This article is from our April 2008 newsletter. Please join the PTUA to receive regular newsletters.

Rod Eddington’s East West Needs Assessment report was finally released at the beginning of April. The assessment was a key part of the government’s Meeting Our Transport Challenges strategy, and like MOTC itself the Eddington report deserves a hearty one-hand clap.

Melbourne’s traffic problem actually has a fairly simple diagnosis. A failure to adequately plan and coordinate public transport services means that the bulk of Melburnians are conscripted into mandatory car use.

If you live within walking distance of a railway station or tram and only ever travel along that route, you might find public transport fairly competitive with car travel. Otherwise, you have no choice: if you want a life, you drive a car. This situation has persisted for so long in Melbourne that we assume it’s the natural state of affairs.
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April 2008 edition articles:

• Eddington: Tunnel vision
• Outer east news
• Metro train timetables revamped
• What would YOU like to see in the new contracts?
• How many trains?

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February 2008 edition articles:

• It’s official: Myki more expensive than staff
• PTUA at Sustainable Living Festival
• Bike ban embarrasses minister: Time for some better advice
• Focus on traffic congestion – but what is the fix?
• PTUA launches governance paper

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From our December 2007 newsletter. Please join the PTUA to receive regular newsletters.

A key campaign for the PTUA this year has been working for the restoration of strong public control of public transport in Melbourne and Victoria. Our favoured model for public control is the ‘Transport Community’ model used in cities like Zurich, Vancouver, London, Madrid and Perth, where a central public authority with a strong passenger-focussed culture takes responsibility for strategic and tactical planning of public transport.

Now Brisbane seems set to follow the example of Perth in embracing this model of public transport ‘governance’. One of the first actions of new Queensland Premier Anna Bligh has been to announce a single public transport authority for greater Brisbane.
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Public transport groups from around Australia recently joined with the PTUA to publish a report on the role of public transport in federal transport policy. The report – Moving Australians Sustainably: Transport Policy in the National Interest – looked at how public transport contributes to a range of federal policy objectives and responsibilities.

The report found that public transport makes a significant contribution to national economic performance by helping to manage traffic congestion, by reducing the need for costly oil imports and by contributing to improved participation and productivity in Australia’s workforce. In light of this, governments that fail to support public transport could hardly be regarded as responsible economic managers.
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September 2007 edition articles:

• New train timetables and free rides to bring little relief
• Contracts extended until 2009
• PTUA Annual General Meeting: Thursday October 25th
• Moving Australians Sustainably
• V/Line overcrowding now rampant

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July 2007 edition articles:

• Transport the key to emissions reductions
• Kosky’s contracts countdown
• Eddington East-West travel study
• PTUA meets TTA
• Weekend train crowding continues
• But it’s not just the trains that are crowded!
• Branch news: Geelong, Outer East, South-East — Please note the Casey transport meeting is on Wednesday 5th September, not August as printed in the newsletter

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May 2007 edition articles:

• Melbourne’s fares the highest in the country — view the graphs here
• 10 extra trains coming, but more needed

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March 2007 edition articles:

• The minister writes for you
• Connex Siemens debacle
• PTUA meets the PT players
• March fare changes welcomed
• Expert raises eyebrows
• East-west study launched
• Suburban branches
• Peak oil – been and gone?

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December 2006 edition articles:

• Batchelor gone: High hopes for new minister
• Transport highlighted on the hustings
• East and south eastern suburbs make their voices heard
• South Morang Rail – a victory of sorts
• Geelong branch report
• What Labor promised
• Connex driving away customers – weekend overcrowding

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