Tag: presentations

Eastern Transport Coalition: November meeting

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Tonight’s Eastern Transport Coalition covered a range of topics as the focus of the group begins to explore key issues that will be relevant for 2008.

The meeting included presentations from the Australian Greens and the Australian Democrats, both of whom are supportive of the need for federal involvement in urban public transport. While Family First, chose not to attend the meeting, I am aware that the Party has announced a policy supporting federal funding for public transport infrastructure.

This is significant, since each of the minor parties represented in Federal Parliament, support the notion of federal involvement in urban public transport. The discussions with the Greens and Democrats were fruitful, with both parties recognising the social, environmental and economic benefits of public transport improvements in the eastern suburbs and suggesting the use of the Senate as a method to raise awareness of the issue within Federal Parliament.

Regardless of the Federal election outcome, announcements such as the $80 million for the grade separation of Springvale Road Nunawading, provide a framework to advocate for partnerships between federal and local governments. This will allow public transport infrastructure to be included within such projects and allow both local and federal governments to hold the State government accountable for much needed public transport improvements.

The Eastern Transport Coalition has also continued its focus on the State Government with a presentation provided in regard to the Transport Legislation Review. The ETC will be authoring a submission that calls on the State Government to prioritise sustainable transport, as well as officially recognise the Government’s own target of increasing public transport modal share to 20% by the year 2020.

The current transport legislation review also draws into question the current lack of integration between VicRoads and the Public Transport Division of the Department of Infrastructure. While legislation may assist in improving outcomes, it will be hampered until physical integration between the Roads Authority (VicRoads) and the Public Transport Division is accomplished. VicRoads, as a statutory authority, enjoys a number of benefits that are not available to the public transport division which sits within the broader Department of Infrastructure.

This is clearly demonstrated in regard to the Maroondah Highway pedestrian crossing between Ringwood Station and Eastland. Despite the fact that the crossing is the most widely used within Maroondah, with over 5000 pedestrians daily, and links the Station with the retail and residential precincts of the Ringwood Transit City, VicRoads has currently been reluctant to improve the crossing.

Physical integration of government departments would follow examples in both Western Australia, with its integrated transport and planning department, and Queensland, which has a Coordinator-General’s department that as a statutory authority provides a whole of government referral authority.

The need for not just legislative integration but departmental integration is clear, with the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability stating that “A more streamlined approach to land use and transport integration in Victoria would be possible if a single strategic authority were established.”

It is anticipated that both the Legislation Review and the VCEC Inquiry to Melbourne’s Liveability will be a significant focus for the Eastern Transport Coalition in 2008, as we continue to call on the State Government to improve public transport in the eastern suburbs.

Melbourne 2030 Reference Group: 'Creating A City That Works'

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As part of today’s meeting of the Melbourne 2030 Reference Group I was invited to introduce the Eastern Transport Coalition and to discuss ‘Creating A City That Works’, a report compiled by the Commissioner for Environmental Sustainability.

The presentation provided an opportunity to discuss the aims of the Eastern Transport Coalition and its goals on improving the sustainability of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs through advocating for public transport improvements.

The report, which was released in May 2007 examined the sustainability of Melbourne and had three key findings:

  • The need for stronger coordination between planning and transport
  • The need for better coordination between roads and public transport
  • The fact that current unsustainable urban trends, such as failing to provide effective public transport, cannot continue.

Passenger vehicles contribute 56% of Australia’s transport related emissions, meaning public transport and providing an alternative to car dependence, will be a requirement for any effective strategy that aims to reduce greenhouse emissions.

The current Victorian State Government has proposed legislation that will enshrine greenhouse reduction targets, these will not be achieved unless public transport is improved. The lack of a detailed action plan and interim targets for achieving the State Government’s goal of 20% public transport modal share by 2020 is particularly concerning.

public transport modal share (source: 07-08 State Budget)

While the number of people using public transport has increased, modal share according to the 2007-2008 State Budget papers has remained around 9%. The lack of interim targets and a detailed plan to achieve these goals makes it difficult to measure its progress. While the State Government continues to support its lacklustre transport strategy, Meeting Our Transport Challenges, the Commissioner demonstrated that the patronage targets were not ‘strongly reiterated as a policy that drives MoTC [Meeting Our Transport Challenges]’

Furthermore the Commissioner stated that “The 20/2020 target needs to be supported with a series of clear intermediate steps that show how it will be achieved.”

It is clear that the State Government must revise its transport policies if it intends to truly designate public transport as a priority.

