Tag: coordination

Eastern Region Client Network

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The Eastern Region Client Network aims to provide a voice for people with disabilities through encouraging and information sharing on the issues facing their members.

I was invited to the May meeting of the network to explain the role of the Public Transport Users Association and to discuss transport issues affecting people with disabilities. Concerns raised include the difficulty in using the current ticketing system, difficulties in signalling drivers for access to trains, the poor frequency of bus routes and lack of service coordination.

Public transport provides not only an economically and environmentally sustainable form of travel but also helps enhance social inclusion through providing a network that is accessible for people of all abilities. While positive improvements are being made in terms of the physical access for public transport, service standards are still too poor to provide most of Melbourne with a real transport. This can be quite detrimental to people with disabilities, who often do not have access to a car to accommodate their transport needs.

The Eastern Region Client Network meets on a monthly basis at Forest Hill and is supported by Activate Communities and VALID Inc.

2007 Rail Infrastructure Conference

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Today I participated in a panel discussion for the Rail Infrastructure Australia conference in Sydney. The topic of discussion was passenger rail and included issues such as level of services, network integration and ticketing.

The session was moderated by Jim Wolfe from the Department of Transport and Regional Services (DOTARS) and panellists included Bill Watson from TransAdelaide, John Lee from the State Transit Authority of NSW and myself representing public transport users through the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA).

There is a growing need across Australia for improvements in public transport. Sydney, Brisbane and Perth are all providing a number of network extensions while Melbourne continues to lag behind. While there are common issues such as peak hour overcrowding, the approach of cities such as Sydney, Perth and Brisbane will result in a public transport network that has an increased reach and potential to serve new developments. Melbourne also lags behind other cities in providing frequent and direct bus routes and also fails to provide an integrated network through ensuring bus and train coordination.

The Age: Fare freeze gets cold reception

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The State Government has announced a freeze on Melbourne’s public transport fares to deflect rising criticism over the latest spate of cancellations on Melbourne’s rail network.

Premier Steve Bracks this morning announced the decision by the State Government to freeze the price increases, which were due on March 4.

The freeze in public transport fares provides little comfort for rail passengers who have had to tolerate yet another round of unreliable services and cancellations. Connex has failed to deliver reliable and frequent rail services and it is imperative that the State Government resolves this ongoing situation.

Meanwhile, lobby group Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has called for Connex’s contract not to be renewed after it expires next year.

The PTUA is proposing a model similar to that used within cities such as Zurich, and the Australian example of Perth, where there is an independent public transport authority that retains control over scheduling, maintenance and coordination. Private operators would be charged with the responsibility of operating their services on a fee-for-service basis with terms determined by the relevant transport authority.

PTUA president Daniel Bowen said Connex had been aware of brake problems on its Siemens trains for more than two years but still went ahead with plans to scrap its older Hitachi trains.

The current arrangements simply allow for buck-passing between the State Government and operators such as Connex, so that no one appears to take any real responsibility for the decaying state of Melbourne’s rail system. Rail passengers have been rightfully concerned about ongoing cancellations, despite claims by Connex that the indefinite withdrawal of services would improve reliability:

Mr Makin said passengers were most concerned about ongoing cancellations. “Connex claimed that by withdrawing 37 services it would provide certainty and yet passengers are now facing another spate of quite random cancellations.”

Melbourne’s rail passengers and public transport users need to show that they expect action and resolution to the ongoing reliability issues plaguing Connex. The State Government knew about the braking issues back in 2004 and yet failed to act responsibly at the time.

“We urge rail passengers to express their frustration to local politicians and to the transport minister. It’s quite clear that action is required.”

The State Government must take responsibility and start implementing a structure that will lead to higher accountability and a higher level of service for Melbourne’s public trnasport users.

Media Release: Successful project a hopeful sign of things to come

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While the Middleborough Road grade separation has definitely had its share of teething problems, the fact that the project will be completed two weeks early, marking what will hopefully be an end to era of projects being delivered over time and over budget.

While the early completion of the project is a positive outcome, the State Government must learn a number of lessons from this project, including the need to ensure positive and timely community engagement and to ensure that effected residents (such as Laburnum residents in this case) are provided with a higher level of care and replacement services.

On the whole, the early completion of the project is a positive and the replacement bus services between Blackburn and Box Hill, which ensured relatively seamless integration with rail services must serve as a role model for any future rail interruptions.

In recognition of the early completion date the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has issued the following media release:

Continue reading “Media Release: Successful project a hopeful sign of things to come”

Maroondah Leader: Holiday schedule causes delays

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The ad hoc implementation of summer timetables demonstrates that the extent of the poor integration faced with Melbourne’s public transport. With buses, trams and trains all having differing summer timetable dates overall coordination and ease of use is restricted during the ‘summer timetable period’.

The Maroondah Leader has reported on the effects that summer timetables have for Maroondah residents who are largely served by National bus services.

PUBLIC transport users say Maroondah commuters face long waiting times over summer because train, tram and bus schedules are out of sync.

