces," the report noted. It said "based on overwhelming evidence" the committee concludes that "additional investment in sustainable transport infrastructure" was vital for ongoing economic development in Melbourne's outer suburbs.

Other recommendations include:

• Improved minimum public transport standards in outer suburbs;
• Increased bus services and park and ride facilities;
• Consideration of commercial water transport services on Port Phillip Bay with new berthing facilities at Mornington;
• A cost-benefit analysis of completing the "missing link" between the Metropolitan Ring Road and the Eastern Freeway and an analysis on when a new Melbourne Airport rail link will be needed; and
• Free public transport for the unemployed to attend job interviews.

Committee chairman George Seitz said the State Government was working with local government to improve transport services in Melbourne's outer-suburbs. "We the committee admit through our recommendations that there is a need for improvement," he said.

Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said an urgent upgrade of suburban public transport was overdue. "The outer suburbs are missing out on viable public transport for most trips at the moment. If you live in the inner suburbs you can probably walk down to the end of your street and catch a tram that runs every 10 minutes or so seven days a week. The outer suburbs are stuck with mostly hourly bus services which are no substitute for driving your car," he said.

The committee, equally divided between government and non-government members, noted Melbourne University research that showed "more cars are driven to work each day in Melbourne than in Sydney, despite Sydney's much bigger workforce".

"The share of workers who drive is now higher in Melbourne than in Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart and even Canberra. This appears to be a result of Melbourne having constructed more urban freeways and tollways over the last 30 years than any other capital."

The report comes as divisions emerge in the Victorian Labor Party's transport policy committee over support for new freeways and before the Government's 30-year, $20 billion state transport plan, to be released next month. It said: "Melbourne has been labelled the 'worst performing city over the (past) three decades' in terms of reducing its dependency on private car transport."

Read the original article at TheAge.com.au

Strategy to ease the squeeze - theage.com.au

Clay Lucas, Jason Dowling and Ben Schneiders

Waiting: The city seen from South Kensington station yesterday. Photo: Joe Armao

UP TO 20 new six-carriage trains will be ordered to ease overcrowding on Melbourne's rail system.

The $300-million-plus order will be a key plank of the State Government's coming transport statement.

As part of the statement, due by November, the Government is also set to order at least 60 new trams to replace the old Z-class fleet that was commissioned in 1975. Secrecy surrounds the transport statement, which the Government has been working on for several months, as commuter anger over the struggling system becomes a political liability.

But The Age believes the Victorian Transport Plan — the Government's fourth "long-term" transport statement since 2002 — is also set to:

• Implement public-private partnerships across the train network in which developers build new railway stations in return for the right to build above the stations.
• Consider abandoning the contentious $7 billion Footscray-to-Caulfield rail route proposed by infrastructure adviser Sir Rod Eddington, and instead make better use of an under-used 80-year-old train tunnel running beneath Footscray's Bunbury Street.
• Announce a construction timetable for the $500 million Frankston bypass, now the subject of an environmental study.
• Bring forward the Government's $660 million orbital SmartBus program, to be completed in 2010, an election year, rather than the planned 2012.
• Dramatically upgrade bus services to Doncaster on the Eastern Freeway.

The Government also is moving towards backing the first stage of Sir Rod's proposed $9 billion road tunnel, which would go from Melbourne's inner west to CityLink.

This road option would result in hundreds of homes in either Yarraville or Sunshine being compulsorily acquired.

But with many tollway companies spooked by gloomy financial conditions, it is unclear who would pay for the road project unless the Federal Government steps in...

Read the entire article at TheAge.com.au

My bold.

I wasn't aware of the Bunbury Street tunnel. From the looks of it, it means trains don't have to go through Footscray station, crosses the Maribyrnong River on its own bridge, and then links back up with the train line.

Director of Public Transport on 30-year plan - news.com.au

AS the State Government completes final consultation on the new state transport plan, one man is working around the clock on it.

But Victoria's new Director of Public Transport can't talk about what's actually in the 30-year plan.

Less than a month in the job, Hector McKenzie is coping with exponential patronage growth, and a system that's struggling to keep up.

