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| Victorian election: this time, can we please talk about public transport? | |
| (6 months later) | |
| In Melbourne, with our population growing towards 5 million and beyond, strong public transport networks built around high-capacity suburban rail lines and effective bus connections, are the core of a transport system that will meet our social and economic needs. | In Melbourne, with our population growing towards 5 million and beyond, strong public transport networks built around high-capacity suburban rail lines and effective bus connections, are the core of a transport system that will meet our social and economic needs. |
| The evidence from around the world shows that cities that build their transport systems around public transport find that transport costs are less of a drain on the regional economy than those that put the car at the centre of their transport plans. | The evidence from around the world shows that cities that build their transport systems around public transport find that transport costs are less of a drain on the regional economy than those that put the car at the centre of their transport plans. |
| This is in part because of the huge public cost of building and maintaining roads, combined with the private costs of owning and running the family fleet of cars. It is also because of the high cost of the social isolation endured by the young, the old, and the increasing number of people who are cut off from jobs, hospitals, and social networks. | This is in part because of the huge public cost of building and maintaining roads, combined with the private costs of owning and running the family fleet of cars. It is also because of the high cost of the social isolation endured by the young, the old, and the increasing number of people who are cut off from jobs, hospitals, and social networks. |
| Public transport, along with cycling and walking, is part of the solution to transport’s contribution to the climate emergency, the reality of which we are experiencing with increasing frequency. | Public transport, along with cycling and walking, is part of the solution to transport’s contribution to the climate emergency, the reality of which we are experiencing with increasing frequency. |
| There are signs that growing congestion is eroding the apparent convenience of the car and creating a mood for change. The University of Sydney’s regular transport opinion survey showed that, in February this year, 45% of Victorians regarded public transport improvements as the highest priority transport issue, with road improvement the highest priority for less than 20% of the population. | There are signs that growing congestion is eroding the apparent convenience of the car and creating a mood for change. The University of Sydney’s regular transport opinion survey showed that, in February this year, 45% of Victorians regarded public transport improvements as the highest priority transport issue, with road improvement the highest priority for less than 20% of the population. |
| There is a striking difference between recent poll support of only 28% for the East West Link project and the majority support for construction of City Link in the 1990s. The vote for promises of better public transport in the marginal seats along the Frankston train line at the 2010 state election is further indication of this new public disposition. | There is a striking difference between recent poll support of only 28% for the East West Link project and the majority support for construction of City Link in the 1990s. The vote for promises of better public transport in the marginal seats along the Frankston train line at the 2010 state election is further indication of this new public disposition. |
| Sadly, senior government and opposition politicians in Victoria are lagging behind: they pay lip service to the mood for change while, overtly or covertly, pursuing the construction of insanely expensive road projects. | Sadly, senior government and opposition politicians in Victoria are lagging behind: they pay lip service to the mood for change while, overtly or covertly, pursuing the construction of insanely expensive road projects. |
| Since the 1960s planners have assumed that the vast majority of passenger and freight movement around the Melbourne urban region will be by car and truck, and we have built the roads to try to make this possible. | Since the 1960s planners have assumed that the vast majority of passenger and freight movement around the Melbourne urban region will be by car and truck, and we have built the roads to try to make this possible. |
| We have also allowed the political influence of developers to weaken land-use controls so that the city no longer has an effective residential growth boundary and, perhaps even more significantly, the locations of suburban commercial and service destinations are now widely scattered. | We have also allowed the political influence of developers to weaken land-use controls so that the city no longer has an effective residential growth boundary and, perhaps even more significantly, the locations of suburban commercial and service destinations are now widely scattered. |