Of particular concern is the fact that bus routes formerly operated by National Bus Company (and now operated by Ventura) have punitive off-peak service cutbacks meaning that passengers that want to use public transport for recreational trips (such as students) are faced with a mere hourly service.

Alex Makin, a Maroondah councillor and vice-president of the Public Transport Users Association, has called for an end to summer timetables and service cutbacks.

“The Ventura-owned National Bus Company, the main operator in Maroondah, is on a summer timetable for most of January,” Cr Makin said. “This means bus services are out of step with train arrivals and departures.

“An already poor service is, in effect, unusable.”

Melbourne’s metropolitan bus contracts are to be renewed this year, meaning the State Government is a unique and rare opportunity to end the haphazard and detrimental impact of off-peak service cuts on Melbourne’s bus routes.

“The problem is that reductions to train and tram services usually only affect peak hour runs, whereas bus operators cut their services by about 50 per cent across the board.”

While there may be a slight reduction in peak-hour travel, there is huge potential ensure that public transport is able to cater to the increased demand of recreational travel, particularly for students who are often managing a part time job and socialising.

Mr Makin said public transport operators should be aware that cutbacks created social isolation and made it difficult for secondary and tertiary students to work part-time or enjoy their holidays.

These off-peak service cuts could be a thing of the past, if the Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky, takes the initiative to remove such oddities from our public transport contracts.

Maroondah Journal: Bus use to rise as zones merge

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The Maroondah Journal has reported on the State Government’s reaffirming its election promise to abolish zone three in March.

The existence of zone three is one the ongoing inequities of Melbourne’s public transport system, where residents of Ringwood, Lilydale and Dandenong pay for more public transport despite living closer to the CBD than suburbs such as Hurstbridge.

Public Transport Users Association vice-president Alex Makin said zone three was one of the “great inequalities for people living in the outer east.”

The removal of zone three could provide an historic opportunity to increase public transport patronage, if service levels are improved simultaneously with the restructuring of the fare system.

He wanted the Government to better co-ordinate the different modes of public transport.

“We should see an increase in bus patronage as people [travel] to their closest railway stations. People won’t be driving their cars to get to stations in zone two.”

The Government must take this opportunity to demonstrate that Melbourne’s public transport system can function as an integrated network. Service coordination, between bus routes and the rail network, must be improved to provide people with a realistic alternative to driving and thus alleviate parking issues at rail stations.

MAV Melbourne 2030 Councillor Reference Group: Discussing the Melbourne 2030 audit process

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The Melbourne 2030 Councillor Reference provides a forum for councillors to discuss issues in relation to Melbourne 2030 and urban planning. Today’s meeting focused on Melbourne 2030 and the five-year review process with Halvard Dalheim, from the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) discussing the audit process of the strategy.

The audit, which is due to be completed by the end of 2007, will focus on the implementation of Melbourne 2030 and will compare reality with the aspirations of Melbourne 2030. In an encouraging sign, it was mentioned that policy gaps would be examined which should hopefully identify the lack of integration between transport and planning.

While it is often claimed that Melbourne 2030 provides a ‘whole of government approach’ reality has shown this to be untrue. The Department of Treasury and Finance has continually refused to sign off on the goals expressed in Melbourne 2030 and issues such as transport still fail to be viewed in a holistic manner.

The Government’s recently released Transport and Liveability Statement, known as Meeting Our Transport Challenges is a classic example of the ongoing disconnect between transport and planning. While Melbourne 2030 expressly includes the goal of increasing public transport modal share to 20% by 2020, the Government’s long-term transport statement fails to acknowledge this goal or even allow benchmarking against it.

Key reference groups for Melbourne 2030, including advisory groups hand picked by the State Government, have cited the poor integration between transport and land use planning as a key barrier to ensuring the holistic implementation of this framework for urban planning.

Melbourne 2030 will continue to flounder unless the State Government coordinates land use and planning and provides a fully funded implementation plan that extends much needed infrastructure to public transport poor suburbs. Unfortunately the recent move to split the Transport Portfolio into separate road and public transport ministerial positions provides little confidence that such integration will occur.

Through the Transport and Liveability Statement the State Government committed itself to creating the position of Coordinator General for Infrastructure “to improve whole of government coordination of transport and land use planning and policy.” (Source: Meeting Our Transport Challenges, 2006).

Unfortunately the Coordinator General has no reporting channels within the DSE (Planning) organisational chart and still needs to wade through the management structure of the DOI.

By contrast VicRoads maintains its unimpeded direct access to the Minister, the newly designated Roads and Ports Minister, Tim Pallas.

Lynne Kosky, as Minister for Public Transport is still new within the portfolio. It is yet to be seen whether she will address the shortcoming in Melbourne’s public transport planning and provision. It is also yet to be seen whether Justin Madden, the new Minister for Public Transport will rectify the lack of integration between transport and land use planning through the audit of Melbourne 2030.

The future of Melbourne depends on the actions of these two Ministers. Another seven years of rhetoric and inaction cannot be tolerated.