But the senior transport engineer is not just putting it down to soaring fuel costs.

City jobs and population growth have also made an impact, but he adds: "There's a shift in the way people think about their impact on the world. They now go, 'I should do something, I should make a contribution'."

But Mr McKenzie doesn't believe cars should equal guilt for congested Melbourne.

He usually drives his company Holden Adventura to work, but is more likely to take the tram in the evening, and the train for weekends away.

"I love public transport, but I don't hate cars," he said.

But the shift is clearly occurring, and peak patronage growth last year saw plenty of frustrated commuters left on the platform by packed services.

Mr McKenzie said the key issue for commuters wasn't fitting them in, but frequent and reliable services.

He admits Melbourne's transport system has some catching up to do with the sprawling suburbs.

"You'd like to get the services in (to new developments) as soon as possible. It doesn't always happen," he said.

"The aim is to get everyone within a reasonable walking distance of public transport."

Read the original article at News.com.au

Hmm... hard to get a handle on this guy. He's worked within Melbourne's system for a few years, but perhaps some good overseas experience would be worthwhile for looking at real solutions? His last statement about having public transport within reasonable walking distance is great, but then, if he's the only one in his Holden Adventra (is it the V8, or the rarer V6?) when he drives to work... hmm...

TV News Footage - Transport summit and train woes

Brumby promises big spending on transport

The Victorian government is promising massive investments in infrastructure to address transport problems.

The government is holding a summit to discuss road, rail and public transport networks, including fixing chronic overcrowding on public transport and whether a proposed East-West tunnel is needed in Melbourne.

It will feed into the governments new transport plan being released later this year.

The Premier John Brumby says they are long term challenges that will need big investment.

"These will be projects which are bigger than Eastlink, are bigger than channel deepening, these are big projects," he said.

Earlier today, anti-road tunnel protesters gathered outside the transport forum to voice their anger over plans for the East West tunnel recommended in the Rod Eddington report.

The Royal Park Protection Group and the Yarra Campaign Against Tunnels say the proposed link is a truck bypass route in disguise and will be a blight on local communities.

"In the process of tunnel construction over five to twelve years, inner city suburban streets will be destroyed; Royal Park and Holland Park in Kensington will be transformed into giant quarries," tunnel opponent Rod Quantock said.

"It's extraordinary that the Premier should be favouring building road tunnels at a time when the public is screaming for improved and expanded public transport."

Read the original article at abc.net.au/news

Plan 'may ease' Melbourne's train crush - theage.com.au

Melbourne's long-suffering train commuters could be given free late evening travel under plans to ease the squeeze on the rail network.

Victorian Premier John Brumby flagged the travel deal on Friday, saying it would capitalise on the success of the earlybird scheme, which provides free travel for passengers before 7am.

It came as more than 100 stakeholders met for the Victorian Transport Summit to give their final input into the government's transport plan, due later this year.

Mr Brumby said free travel for passengers travelling after 8pm would help spread out the commuter burden, with public transport patronage forecast to top half a billion people by 2010.

It would be modelled on the early bird scheme which was a "spectacular success", saving families up to $1,000 a year, he said.

"Is there a case for doing the same thing for, say, a post-8pm fare and shifting some of that peak which is presently there between 5pm and 8pm?

"These are all issues that we're looking at."

Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the earlybird scheme was being replicated interstate and overseas.

A "late bird" version would be an interim measure as the government continues to thrash out a transport blueprint to alleviate road and rail congestion crippling Melbourne.

Transport expert Sir Rod Eddington has proposed an $18 million infrastructure splash, including an east-west road tunnel and a rail tunnel linking the western and south-eastern suburbs.

Mr Brumby told the summit all funding options were on the table as the government sought to meet the challenges of unprecedented population growth, climate change and rising petrol prices.

He said the plan would set the framework for the biggest transport investment in the state's history.

But opponents of the road tunnel are angry they were excluded from the talk fest.

They believe digging through Melbourne's inner suburbs is a "dinosaur" solution for tackling Melbourne's transport crisis in an age of climate change and will be disastrous for residents.

