Tag: department of infrastructure

Blackburn and The End of Suburbia

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Following the success of the Rowville End of Suburbia screening the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) in conjunction with Environment Victoria (EV) and Friends of the Earth hosted an End of Suburbia screening in Blackburn at the Blackburn Lake Visitors Centre.

Like Rowville the event attracted almost 100 attendees and was followed by discussion from the public. Short presentations were also featured by myself, as PTUA outer east branch convener and Dr. Sherry Mayo of the Australian Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas (ASPO).

Addressing the audience at Blackburn with Dr. Sherry Mayo

ASPO-Australia is an association of researchers, professionals and others with an interest in the study of peak oil and is part of a wider network of organisations affiliated with the original Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas.Since the Rowville screening of the End of Suburbia discussion in regard to the causes behind rising petrol prices has progress significantly with Four Corners on the ABC conducting a report on Peak Oil.

With transport costs being on average one of the highest items in a household budget, around 15% of costs but as high as 20% in suburbs poorly by public transport, it is clear that rising petrol prices are causing considerable strain on household budgets and that an alternative to car dependence is urgently required.

Please continue reading to view a transcript of my speech delivered this screening of the End of Suburbia.

Continue reading “Blackburn and The End of Suburbia”

Public Meeting: Help ensure a better station for Laburnum

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Tonight on behalf of the Public Transport Users Association I had the opportunity to address the Laburnum community in regard to the grade separation of Middleborough Road.

Laburnum Community Meeting

While grade separations are a good initiative it is unfortunate that the State Government has released for Middleborough Road that are fatally flawed. Over one hundred attendees flocked to this public meeting to voice their concerns over the lack of consultation and secrecy that has surrounded this project. Considering that the State Government promised to deliver the grade separation of Middleborough Road since 2002 it is abysmal that the government has been unwilling to engage the community over the past four years.

Residents of Laburnum are rightfully concerned about plans that diminish access to Laburnum Station and appear to view the concerns of public transport users and local residents as an afterthought. The current proposal will hamper pedestrian access to Laburnum Station and will fail to take into account cycling access. While residents overwhelmingly supported grade separation initiatives there was next to no support for the current Middleborough Road proposal due to the failure to engage the community and address public transport concerns.

A number of resolutions were passed including:

  • That the community supports grade separations but not the current Middleborough Road proposal;
  • That there must not be a net reduction in services to Laburnum Station;
  • That there must be an improvement to the amenity of Laburnum Station;
  • That pedestrian and cycling access to Laburnum Station be improved.

The Laburnum community is right to expect better. The State Government must admit that the process to date has been flawed and must now engage the local community to create a project that meets public expectations. Unfortunately the State Government will continue to deliver poor results until the Bracks Government finally creates an open and accountable transport authority that is charged with meeting the goals of improving public transport usage. After six years of broken promises, cost blow-outs and delayed projects the Bracks Government must surely realise that an overhaul of VicRoads and the Department of Infrastructure is required.

The Laburnum Community must not be expected to embrace flawed designs simply because the Government is unable to provide the expertise and leadership required for such projects.

The Age: Public transport on track for relief

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The Age has today reported on rising speculation about the contents of the upcoming Transport and Liveability Statement. This statement aims to achieve integration between transport, planning and budgetary outcomes – an extremely noticeable failure of the much criticised Metropolitan Transport Plan (released November 2005) and Melbourne 2030.

It is no secret that Melbourne’s bus network is extremely poor compared to services in other capital cities and compared to the operating span and frequency of Melbourne’s own tram network. It is therefore hoped that the rising speculation and optimism about bus services will actually eventuate:

Long-suffering bus passengers are also in for relief with the statement expected to introduce minimum service levels on all routes, including night and Sunday services.

Buses are the only accessible form of public transport for about two-thirds of Melburnians, yet only one-third of routes offer Sunday services.

Public pressure has also resulted in a statement that is widely expected to include a number of public transport projects:

The Government is anxious about the pressure that rising petrol prices have put on creaking public transport services, contributing to a 7 per cent hike in patronage last year. Sensitivity also follows The Age’s “Off the Rails” series in November that highlighted widespread anger over the state of the system.

Most interestingly is the hope that the South Morang extension, a promise unfulfilled by the Bracks Government since 1999 may in fact be a key outcome of the statement:

The Department of Infrastructure is believed to have sought Government commitment to the South Morang extension of the Epping line, a project promised in 1999 but which appeared to drop off the Government agenda last year along with other rail extensions.

