AU: Losing our way on roads

[phantom power]

Access to public transport should be as universal and as easy as access to roads.

Everyone pays for public transport, first through taxes and then through fares, and it is time everyone had access to it, just as they do to roads. Instead, Melbourne's transport planning has for decades been focused on building more roads while applying pain-killing injections to a moribund public transport network.

...

One of the reasons rail projects are so expensive in this country is because they are built on such an ad-hoc, infrequent basis. It has become a dark art, so much so that a rail upgrade from Seymour to Albury has run into problems with train services cancelled after new sleepers reportedly sank in the mud.

Victoria's Department of Transport has outsourced much of its technical expertise to large private consortiums making a mint from taxpayers. Maybe it is time for a federal department to order a pipeline of rail projects in cities around Australia, providing certainty to industry, building rail expertise and reducing the time and cost of rail projects.

...

Tolls are the equivalent of the fares paid by users of public transport. It is time to start tolling existing roads and directing every cent to new public transport - rail links to Doncaster, Rowville, Mernda and Melbourne's newest communities on the city's fringe.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/losing-our-way-on-roads-20100829-13xhd.html

[depakid]

1. The Greens may well end up holding the balance of power in Victoria after the next election

in which case, the usual ministries they're awarded include transport.

It's interesting to note when I read these articles to note that for all the whinging, rail and public transport is pretty decent and is being expanded around the country and in Victoria:

http://www.premier.vic.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/minister-for-public-transport.html

To a far greater degree than in the US.

The Greens of course, will do it better because we have comprehensive planning and sustainability policies to go along with out commitment to public transportation.

http://greens.org.au/sites/greens.org.au/files/G5%20SustainablePlanningAndTransport%20Nov%202009.pdf