"Sustainable public transport, not road tunnels - that's our war cry," Royal Park Protection Group convener Julianne Bell said.

Mr Brumby denied community and residents groups had been locked out of the summit.

He said the government had received more than 2,000 public submissions and forums had been held across the state.

"Honestly, I can't think of any process over the last few years that our government has embarked upon where there has been more opportunity for people to put a point of view."

Read the original article at TheAge.com.au

Government warned of train crisis five years ago - news.com.au

by Ashley Gardiner, John Ferguson

PLANS to head off the public transport crisis were ignored five years ago, despite a warning of the looming crush.

The shelved 2003 Melbourne Train Plan forecast that the system would carry 200 million passengers by 2006-07.

The overcrowded network didn't actually reach that figure until this year, but the warnings were clear.

"There is limited capacity in the existing network to absorb growing demand," the plan warned.

It recommended several new lines, extending existing lines and upgrading signals -- none of which has come to pass.

"The Government can't claim it wasn't warned," Public Transport Users Association president Daniel Bowen said.

"It's a crying shame that the Train Plan document has languished for all these years without being funded and implemented."

Premier John Brumby will host a summit today ahead of the release of the Victorian Transport Plan later this year.

It will be the third major transport blueprint to be issued by the State Government in four years.

Mr Brumby described today's transport summit as the last chance for input into the Eddington report, whose key recommendations were an east-west road tunnel and a passenger rail tunnel from Footscray to Caulfield.

"We're looking at all of the options," he said.

The 2003 Melbourne Train plan recommended an extensive list of train projects to cope with the looming patronage surge, including:

NEW lines to Mernda, Epping North and the airport.

EXTENDING electric rail services to Cranbourne East, Baxter, Sunbury, Melton and Werribee West.

MODERNISED signals for the City Loop and the Hurstbridge line.

EXTRA tracks from Springvale to Caulfield, Footscray to Sunshine, Cheltenham to Moorabbin and Cranbourne to Dandenong.

The 2003 Melbourne Train Plan was never released by the State Government.

Another document, the Metropolitan Transport Plan, was released in 2004.

In 2006, the Government came up with another plan -- Meeting Our Transport Challenges.

Opposition transport spokesman Terry Mulder said the Government was unable to do anything except make plans.

"They have had their chance and they haven't delivered," Mr Mulder said.

A spokesman for Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the 2003 Train Plan did not reflect the current demands on the rail system.

"Some of the content has already been completed, such as park-and-ride upgrades, Southern Cross Station and delivering extra services on many lines," spokesman Stephen Moynihan said.

"The plan was based on much lower annual growth figures of around 4 per cent a year. In the last three years train patronage grew by 39 per cent."

Mr Moynihan said a number of line upgrades were under way or had been funded.

"These will add extra track capacity to run more peak hour services," he said.

Read the original article at News.com.au

Melburnians ignore trams, trains and buses - news.com.au

Mary Bolling

PUBLIC transport crowds may be swelling, but nearly a third of Melburnians say they never get on board.

A Metlink survey has found that 30 per cent of Melburnians never use public transport, and large numbers say they don't know how, or can't access it.

New passengers flocked to public transport at a rate of an extra 100,000 trips a day last year, but Metlink chief Bernie Carolan said the system was leaving others behind.

"We've got really strong patronage growth, but against that, there's still a decent percentage of the community who have literally never used public transport, or not for some years," Mr Carolan said.

"We know, in outer suburbs in particular, frequency and density of public transport services is not the same as in the inner suburbs."

But when neglected areas do get new connections, the shift is immediate -- Metlink figures show two of the top 10 most popular bus routes in Melbourne last year were new.

Route 901 from Ringwood to Frankston, introduced in March, averaged 5915 trips a week, and Route 900, introduced from Caulfield to Stud Park in October 2006, averaged 3616 trips a week.

Overall, last year bus patronage went up 7.8 per cent, while across all modes the figure was 7.7 per cent.

"If we introduce high quality services, people then have more confidence in the system, and the uptake is obviously there," Mr Carolan said.

"If we're trying to induce people to use public transport instead of their car . . . it's got to be frequent enough to attract them."