The success of the inclusion of much needed public transport rail extensions demonstrates the effect that lobby groups can have on government policy.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Alex Makin said he was heartened by the speculation of rail expansion and bus service improvements.

“Melbourne has been promised many public transport projects by the Bracks Government and yet so few have been delivered,” he said. “The Government must ensure that this statement restores a sense of goodwill in the Government’s handling of public transport.”

The Age: Bid to unite transport, planning

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The Age recently conducted a number of features exploring the woes facing Melbourne’s public transport system.

The difficulties facing Melbourne’s public transport stem from the lack of leadership provided by the State Government in ensuring progress towards the goal of increasing public transport modal share to 20% by the year 2020. In fact public transport modal share has remained static at 9%, due to long promised rail extensions being delayed and dismal bus services that often fail to run during evenings or on weekends.

People cannot use public transport if no public transport is available. Likewise people will not use public transport while it is slow, infrequent and overtly complex. Melbourne’s bus network needs to be streamlined and the SmartBus program, which delivers frequent and readily bus services must be accelerated.

The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) released its five year plan as did the Metropolitan Transport Forum (MTF) and the Committee for Melbourne (which includes transport operators).

It is ridiculous that major roads such as Canterbury Road or Maroondah Highway do not have bus services seven days per week from morning through to midnight. While some improvements will be provided (including the Stud Road SmartBus and Sunday bus services for Maroondah Highway) these are just the beginning.

Likewise it is hypocritical for the government to establish an urban growth boundary and speak about sustainable development when many of the outer areas of Melbourne lack fixed rail access. For example, it is invalid and contradictory to envisage high-density development in Doncaster Hill when there is little public transport available to provide travel options for residents other than already congested roads.

The reason Melbourne’s public transport is not being upgraded is due to the fact that the government has failed to successfully integrate the functions of planning and transport. This is despite Melbourne 2030 and its goal for integrated planning which envisaged transport provision being kept apace with urban growth and revitalisation.

Five years ago Perth embarked on a similar Metropolitan Strategy and revitalised its ailing public transport system through linking public transport improvements with urban revitalisation and development. In Perth it was successful but in Melbourne this strategy is failing.

The Western Australian Government (headed by Labor’s Geoff Gallop) has an integrated Infrastructure (responsible for Transport) and Planning Portfolio, in Victoria we have separate Planning and Transport portfolios and a statutory authority known as VicRoads which has direct access to the Minister. In Perth the equivalent of VicRoads was merged into a combined Transport entity ensuring that all transport decisions were decided on merit.

As The Age reports, numerous groups from different perspectives and backgrounds have called for a similar overhaul to occur in Victoria:

GROUPS as diverse as local councils, employers’ representatives and public transport users have called for an overhaul of the way Victoria manages transport and urban planning.

Victoria needs a more “holistic” approach, says Robert Dunlop, infrastructure spokesman for the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Macquarie Bank executive director.

Peter Newman is one of Australia’s most respected transport planners and was responsible for the revitalisation of Perth:

A similar demand was a key priority in a report by the Metropolitan Transport Forum, a transport lobby made up of a group of Melbourne councils.

Co-written by leading transport planner Professor Peter Newman, the report says Victoria needs “an accountable and integrated transport planning agency”.

Professor Newman told The Age that VicRoads was a formidable bureaucracy, with much greater access to power and funds than the public transport directorate, which is submerged within the Department of Infrastructure.

“It would be good to see them get back on a more even footing,” he said.

Ultimately the advantages VicRoads has over the Public Transport Division of the Department of Infrastructure affects the outcome of transport decisions:

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Alex Makin pointed to VicRoads’ $1 billion annual budget, saying it spent money “making plans for new roads we don’t need and then lobbying government, business groups and the media to get them built”.

Under 2030 the Government says it wants to double public transport use by 2020. But there is increasing doubt that this can be achieved without a major rethink on transport priorities.

Based on the current lack of progress towards improving public transport modal share, the goals of Melbourne 2030 will remain unachievable until transport and planning is truly integrated:

Critics point to Western Australia, where planning and transport is combined under one minister and where Perth is now celebrated for major public transport reforms and new rail lines in particular.