Herald-Sun: Tram, train, bus tangle

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The Herald-Sun has reported on the confusion that will ensue due to service cutbacks on public transport over most of January:

The annual Christmas present from public transport operators will include slashed train, tram and bus services for at least six weeks until mid-January.

Unfortunately the persistence of the summer timetable has demonstrated the continued failure of the State Government to operate a public transport system that reflects modern needs. In particular many students, who are on holidays over January, require reliable and frequent public transport to ensure access to employment and recreation.

But the Public Transport Users Association has attacked operators and the Government for again reducing the number of services over Christmas.

“There is no basis today for the continuation of the summer timetable, particularly one that is so drastically reduced,” vice-president Alex Makin said.

“The bureaucrats aren’t keeping up with modern trends and they’re not challenging the system to reflect modern needs. Particularly with flexible working hours, Melbourne does try to function as a 24-hour city.”

Like in previous years there has been a failure to properly integrate the service cutbacks to ensure that the modified train, tram and bus services have at the very least a consistent a start and finishing date. This lack of coordination demonstrates once again the failure to view public transport as part of an integrated network.

With bus contracts to be reviewed in 2007 there is an opportunity to ensure consistency across the bus network. In particular the former National bus routes (which includes bus routes in Manningham, Maroondah and Whitehorse), operate on a completely separate to the rest of the bus network resulting in the poor integration that is rife throughout metropolitan Melbourne.

Eastern Transport Coalition: Integrating Transport and Planning

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Tonight’s Eastern Transport Coalition meeting featured a presentation from Associate Professor of Environment of Planning, Michael Buxton of RMIT University.

Professor Buxton urged the Eastern Transport Coalition to view the Melbourne 2030 five year audit as an opportunity to push for truly integrated transport and land-use planning. Melbourne 2030, while containing sound theory, has been largely flawed in implementation due to the State Government failing to provide the necessary public transport and community infrastructure required to mitigate traffic congestion and improve environmental quality.

Furthermore Melbourne is vastly becoming home to very different cities, with a vibrant and diverse inner city area and sprawling middle and outer suburbs that lack necessary transport and community infrastructure.

Unfortunately the Government seems intent to continue its poor record of public transport projects with no rail or tram extensions being forecast for the next ten years. Furthermore while $7.2 billion was spent on major roads over the past seven years, just half on the $10.5 billion promised by the Government’s Transport and Liveability Statement (known as Meeting Our Transport Challenges) will actually be allocated towards public transport.

Melbourne 2030 and Meeting Our Transport Challenges have failed since they lack cross-sectoral integration between land use planning and transport. Furthermore the Department of Treasury and Finance (which controls the budget process) has refused to sign off on the goals of Melbourne 2030, including the goal of increasing public transport modal share to 20% by the year 2020.

As a classic example of the failure with Melbourne 2030, Ringwood, despite being designated a Transit City, is still without a firm commitment towards the desperately needed redevelopment of Ringwood Station.

The Eastern Transport Coalition, as a regional council grouping that includes almost one million residents, has a great opportunity to call for public transport improvements and a coordinated State Government approach on behalf of residents.

ABC 774 on public transport

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This afternoon Lindy Burns from ABC 774 interviewed me at an outside broadcast located at Southern Cross Station to discuss public transport issues in the lead up to the November state election.

Lindy stated that public transport and transport in general were major issues for the November State Election and highlighted the improvements that are required to ensure a frequent, reliable coordinated and readily available public transport system. As an example, in 1992 the frequency of trains were improved on the Sandringham line and overall coordination was increased. Due to these service improvements patronage increased by 38% demonstrating how crucial frequency improvements are to improving public transport modal share.

Unfortunately, over the last seven years the State Government has delivered nothing more than just tokenistic public transport improvements and nowhere is this more apparent than the bus network, which still fails to provide frequencies comparable to the train or tram network.

The $10.5 billion that was allocated over the next decade through the Transport and Liveability Statement (known as Meeting Our Transport Challenges) is more than enough to solve Melbourne’s transport woes but grossly misallocated. Rather than petty gestures priorities should have included rail network expansion in areas such as South Morang and Cranbourne East, both of which were promised rail extensions back in 1999. Instead the State Government is forcing the people of South Morang to now wait at least 10 to 15 years for their promised line and yet Whittlesea is fortunate compared to Cranbourne East, where the government has decided to neglect Melbourne’s fastest growing urban corridor by failing to plan or deliver the Cranbourne East rail extension.

While rail extensions are crucial for Melbourne’s growth areas, there is also a need to enhance the level of bus services to a standard comparable to the well-patronised tram network. Currently, most of Melbourne’s bus network is very confusing due to highly convoluted routes that are in a dire need of being overhauled.

The success of Perth, which has prioritised public transport projects, through doubling its rail network and providing frequent bus services, has allowed enhanced mobility and demonstrates just how far behind Melbourne is when it comes to international and national best practices.

With just over four weeks to the next State Election it is imperative that our political parties commit to securing the economic, social and environmental success of Melbourne by pledging to deliver real public transport improvements. After seven years of rhetoric Melbourne’s public transport system needs urgent action.