*/

Please join the PTUA to receive regular newsletters.

December 2008 edition articles:

• Brumby’s grand plan
• PTUA Annual General Meeting report
• Metcard changes rolled back
• Fare rises — Melbourne’s fares still the most expensive
• Frank Crean 1916-2008
• How much can a rail line cost?

Read the rest of this article »

The PTUA has updated our comprehensive comparison of public transport fares from cities across Australia. Melbourne once again came out with the highest prices for most trips. The exceptions were short trips (where Adelaide is more expensive) and some long ones (thanks to the removal of Zone 3 in 2007).

The comparison was done by looking at the fare costs for trips to the CBD from distances between 5 kilometres and 50 kilometres. We looked at prices in Melbourne (effective from 1st January 2009), Sydney, Brisbane, Canberra, Adelaide and Perth. (Most cities outside Melbourne increased their prices in mid-2008.)

Click here for graphs and full details

PTUA President Daniel Bowen’s 200 word response to the Victorian Transport Plan, for The Age:

Little difference for most Melburnians

TWO-AND-A-HALF years ago, the government issued Meeting Our Transport Challenges, its long-term vision for Melbourne’s transport system.

That document is now in tatters, replaced by the new transport plan. While some communities will welcome new and improved train services, and CBD commuters will see some relief from overcrowding (albeit at enormous cost), for most car-dependent Melburnians who live in bus-only suburbs and rarely travel into the CBD, this plan will make little difference, despite the vast amount of money to be spent.
Read the rest of this article »

The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has slammed John Brumby’s Transport Plan for failing to provide real transport solutions in Melbourne’s outer east. Instead the plan seeks to bail out Eastlink, while encouraging outer east residents to travel by car rather than public transport.

“John Brumby has once again failed to deliver a sustainable future for Melbourne’s outer east,” said Jeremy Lunn, the PTUA’s Outer East convenor. “This plan is about more roads, a few tokenistic gestures for public transport and even less for the outer east. It’s a return to the Kennett era, only far worse.”
Read the rest of this article »

Premier John Brumby’s new Transport Plan is a plan to get Victorians out of public transport and into cars, the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) said today.

“Sure, it’s nice to see the government un-break some of its broken promises and finally commit to some of the public transport projects it should have built five years ago,” said PTUA President Daniel Bowen. “But the sustainable transport elements of the plan are completely undermined by a massive programme of freeway building.
Read the rest of this article »

Ahead of the release of the Transport Plan next week, our new video highlights how public transport can run more smoothly for everyone.

And for those people on Facebook, you can now join our new group: It’s time for great public transport in Melbourne and across Victoria.

The government’s new transport plan will need to contain more than sweeteners, un-broken promises and business-as-usual road projects if it is to energise the community, the Public Transport Users Association said today.

“This government has made quite a name for itself by releasing a lame transport plan every two years,” said PTUA President Daniel Bowen. “This time round, the people of Victoria will be looking for evidence that there’s been a genuine change of direction.”
Read the rest of this article »

The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has attacked the State Government for propping up Eastlink with $700 million of taxpayer funds through its decision to build a Frankston Bypass. The Association says the money should be used to improve public transport instead.

“We warned the government that Eastlink would be the wrong solution to our transport difficulties and sadly that has proved correct,” said Jeremy Lunn, the PTUA’s Outer East convenor. “The biggest problem in Melbourne’s outer suburbs has always been the lack of usable public transport and Eastlink was certainly never going to solve that.”
Read the rest of this article »

The Public Transport Users Association notes the passing of Frank Crean on 2nd of December. Frank was a patron of the PTUA from 1989, and participated in a number of PTUA events along with our other patrons, Winsome McCaughey, Sir Rupert Hamer (both pictured here with Mr Crean) and Dame Phyllis Frost. We offer our condolences to the Crean family.

(Photograph: The Age, 5th June 1989)