| Growth in road freight is a major cause of urban congestion. This is the explicit result of official plans that have co-opted the language of “integrated transport and land-use”. “Integration” in the plans of the 1980s and 1990s did not mean schools close to railway stations. | Growth in road freight is a major cause of urban congestion. This is the explicit result of official plans that have co-opted the language of “integrated transport and land-use”. “Integration” in the plans of the 1980s and 1990s did not mean schools close to railway stations. |
| Instead, it meant the encouragement of road-based logistics and industrial development around the circumferential freeway and arterial road network. At the same time, these new roads were sold to the public at successive elections as the cure for congestion. | Instead, it meant the encouragement of road-based logistics and industrial development around the circumferential freeway and arterial road network. At the same time, these new roads were sold to the public at successive elections as the cure for congestion. |
| Plan Melbourne, the government’s latest plan to deal with the city’s growth until 2050, takes us further along this path. It uses the latest progressive urban planning buzzwords such as the “20-minute city”, while committing us to more trucks and more suburban sprawl. | Plan Melbourne, the government’s latest plan to deal with the city’s growth until 2050, takes us further along this path. It uses the latest progressive urban planning buzzwords such as the “20-minute city”, while committing us to more trucks and more suburban sprawl. |
| We do not have space here for a full analysis of the alternatives to Plan Melbourne. However, we can provide some directions for changes, both politically and in practical assessment techniques, that are needed to rebuild confidence in transport planning in Melbourne. | We do not have space here for a full analysis of the alternatives to Plan Melbourne. However, we can provide some directions for changes, both politically and in practical assessment techniques, that are needed to rebuild confidence in transport planning in Melbourne. |
| Such change is necessary to set us on the path to significant growth in the use of public transport, and, in turn, to better returns for the economy, the environment, and our social well-being than building more expensive roads. | Such change is necessary to set us on the path to significant growth in the use of public transport, and, in turn, to better returns for the economy, the environment, and our social well-being than building more expensive roads. |
| The first step to a sustainable transport solution for Melbourne is to understand that we can provide effective and efficient alternatives to the car without rebuilding the city at higher residential densities. | The first step to a sustainable transport solution for Melbourne is to understand that we can provide effective and efficient alternatives to the car without rebuilding the city at higher residential densities. |
| For an articulate and well-researched argument for this, every aspiring activist or planner should read Paul Mees’ Transport for Suburbia . His analysis is supported by work by others who show that, rather than residential density, the major land-use requirement for greater public transport use is the concentration of commercial and social destinations around transport nodes. | For an articulate and well-researched argument for this, every aspiring activist or planner should read Paul Mees’ Transport for Suburbia . His analysis is supported by work by others who show that, rather than residential density, the major land-use requirement for greater public transport use is the concentration of commercial and social destinations around transport nodes. |
| This is an aspiration of Plan Melbourne. It is also one that, to succeed, will need stronger land-use regulations to curtail the desire of developers to build more and more apartments near stations. | This is an aspiration of Plan Melbourne. It is also one that, to succeed, will need stronger land-use regulations to curtail the desire of developers to build more and more apartments near stations. |
| Next, if public transport is to become a realistic alternative for people in the middle and outer suburbs, we will need reliable, fast, and frequent services linking destinations in circumferential, as well as radial, directions, As many previous analyses have shown, the obstacles are largely political and institutional. Change will require the emergence of political entrepreneurs who can harness the public mood for change. | Next, if public transport is to become a realistic alternative for people in the middle and outer suburbs, we will need reliable, fast, and frequent services linking destinations in circumferential, as well as radial, directions, As many previous analyses have shown, the obstacles are largely political and institutional. Change will require the emergence of political entrepreneurs who can harness the public mood for change. |
| However, the big shift will need to come from within the agencies that plan and deliver our transport systems. We will need to throw off the deeply embedded assumptions that public transport is only for the inner city and for commuter journeys to jobs in the central business district. | However, the big shift will need to come from within the agencies that plan and deliver our transport systems. We will need to throw off the deeply embedded assumptions that public transport is only for the inner city and for commuter journeys to jobs in the central business district. |
