Uncertainty still shrouds Melbourne’s transport future, says user group

The Public Transport User Association has backed a $3 billion commitment in the Federal budget to the Melbourne Metro rail project. But with another $6 billion needed from the State Government and the private sector, concerns abound still about the likelihood of the project proceeding, including among public transport advocates.

“The Victorian Coalition Government, defying everything it said before the 2010 election, is intent on putting roads ahead of rail,” said PTUA President Tony Morton. “It wants to spend $6 to $8 billion rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic, shifting traffic bottlenecks from one place to another in Melbourne’s inner north and throwing public money at yet another non-solution. The Gillard Government is to be commended for basing transport funding decisions on merit, and some semblance of independent assessment via Infrastructure Australia.”

“We can see this as Canberra urging the State Government to keep its promise to the Victorian people at the last election, to fix the problems with public transport,” Dr Morton said.
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Government has one chance to redeem itself on public transport, says PTUA

The state government has “abandoned reason for madness” in committing to a $15 billion road project in the face of falling GST revenue, declining car use per capita and mounting private sector toll-road failures, the Public Transport Users Association said today. Meanwhile there is no commitment to any major city-shaping public transport initiative in suburban Melbourne, including those put forward in the lead-up to the 2010 election.

“When Sir Rod Eddington looked at the East West road he could only find benefits worth 45 to 73 cents for every dollar spent,” said PTUA President Tony Morton. “Sir Rod is a self-declared fan of the road, but even he couldn’t get the numbers to stack up for it. That’s because this project is a big fat dud and an appalling waste of public money.”
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The Public Transport Users Association today released a list of urgently needed Victorian rail projects they say should take priority over the Melbourne Metro rail tunnel and East West tollroad for Federal funding.

“We are encouraged by the Gillard Government’s strong stand in favour of Federal funding for urban rail in Australia,” said PTUA President Tony Morton. “It shows they are clearly rooted in this century, rather than the last one, and are serious about taking advice from independent umpires on merit.”

“All the same, Canberra should not be gulled into thinking one $9 billion tunnel is a panacea for everything that ails the Melbourne public transport network,” Dr Morton added. “We have to resist the idea that the way to plan transport is to throw money at a succession of mega-projects. If the only choice is between an inner-city road tunnel and an inner-city rail tunnel, then clearly the rail tunnel is preferable as the road will still leave the city choked up with traffic. But really the framing is all wrong: this shouldn’t be a debate about how big a hole we can dig but about how we can use Federal funds wisely to help people move around our cities.”
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The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) revealed today the Victorian Government will scrap the use of short-term tickets on Geelong buses in the middle of next month.

PTUA Geelong Branch Convenor Paul Westcott said that move was the worst decision since the introduction of Myki itself, and would cause huge problems for bus users in Geelong. It also makes the Myki system almost unique in the world in not having a short-term ticket option.
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Welcome news on high capacity signalling, but must be fast-tracked

Public Transport Victoria’s new Rail Network Development Plan risks joining previous attempts and gathering dust on a shelf, due to its reliance on expensive, unfunded and premature tunnels, the Public Transport Users Association said today.

“This plan has all the right individual elements in it,” said PTUA President Tony Morton. “The fatal flaw is that they’re all out of sequence. It takes the element with the highest cost and the least benefit – the Melbourne Metro tunnel – and puts it at the top of the list before virtually anything else is allowed to be done. With this one gesture, PTV and the government have doomed this plan to failure before it even gets off the ground.”

The plan divides its proposed initiatives into four sequential stages. Many Stage 1 initiatives are existing commitments. The Metro tunnel heads up Stage 2. Long-awaited rail extensions to Rowville, Doncaster, Melbourne Airport and Mernda are postponed to Stages 3 and 4, with a 15 to 20 year timeline.

“The people of the suburbs aren’t interested in a 20 year wish list,” Dr Morton said. “What they want and need is an achievable plan that allows network extensions to proceed as quickly and as cost-effectively as possible.”
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Making the Doncaster rail extension conditional on undergrounding the South Morang line is unnecessary and an excuse to kill the project, the Public Transport Users Association said today.

