Comments Welcome

To add a comment to any post on this blog, select the post by clicking on the title either in the post itself or in the list of posts on the left of the page. Then scroll down to the foot of the post and type your comment in the box.

Tuesday 31 December 2013

Funding Alternatives to the Private Car

Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
The RAC ('Job shift out of CBD could ease traffic', West Australian, 30 December) rightly draws attention to the failure of the planning system in Perth to achieve its own aspirations for development of strategic regional centres that are effective alternatives to the CBD of Perth.

The West Australian's editorial ('Overcoming our city's love affair with the car', West Australian, 30th December) supports the RAC's statement and adds that there is also a need "to provide a better standard and more frequent public transport to give commuters a viable alternative to their cars".

The Sustainable Transport Coalition of WA (STCWA) strongly supports the need for better public transport but adds that bringing employment closer to where people live would also make cycling and walking feasible alternatives for more people - provided cycling and walking facilities are direct, convenient and safe.

A key to getting out of unnecessary reliance on the private car is a more equitable funding approach to transport.

At present, only roads have a reasonably assured long-term funding allocation for investment. 

Public transport funding is often sporadic and, as we have seen from the recent Government response to the loss of the AAA credit rating for the state, subject to deferral and changes in priorities. Most important, though, the Government needs to get ahead of the game, providing capacity before it is forced by congestion to provide it.

Bicycle infrastructure funding is, at least in principle, committed four years ahead, but the current level of annual funding is less than one-third of that required to complete the Government's own bicycle network plan in the next ten years.

And as for walking, the State Government largely leaves this to local government, with the result that provision is patchy and subject to local priorities and funding capability. There are too many suburbs where even a footpath on one side of the street is a rarity. And walking access to train stations is often poor, creating the demand for ever more car parking at stations. 

The STCWA suggests that an inquiry into transport funding in WA should be undertaken as a matter of urgency, to identify the most efficient means of allocating resources for transport infrastructure and services.

Posted by Ian Ker, Deputy Convenor, STC.

Thursday 19 December 2013

Inverted Priorities?

It's a sad state of affairs when a $1.6 billion circus that is only to be used once a week at most and for the primary benefit of a commercial sporting enterprise (the AFL) takes precedence over much-needed transport infrastructure to serve the only major corridor of Perth that does not have trains.

The priorities within public transport are questionable, too. Research on airport rail links in Australia and overseas and experience in Brisbane and Sydney suggests that a Perth airport rail link, which the Government says it will continue with, is likely to be a big white elephant. Brisbane Airport handles 21 million passengers a year and the airport rail link carries 2 million passengers. Perth Airport handled 13.7 million passengers in 2012/13, about two-thirds of the Brisbane numbers, suggesting a Perth airport rail link would attract fewer than 1.5 million passengers a year - about 4,000 a day.

Before the March state election, the Liberal Government estimated the cost of the Airport Rail Link as $1.9 billion - more than the entire Southern Suburbs Railway. The SSR carries 78,000 passengers on a weekday.

Even for those who will use it, the Airport rail link benefit is occasional, whereas the MAX light rail would provide benefits on a daily basis.

The bottom line is that the community (which, after all, will be funding these things) needs to be able to see and assess the business cases for MAX, the Airport rail link and the Burswood Stadium. In the absence of comparable business cases, the community would be justified in feeling that the Government has got its priorities the wrong way up.

Posted by Ian Ker, Deputy Convenor, STC.