“The success in transforming Perth from a public transport backwater into a public transport-oriented city occurred due to the merging of the transport and planning functions,” said Mr Makin.

Unfortunately the lack of response from the current Transport Minister makes it appear that the government is once again unwilling to undertake the necessary reforms:

Last night Transport Minister Peter Batchelor did not respond directly to a question when asked whether an overhaul of transport and planning was possible.

The Bracks Government’s self appointed Infrastructure Planning Council recommended the merger of VicRoads and the Department of Infrastructure back in 2002. The lack of progress made by the Bracks Government towards improving public transport has demonstrated just how foolish it was to ignore this independent advice.

Until the government acknowledges that Melbourne 2030 is doomed to fail unless VicRoads is abolished and planning and transport integrated through the appointment and responsibility of one Minister very little will actually improve within Melbourne and Victoria.

Governmental Organisational Impediments – Action Buried by Bureaucracy

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As detailed in my presentation to RMIT’s Integrated Transport Planning Course delivered on Friday the 2nd of September one of my major concerns regarding the lack of progress towards the goal of increasing public transport patronage stems from the poor integration that exists between government departments, such as the Department of Infrastructure (DOI) and the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE).

While the goal of higher urban density as supported by the DSE is proceeding rapidly, the provision of better public transport under the jurisdiction of the DOI has been minimal. Furthermore the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) has not signed off on the goal of increasing public transport modal share to 20% by 2020, meaning that the department which controls the final allocation of budgetary funding is failing to support the key goals of Melbourne 2030.

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Presentation: Integrated Transport Planning

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Today, upon invitation from Dr. Robin Goodman, the Postgraduate Course Coordinator for the Environment and Planning Program at RMIT, I presented a community perspective into the Ringwood Transit City Project for RMIT’s Integrated Transport Planning Course.

Given that the course focused on Transport and Planning, my presentation covered the current issues in Ringwood, examining the four areas of public transport, planning, pedestrian/cycling linkages and green open space and the fact that these four key areas are interrelated.

For example since there is poor public transport within Ringwood, this leads to a need for excessive car parks resulting in less green open space, which in turn creates a pedestrian hostile environment and results in bad planning outcomes.

The cyclical nature of these four components is already evident within Ringwood, where 62% of land consists of roads and car parks, against a Melbourne wide average of just 40%. This leaves only a minority of land available for community, residential or commercial purposes a and is a startling contrast to the rest of Melbourne.

There is little disagreement that Ringwood must become a ‘destination’ for it to thrive. That means Ringwood must become a destination in which people want to live and a destination for business, enabling people to work, shop and trade within Ringwood. Unless public transport is improved, unless there is more green open space, unless Ringwood becomes pedestrian and cycling friendly and unless there is suitable development – the aim of making Ringwood a destination will not occur.

Unfortunately the lack of integration between government departments, in particular the Department of Infrastructure (DOI), which funds public transport and infrastructure projects, and the Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE), hampers these efforts. This is further exemplified through the fact that the Department of Treasury and Finance (DTF) has failed to support Melbourne 2030 and the goal of increasing public transport patronage. The DTF has such little regard for Melbourne 2030 that it has even failed to sign off as a department on the goal of ensuring 20% public transport modal share by the year 2020.


This has ultimately resulted in Melbourne 2030 being nothing more than a disappointment since the government has failed to provide any real leadership in ensuring the success of this plan.

This disjointed approach is apparent with the failure to include bus services along key major roads, such as Maroondah Highway, Canterbury Road and Wonga Road, as part of the principal public transport network.

Including these routes as part of the principal public transport network would ensure services that would operate seven days per week from early morning to midnight.

The failure to include Maroondah Highway on the principal public transport network, for example means that the main thoroughfare linking Ringwood to Croydon and Lilydale is considered nothing more than a local road.

Melbourne 2030 will continue to disappoint until there is real integration at both a Ministerial and Departmental level. This will only occur once if there is a combined Infrastructure and Planning Portfolio, to provide the crucial linkage required between transport, infrastructure development and planning.


Until such integration is finally provided, including the linking of State Budgets to the outcomes of Melbourne 2030, the Government will deliver nothing but continue to largely disappointment in regard to planning and transport outcomes. The State Government must show leadership and create a combined Infrastructure and Planning Portfolio to save Melbourne 2030 from further failure.