The ongoing lack of coordination between public transport, roads and planning has had serious ramifications at a local level, particularly in regard to the Ringwood Transit City. State Government support for Ringwood has been marred with uncertainty, including the current lack of commitment over the much needed upgrade of Ringwood Station and improvements for pedestrians attempting to cross Maroondah Highway.

The desire to improve pedestrian access in Ringwood, such as providing less waiting time for pedestrians across Maroondah Highway has been continually stymied due to the lack of coordination between VicRoads and the Public Transport Division of the Department of Infrastructure.

Likewise the current inadequate rail frequencies beyond Ringwood, which result in a mere half hourly service during weekdays and an even worse frequency of bus services, restricts the potential for public transport to reduce car dependence within the centre of Ringwood.

As the ward councillor for much of the transit city area, I have been insisting on improvements to sustainability, such as footpath construction with new developments and water and energy sustainability, but a commitment from the State Government is required to ensure the provision of public transport improvements.

If coordination between State Government departments was improved and if an action plan and interim targets were developed to secure the goal of increasing public transport modal share to the 20% by 2020 then a commitment to the redevelopment of Ringwood Station and other public transport improvements would have been readily provided.

The next State Budget, due in May 2008, will test the State Government’s commitment to both Ringwood and our urban sustainability.

Scoot Wheel N Move panel preparation

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Today’s Scoot Wheel N Move meeting included a discussion with other panelists for the Good Access = Good Business discussion forum next Thursday.

The panel will consist of:

  • Ben from Maroondah Home Healthcare;
  • Pam Usher from Invicta Bus Company;
  • Robyn from Glen Park Community Centre;
  • John from Scoot Wheel N Move;
  • and myself as a Councillor for the City of Maroondah

The panel includes a mixture of businesses, community members and organisations and will provide their thoughts on accessibility and inclusiveness within Maroondah. Good access means more than just having an accessible entrance into a shop it also includes uncluttered aisles, accessible counters and customer service.

The panel discussion is part of a range of presentations that will feature in the Good Access = Good Business discussion forum held at Maroondah Federation Estate from 10:30 on Thursday the 4th of October.

MAV Meeting of Transport Coalitions

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The Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), the peak body representing local government within Victoria, organised a meeting of transport coalitions to ensure cooperation between the different local government and community organisations that are advocating for public transport improvements.

Presentations were delivered by the:

  • Western Transport Alliance;
  • Eastern Transport Coalition;
  • Metropolitan Transport Forum;
  • Coalition for People’s Transport (including the PTUA);

There is broad agreement between the various organisations that improved public transport is critical to the economic, social and environmental wellbeing of Melbourne and that the State Government must start to deliver results. Likewise, there was also consensus that the Federal Government has a role to play in keeping State Governments accountable.

With rising petrol prices and further pressures on housing affordability, public transport improvements are critical to alleviating ongoing financial hardship for families. With car dependence often costing households to 30% of their income it is clear that sustainable transport – including much need rail extensions and further bus improvements are required to ensure an economically vibrant Melbourne.

Presentation on urban sustainability and transport

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This afternoon I was invited to deliver a presentation exploring the linkages between urban sustainability and public transport to the 41st Annual Geography Conference organised by the Geography Teachers Association of Victoria (GTAV).

The hour-long presentation provided a synopsis on the economic, social and environmental benefits of public transport, investigated current urban policies and examined Ringwood as a case study to demonstrate the interdependence between urban sustainability and public transport.

While the State Government appears to have neglected its goal of increasing public transport modal share to 20% by the year 2020, this target is required to mitigate rising congestion. With an annual cost of $4 billion annually, congestion is currently outpacing Melbourne’s population growth. Likewise the provision of public transport will provide transport choice to the many outer suburban households that are struggling due to rising petrol prices and the fact that private transport consumes up to 20% of budgets within these households.

The lack of public transport in Melbourne’s outer suburbs can also place non-car households at a significant disadvantage and limit the ability to participate in employment, educational, community and recreational opportunities. Similarly, obesity and health issues such as diabetes, can be symptomatic of car dependent suburbs where the potential to exercise is diminished.

In regard to environmental sustainability, transport accounts for 17% of Australia’s national greenhouse emissions and is the fastest growing sector of emissions. The figures are even more stark for individual households, where due to car dependence, transport is responsible for up to 49% of greenhouse emissions and is the largest contributing source of emissions within households.