But Mr Carolan said for many Melburnians, leaving the car in favour of public transport needed a leap of faith.

"People get habitual -- they haven't used public transport for some years, and then they get nervous about using it."

He said that in spite of soaring patronage pushing some services to capacity, there was still plenty of scope for getting more Melburnians on to public transport.

"There are plenty of options for using services outside of peak, and in counter-peak directions," he said.

"We'd encourage people to use public transport, not just for daily work commute but for a whole range of things."

Read the original article at News.com.au

Claims east-west tunnel will be of little value to Geelong - geelongadvertiser.com.au

Jeff Whalley

A MERE 1100 Geelong people a day would use a $8 billion road tunnel under Melbourne leading to the city's east.

Victorian Greens MP Greg Barber yesterday said Bureau of Statistics Census data showed less than 2 per cent of Geelong commuters would use the proposed road tunnel linking Melbourne's western and eastern suburbs.

The tunnel is one suggestion by transport expert Sir Rod Eddington in his east-west transport study aimed at solving Melbourne's traffic gridlock.

The tunnel has been slated as one solution to allow easier movement for commuters and freight into Melbourne.

Geelong MP Ian Trezise this week told the Geelong Advertiser the tunnel should include an exit for Geelong commuters wanting to access Melbourne's CBD.

Mr Barber criticised the State Government and Mr Trezise yesterday.

He said cash should instead be spent improving public transport within Geelong.

"I can't understand why a Geelong MP wants to spend $8 billion on a road tunnel from Kensington to Collingwood, used by less than 2 per cent of local commuters at best," Mr Barber said.

"Most workers, and shoppers for that matter, stay in Geelong. Local public transport in Geelong is appalling and with petrol prices, people are desperate for an alternative. We could have a dream public transport system, with trains, fast buses and even a tram line, for just one of these billions they are talking about.

"For commuters from Geelong to Melbourne, I would have thought more and faster trains was the priority. It's the only way to clear congestion off the West Gate Bridge, permanently."

Mr Barber said the data showed three-quarters of the Geelong region's 65,000 workers worked locally with about 3000 driving to Melbourne's western suburbs.

He said more than 2000 people drove to the Melbourne central business district or southern suburbs.

The Greens MP said only 1100 drove across Melbourne's north to the eastern suburbs, while at least 1800 used public transport to get from Geelong to Melbourne.

Read the original article at GeelongAdvertiser.com.au

Commuters' fit of peak as Melbourne trains fill up

FEELING a bit squashed? It's probably because an extra 100,000 Melburnians a day have squeezed on to our public transport system in the past year.

Metlink figures for an average weekday show 1.5 million commuters jam trains, trams and buses, with packed-out peak times dragging out to almost six hours a day.

While morning and afternoon peaks are the most crowded, some of the biggest hourly increases have come outside peak, as strap-hangers try to avoid the crush.

The shift has prompted calls for increasing trip frequency and capacity across the day, as well as 24-hour public transport, as more people leave their cars at home.

Last year to July, Melbourne's commuters took an average 1.5 million trips a day -- up from 1.4 million in 2006-07. Of those trips, trains carry 45.2 per cent, while trams take 35.5 per cent and buses 19.3 per cent.

And exclusive hour-by-hour figures show pre-7am travel leapt 15 per cent, with more big jumps after evening peak.

Across the day, Connex figures show it is the Sydenham line that carries the most passengers, followed by Werribee, Pakenham/Cranbourne, Epping and Frankston...

Read the rest of the article at news.com.au

yoursay@dot.vic.gov.au

I just got back from Bronwyn Pike's Community Transport Forum (yes... I was lucky enough to schnaffle an invitation).

I'll write more about the forum later, however, the person there representing Tim Pallas mentioned that :

yoursay@dot.vic.gov.au

is operational to receive feedback regarding Victoria's impending transport strategy. I would encourage everyone to send any suggestions they have to this address. And, probably a separate email for each issue so they can be given to the appropriate person at the Department of Transport (formerly the Department of Infrastructure).

Perhaps cc'ing your local member wouldn't hurt, either.