“The government all but promised to build the Doncaster extension in 2010, but they failed to confront a bureaucracy that’s too fond of making excuses to do nothing,” said PTUA President Tony Morton.

The study report released today recommends a route following the Eastern Freeway median, in accordance with the ‘Option 1′ route identified in 2012. However, it suggests terminating the line at the Doncaster Park and Ride car park, short of the major and growing activity centre at Doncaster Hill.

“They are actually proposing running a train line to a car park,” Dr Morton said. “This is not how you plan a major public transport corridor. It was always intended the line would serve the major activity centre at Doncaster Hill, and not just be a single-purpose commuter service for CBD office workers.”
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The Victorian and federal Liberal parties should forget the uneconomic East-West road tunnel and instead direct road funding to a widespread program of level crossing removals, the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) said today.

“Even being optimistic, the Eddington study found the East-West tollroad would cost several billion dollars more than any benefits it would deliver,” PTUA President Tony Morton said. “Ted Baillieu and Tony Abbott had offered up billions of taxpayers’ dollars to pour down that financial black hole, and those funds could be much better used elsewhere.”

In a submission ahead of the federal budget in May, the PTUA has warned the federal government not to waste scarce funding on road projects with costs that exceed the benefits, and to instead provide genuine relief from traffic congestion by improving access to high quality public transport and removing level crossings. Dr Morton said, in an election year, this advice applied equally to all parties.

“Long-lasting relief from congestion, that doesn’t just encourage more car traffic, relies on expanding the reach of fast and frequent public transport,” said Dr Morton. “The Victorian government has claimed overdue rail extensions like Rowville can’t happen until level crossings are removed. Well, let’s cut the excuses and remove them.”
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Get cracking on Dandenong line upgrade, but Metro tunnel a distraction: PTUA

Signalling upgrades and grade separations on the Dandenong line should proceed immediately to boost service to growth suburbs and enable the Rowville rail extension. But claims that the Melbourne Metro tunnel from Footscray to South Yarra is a prerequisite to Rowville rail are “arrant nonsense”, the Public Transport Users Association said today.

“The most important fact revealed in today’s final study report is that Rowville rail is feasible,” said PTUA President Tony Morton. “But the next most significant is that in the ‘fully developed’ scenario, there would be 24 trains per hour on the Dandenong line. This number of trains can already fit into the existing network, provided we upgrade the infrastructure and signalling on the Dandenong line to match what we already have on the line to Ringwood or Clifton Hill.”
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A renewed focus on improving public transport is needed to save Victorians time and money, and to cut the toll of death and injury on the roads, the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) said today.

“Car dependence means more money has to be spent battling road congestion, more time is wasted in traffic, and more people are killed or injured going about their daily business,” said PTUA President Tony Morton. “We can free Victorians from car dependence and save money, time and lives by making public transport, walking and cycling more convenient for more people.”

In a submission ahead of the 2013 state budget, the PTUA has called on the Baillieu government to expand the coverage of fast and frequent public transport services by building long-awaited railway lines to Doncaster, Rowville and Mernda, and electrifying existing lines to Melton and Baxter. The submission also calls on the government to better integrate services, which was a key pre-election pledge.
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7% fare rise cannot be justified, says PTUA

The Baillieu Government appears to be using its predecessor’s budgeted fare hikes to help bankroll its destructive East West motorway, the Public Transport Users Association said today.

The 7% fare rise takes effect today, three days after the government abolished Metcard, forcing all passengers onto the troubled Myki system and axing the ability to stockpile Metcards to guard against fare increases.

“This fare hike is well above the rate of inflation and comes with no grand transformation of transport services that might justify it,” said PTUA President Tony Morton. “Ten years ago a Transport Minister said he wouldn’t put conductors back on trams because it would raise the price of a Zone 1 daily ticket to $7. Well, now a day’s travel in Zone 1 does cost $7 on Myki money, and we’ve got no tram conductors or anything else to show for it.”
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