These and other costs mean that car dependence is not sustainable and that urban sustainability cannot be achieved under current practices. While it may be claimed that excessive car usage contributes to the economy, when equating the economic, social and environmental impacts of car dependence there is an annual deficit of $16.3 billion.

Melbourne 2030, the State Government’s urban planning strategy was supposed to achieve a more sustainable future for Melbourne. While the plan identified numerous activity centres, each of which are earmarked for urban development, the public transport network that was supposed to cater to these urban centres remains underdeveloped.

This is even more apparent in the purpose-built activity centres that were initially designed to showcase the integration that was to result between transport and planning. Activity centres such as South Morang, Cranbourne East and Wyndham Vale have been denied much needed rail extensions despite their location within the rapidly developing growth corridors.

The problems experienced with Melbourne’s public transport system, such as unreliable train services, infrequent and poorly connected bus services and trams that terminate short of logical destinations can be resolved, but it requires Government will. Within Australia, Perth has proven to be an example of the improvements that can result from an integration between transport and planning and a commitment to urban sustainability. As an example, Perth recently doubled the size of its rail network, including the construction of a new 70km rail line (twice the distance of the CBD to Dandenong) and new stations are built simultaneously with urban development.

The integration that has borne results in Perth needs to be implemented in Melbourne, particularly for designated transit cities such as Ringwood. The suburb of Ringwood, located 27km east of Melbourne’s CBD, has been designated an area of higher density development but the State Government has been lacklustre in its commitment to improving public transport.

Ringwood currently suffers due to a disjointed retail precinct and transport hub which requires pedestrians to cross a six lane highway. Despite the goals of creating a sustainable community, the State Government and VicRoads have currently refused requests to make it easier to cross Maroondah Highway. Coupled with poor public transport, which includes making public transport users wait up to half an hour to travel between Ringwood and Croydon, the current culture of car dependence is exacerbated and potentially jeopardises the ability to create green open space and a new heart for Ringwood. Furthermore the lack of commitment over the redevelopment of Ringwood Station has created uncertainty for major developers resulting in unnecessary delays.

Each of these issues are interrelated, since due to poor public transport there is less open space which creates a pedestrian hostile environment and investment delays as developers wait for these issues to be rectified. While 40% of land in Melbourne used for roads and carparks, a staggering 62% of land within Ringwood is used for these purposes, leaving less land available for residential, commercial and community purposes.

While new developments, such as three storey residential buildings, are occurring the investment in public transport and hence the investor confidence in larger commercial developments is not. In particular, while residents within these new developments are encouraged to use public transport, walking and cycling as a form of travel this will not be sustainable if public transport is not improved.

Poor public transport connectivity and a lack of frequent bus services along main roads, such as Maroondah Highway, Canterbury and Wonga Roads, means that public transport usage will remain limited due to the fact that these poor levels of service fail to provide a real transport choice. The State Government must deliver significant public transport improvements to demonstrate that it is committed to creating a sustainable community within Ringwood.

The provision of sustainable transport is a key component of creating a sustainable community and increasing economic, social and environmental pressures means that action is required.

Maroondah Climate Change Action Group: the Science, Politics and Solutions on Climate Change

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The Maroondah Climate Change Action Group was formed earlier this year to advocate to all levels of government on the need for action in regard to climate change and to educate the wider Maroondah community on the need for greater environmental sustainability. In working towards these aims, the group organised a public presentation at the Karralyka Centre which explored the growing consensus around climate change and the solutions that are available.

The presentation included two speakers, Dr. Peter Christoff, the Vice-President of the Australian Conservation Society and Professor at the School of Social and Environmental Enquiry at the University of Melbourne and Mark Wakeham from Greenpeace.

Dr. Christoff, who was trained to deliver presentations on Al Gore’s film An Inconvenient Truth, was able to reinforce his presentation with a number of localised examples, showing the repercussions that climate change would present to Australia. While the focus of the presentation was in regard to energy, Dr. Christoff did make reference to the damage being caused by the transport sector, which remains Australia’s fastest growing source of emissions.

Mark Wakeham spoke about the need for greenhouse reduction targets, but failed to provide any indication as to whether political parties would in reality meet such goals. While setting greenhouse reduction targets might be seen as a positive step forward, there is a need for a detailed implementation plan to achieve such goals.

As an example, the State Government has targets to increase rail freight usage to 30% by the year 2010 and public transport modal share to 20% by 2020. In the case of the freight goal, the trends have shown a decline in rail freight usage, demonstrating a complete failure to achieve this target. In regard to public transport modal share, the State Government has still failed to provide a detailed implementation plan that would work towards increasing modal share above the current figure of 9%. While more people are using public transport, more people are also driving showing very little improvement in achieving this target and a lack of conviction on the part of the State Government.