Does Melbourne need another central city rail tunnel?

I've only just happened across Dr Paul Mees's EWLNA submission. If you have ever heard him speak, you will know a lot of this. If you haven't, it's very interesting reading and I'd encourage everyone to take a look. A quick excerpt...

The $8.5 billion rail tunnel budget alone could pay for:

• elimination of all rail level crossings in greater Melbourne ($3 billion), plus
• new lines to East Doncaster, Rowville (via Monash), Mornington, Aurora, Mernda (via South Morang) and Melbourne Airport ($2 billion), plus
• electrification of lines to Melton (via Caroline Springs, and including track duplication), Sunbury and Cranbourne East, and duplication of single-track sections on the Cranbourne, Hurstbridge, Epping, Lilydale, Belgrave and Altona lines ($1 billion), plus
• doubling the size of the train fleet ($2 billion)

• 
  

Read the whole submission here...

Trains, trams and automobiles: getting our priorities right | theage.com.au

by Kenneth Davidson

IT IS about time that Melburnians began to confront the sausage rather than the sizzle in the transport debate. Rapid population growth (due to high immigration) and rising oil prices (due to peak oil) mean that public transport will have to bear an increasing share of the burden of providing personal mobility if this city is to remain liveable.

Motorists may love their cars, but that is no reason people using public transport should cross-subsidise those drivers who enjoy a Commonwealth fringe benefit concession, which allows them to write off the expense of using their car against tax, when public transport users have to buy their tickets out of their after-tax income. Nor does it explain why those living in the outer suburbs should not have the same choice of public transport as is available to those who live in the inner suburbs.

The $1.5 billion car subsidy should be abolished and the money used to improve and extend rail networks in the larger cities where road congestion is most acute. By reducing road congestion, the reform would be doing a favour for motorists as well as those who prefer public transport.

The essence of good government is to design a tax and regulatory system that rewards good behaviour.

The fringe benefit concession encouraged the demand and local production of six-cylinder cars in defiance of environmental realities as well as making the benefit proportional to mileage. The more you drive the more you get. Crazy. The real, immediate and urgent question facing Melburnians is why is the public transport system, the rail system in particular, manifestly unable to meet the felt needs of commuters?

Is it due to bad management or to a lack of capacity on the rail system? With better management of the system, would we get more services through the City Loop, or are there real physical constraints on the capacity of the system that can only be relieved by the construction of a new underground rail link between Caulfield and Footscray?

The debate has two clear sides. The Transport Department, supported by the Eddington report, argues that the new $8.5 billion rail link is required to make new services to the outer suburbs possible. This is disputed by advocates of the work of RMIT urban transport planner Paul Mees, who left the urban planning department of Melbourne University after pressure from the Transport Department, whose senior management resented being characterised as corrupt and incompetent by Mees because they had ignored his recommendation to reorganise the City Loop.

What should be a straightforward technical dispute has become a highly charged personal and political issue. In my opinion the responsibility for this lies with the Government, which has refused to have an expert inquiry into the core issue of why the loop is a bottleneck that prevents more intensive use of the present system and why public transport services in suburban growth areas are appalling.

Based on the history of the transport bureaucracy under successive governments, public transport advocates may well be right to suspect that the rail tunnel will never be built but is being presented in the hope of making more palatable the east-west road tunnel connecting the Eastern Freeway with Footscray. This is an extremely unpopular and economically and environmentally unsustainable private-public partnership that will cost $9 billion.

The Eddington inquiry was independent in name only. Most of the information and its staff came from the Transport Department. Department head Jim Betts was employed by Macquarie Bank as the transport expert in the original failed attempt to privatise Melbourne's public transport corporation and he as been involved in every inquiry since.

These have resulted in generous public subsidies and less onerous regulations to prop up the system, which is the worst of all worlds. Victoria has a transport minister who is on the record as saying she doesn't want to run a train system, so franchisees run the system with a focus on profit rather than service, and we have a regulator in the form of the department, which has been captured by the franchisees.