| Public transport performance in Europe and Canada demonstrates that it is possible to approach the ideal of “go anywhere, anytime” public transport at a cost that is acceptable to politicians and the wider | Public transport performance in Europe and Canada demonstrates that it is possible to approach the ideal of “go anywhere, anytime” public transport at a cost that is acceptable to politicians and the wider |
| The key to understanding how some cities can get good returns from their investment in public transport is the “network”. The quality of a network depends on the planners’ skills in using available budgets to create fast and frequent connections between bus, tram, and train lines to link the largest number of possible origins and destinations within a travel time that competes well with the car. | The key to understanding how some cities can get good returns from their investment in public transport is the “network”. The quality of a network depends on the planners’ skills in using available budgets to create fast and frequent connections between bus, tram, and train lines to link the largest number of possible origins and destinations within a travel time that competes well with the car. |
| In Melbourne, this will mean making better use of the existing arterial road network, with on-road priority for buses. It will also mean reorganising existing bus routes into more logical and better-connected lines. | In Melbourne, this will mean making better use of the existing arterial road network, with on-road priority for buses. It will also mean reorganising existing bus routes into more logical and better-connected lines. |
| An effective and efficient public transport network will mean that passengers will need to transfer between services. Therefore, a key planning objective must be the removal of obstacles to easy movement between bus, train and tram. | An effective and efficient public transport network will mean that passengers will need to transfer between services. Therefore, a key planning objective must be the removal of obstacles to easy movement between bus, train and tram. |
| Such a change will challenge many of our current practices. For example, the current operational focus on revenue protection, which leads to suburban stations typically having only a single entrance, is just one policy that works against easy transfers. | Such a change will challenge many of our current practices. For example, the current operational focus on revenue protection, which leads to suburban stations typically having only a single entrance, is just one policy that works against easy transfers. |
| Compare this to the approach to ticketing in German-speaking Europe, where, through heavily discounted monthly and annual tickets and the deployment of many low-cost validating machines, station platforms in suburban and central locations can be completely open. Passengers can easily reach connecting buses or and walk into surrounding streets and open space, and, with appropriate deployment of ticket inspectors, revenue losses are of the same order as in Melbourne. | Compare this to the approach to ticketing in German-speaking Europe, where, through heavily discounted monthly and annual tickets and the deployment of many low-cost validating machines, station platforms in suburban and central locations can be completely open. Passengers can easily reach connecting buses or and walk into surrounding streets and open space, and, with appropriate deployment of ticket inspectors, revenue losses are of the same order as in Melbourne. |
| To build Melbourne’s public transport system for the 21st century, we must move beyond incremental service improvements or the isolated insertion of additional infrastructure. We will need to transform public transport planning to create “user-oriented” networks. And, we must put public transport, not road construction, at the centre of “city-shaping” development agendas. | To build Melbourne’s public transport system for the 21st century, we must move beyond incremental service improvements or the isolated insertion of additional infrastructure. We will need to transform public transport planning to create “user-oriented” networks. And, we must put public transport, not road construction, at the centre of “city-shaping” development agendas. |
| Dr John Stone is a lecturer in transport planning, faculty of architecture, building and planning at the University of Melbourne. | Dr John Stone is a lecturer in transport planning, faculty of architecture, building and planning at the University of Melbourne. |
| Dr Jan Scheurer is a senior research associate at the AHURI-RMIT research centre and a senior lecturer at the Curtain University sustainable policy institute. | Dr Jan Scheurer is a senior research associate at the AHURI-RMIT research centre and a senior lecturer at the Curtain University sustainable policy institute. |
| This is an edited extract from the forthcoming ebook Melbourne: What Next? In collaboration with the University of Melbourne’s Election Watch, Guardian Australia will be running a series of articles from the ebook, available for free download from 6pm on 17 October. http://tinyurl.com/melbwhatnext | This is an edited extract from the forthcoming ebook Melbourne: What Next? In collaboration with the University of Melbourne’s Election Watch, Guardian Australia will be running a series of articles from the ebook, available for free download from 6pm on 17 October. http://tinyurl.com/melbwhatnext |
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