It is easy for political parties to set goals, it is more difficult for them to actually maintain the conviction to achieve such goals, particularly when target dates such as 2050 are chosen. Electorates should remain cynical until a detailed implementation plan is provided with interim targets to benchmark performance.

2007 Rail Infrastructure Summit

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I was invited to the 2007 Infrastructure Summit as part of a panel to discuss public transport infrastructure and the improvements required to maintain patronage growth and mitigate rising traffic congestion.

Each panellist was provided with the opportunity to deliver a five minute presentation and during this time I covered the economic, social and environmental factors that necessitate the delivery of much needed public transport improvements. While the State Government may claim that it has been overwhelmed by recent patronage increases, the reality is that this should have been expected and encouraged, if the Government was sincere about achieving the goal of 20% public transport modal share by the year 2020.

Modal share data, which is available as Appendix B of the recent State Budget papers, shows very little growth in the proportion of people that use public transport versus the proportion of people that are driving, thereby demonstrating a lack of government commitment to this modal share target.

It is interesting to note that the corresponding VicRoads data for the 2005-06 period highlighted a slight reduction in road use with the total vehicle kilometres travelled decreasing by 1.9% within inner Melbourne but by just 0.3 in the outer suburbs. Given the high price of petrol over that period, this data clearly demonstrates the deficiencies that exist in Melbourne’s public transport system, since outer suburban residents are not provided with the same public transport options that are available to inner Melbourne.

Public transport modal share (source: Appendix B - State Budget Papers 2007-2008)

It is clear that the State Government needs to go beyond the projects it listed in its policy document Meeting Our Transport Challenges and commit to the delivery of frequent train, tram and bus services across metropolitan Melbourne. This includes the need to bring forward much needed rail extensions, new tram extensions and further bus improvements. Reports such as the Government commissioned Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission (VCEC) inquiry into traffic congestion and the Environmental Sustainability Commissioner’s recent report into Melbourne’s sustainability confirm this view.

Migrant Information Centre – Outer East Voices DVD Launch

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The Outer East Voices project is a jointly initiative between the Migrant Information Centre, VicHealth and with a partnership including the Cities of Maroondah and Knox. The project, aimed at both primary and high school students, allowed young people to meet other people from diverse communities to promote friendship and to learn skills in filmmaking and digital imagery.

The outcome of the project, a DVD which interviewed school students on diversity and views of Australia, was launched at EV’s Youth Centre to showcase the skills demonstrated by the young people involved in the project. The DVD will be used to discuss issues such as friendship, identity and multiculturalism within the school curriculum.

The launch included presentations from the participants of the program, who demonstrated the skills and experienced gained through the project and allowed them to talk about their experiences living in eastern Melbourne. The DVD will be available from the Migrant Information Centre within the next month.

MAV Transport and Infrastructure Advisory Group – May 2007 meeting

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This month’s Transport and Infrastructure Group included presentations from the Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) who discussed the Federal Government’s AusLink program and Meredith Sussex, the Coordinator General of Infrastructure, who spoke about her role within the Department of Infrastructure.

The Melbourne 2030 review process, which is expected to formally include community input in the latter half of the year will be the key testament as to how seriously the government views the need to integrate land-use planning and transport. While Melbourne 2030 and the Government’s Meeting Our Transport Challenges both claimed to provide such integration, reality has demonstrated that this is still sorely lacking.

MAV Meeting of Transport Coalitions

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With a number of council initiated groups being formed to tackle Melbourne’s ongoing transport woes, the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) organised a joint meeting between these groups to ensure a coordinated approach to these issues.

Presentations were made by the:

  • Metropolitan Transport Forum (MTF);
  • Western Transport Alliance;
  • Eastern Transport Coalition;
  • Coalition for People’s Transport, and
  • MAV Transport and Infrastructure Group.

A number of similar issues emerged throughout the presentations. This included the need for the State Government to provide much needed investment in rail extensions, the need for the East-West Needs Assessment to incorporate public transport improvements, and the scope for federal involvement in public transport.

In particular the East-West Needs Assessment will be a clear test of the State Government’s commitment to sustainable transport. The study which is due to provide its findings next year must include recommendations for substantial public transport improvements including, heavy-rail to Doncaster and a boost to rail services in the western suburbs.