The issue of whether the failure of the public transport system is due to bad management or a physical bottleneck that prevents expansion into the outer suburbs must be resolved by an independent and open inquiry. It should be conducted by experts drawn from cities with successful public transport systems — cities such as Toronto, Zurich and Perth.

There is still time to achieve this. The current franchises are in place until the middle of next year. They should then be converted into operational agreements that will give responsibility for management of the system to a transport commission responsible for investment in track, rolling stock, signalling equipment and timetabling and will operate at at arm's length from the responsible minister. Under this arrangement, the transport minister would be required to communicate any ministerial directives in writing to be tabled in Parliament.

Read the original article at TheAge.com.au

Transport Forum, Footscray, 12th August 2008

The Minister of Transport, Lynn Kosky is holding a number of transport forums across Melbourne, Taralgon, Geelong etc. Attendance was by invitation only- very unclear how this process was decided, but if anyone is interested in going to the other forums, you can do so by notifying the Department of Transport. A number of friends of savehollandpark.org.au were lucky enought to be invited to the forum in Footscray this morning. This is one person's account of the morning. We're expecting to be able to post several more.

At the start of the forum, we were advised that the scope was much broader than the Eddington Report- indeed they did such a good job on making sure the conversation was not about the Eddington Report, it was rarely mentioned. As someone noted- no-one talked about the elephant (white) in the corner. The tunnel (white elephant 1) and "Myki" (white elephant 2) were notable by their absence in a Melbourne Transport Forum

There was a number of MP's there- Don Nardella (pro roads, tunnels, freeways, more cars, roads, tunnels, freeways etc) and Carlo Carli (anti-tunnel). As I listened to the various contributors, it dawned on me freeways and tunnels are "macho" and popular with older men. Carli (SNAG) summed up the forum as "a complete waste of time".

Which it was. If the State Government are as far behind with transport and planning issues as this forum suggests they are, Victorians should be concerned. They talked about integrated transport options like it was some new revolutionary concept. We didn't become a City of 3.5 million people without some transport integration policies. As it didn't get mentioned much before- I will mention it again- isn't Myki an integrated ticketing system?

The Government is trying to convince us the sudden rise in public transport patronage was not something they could have foreseen. The implications of this assertion are damning and provide little reassurance in their ability to deal with serious transport issues and planning at the most fundamental level.

The movement of freight is identified as a big issue with a four-fold increase in the amount of movements around the docks in the next few years. Dredging the Bay allows larger cargo ships to deliver more containers. The Government promoted dredging the bay as 'progress' without considering the impact on transport infrastructure. One policy creates the problem. They now need to develop another to fix it.

It is similar to their ability to approve massive subdivisions on the fringes of Melbourne with no thought of transport considerations. How could they be expected to know people need to travel from where they live to where they work? ( They do not have a crystal ball).

The most illuminating part of the morning was an informal discussion with Minister Kosky. It appears alternatives to using Holland Park are under consideration. They are convinced of the need for the tunnel saying Eddington report shows there is a huge demand particularly for the movement of freight. We queried her figures and said the Eddington Report did not clearly demonstrate the need for a tunnel. Also, freight from the docks did not generally go in an easterly direction. Her "quirky" example to prove us wrong - delivery trucks from the docks to Malvern(?)

So overall, not much to report as not much was said. The strongest impression was that the Government do not have the slightest idea of where to go with this stuff (and do not know how to get from the Docks to Malvern). They are making it up as they go along and flapping around like ducks on water.

The Premier is hosting another forum in September for traffic and planning experts to attend. If today's forum is an example of what we can expect, the words 'considered', 'focussed' and 'visionary' do not come to mind. More accurate words are 'ad hoc', 'muddled' and 'directionless'. Despite widespread confusion and the complete absence of any meaningful policies- the road tunnel is very much still on the agenda. The Government keep saying "they are not ruling anything in and they are not ruling anything out" (borrowed from "the Hollowmen"). The problem is- in private discussions with State Government Ministers, they do keep ruling the tunnel "in".

One wonders if this was a serious attempt to shape a very confused transport policy, or another community consultation box they can tick for whenever they announce decision to build the tunnel.


Robert Gilfillan