Whilst building new infrastructure is important for the development of a modern transportation system, most of the critical work required to develop, operate, maintain and manage it is relatively mundane. It requires addressing many service issues, maintenance, safety, system efficiency including providing priority on roads for buses and trams, network design, timetabling, service integration and more.
All require a systems based approach but none are monumental in appearance and the impact is ultimately reflected in service delivery. All of this must be consistent with a vision that achieves social, economic and environmental goals and a plan to achieve them based on good governance and standards of international best practice.
Unfortunately transport planning and investment has become politicised. The focus today is on monumental works designed to suit political agendas which provide opportunities for political aggrandisement, designed to win votes, particularly in marginal electorates, which increasingly comes at the expense of essential work required to operate, maintain and manage the transport system.
This change in focus has been evident for many years but is becoming increasingly apparent, and comes at great cost. This is reflected in articles by Patrick Hatch for The Age and other reports but the issues are diverse. They include poor maintenance of rail lines, country roads and other infrastructure which impact the delivery of passenger services and freight.
Shortfalls in maintenance funding on the standard gauge rail between Melbourne and Albury for example will seriously degrade passenger services on this line, but there are other examples. Lack of attention to service issues has resulted in declining patronage and cost recovery for all public transport services – particularly buses.
The neglect of safety issues on our roads has resulted in increased trauma (up 18%, the highest in fifteen years) and reduced mobility for school children, students and many who are socially/economically disadvantaged. This is reflected in increased school chauffeuring (Australian children are the most chauffeured in the world – over 80% of primary and 55% of secondary school students) and resulted in a range of social (particularly health), economic and environmental costs.
Low participation rates for active transport are the result of poor city planning and a failure to provide a safe environment for pedestrians and cyclists on roads. Transport emissions continue to rise reflecting the absence of a proper plan to meet greenhouse emission targets for transport generally within the state.
These are only some of the critical issues that need to be addressed and given top priority. There are many more, but they do not require conspicuous or monumental works. Like most transport issues they are not solved by simply throwing a lot money at them. They usually require a systems based approach, with a range of measures, many of which require funding, but often accompanied by organisation/behaviour change and regulatory or other measures supported by sophisticated implementation strategies to make it happen. They also demand specialist skills/expertise, financial prudence and high standards of governance.
None of these issues are unique to Melbourne or Victoria generally. They have been addressed by other cities and there are opportunities to learn from them and apply the lessons learnt here, particularly from cities that have become recognised as models of excellence.
What is required is a new government mindset driven by a willingness to learn from other cities, use this to set new priorities to improve the functioning of our transport system, address numerous failings and create a vision for the future. This must be one that anticipates the numerous threats and challenges our city and state faces in the future and provide a pathway to navigate them. But it must also recognise the imperative to make the system we have today effective and efficient, to aim for world best practice now so it can provide a sound basis on which to build for the future, recognising that this must be carried out in the most cost effective manner whilst meeting the social and community obligations of the entire community.
This is a complex challenge and requires a good understanding of the transport system, how it works and the expertise to make it happen at every level. This requires expert frank and fearless expert advice which has traditionally been provided to government by its civil service.
Unfortunately much of this expertise has been lost or outsourced, and often no longer provided in the frank and fearless manner that was once expected. The cost of poor policy and decision making is profound and has implications for the entire community. It can be seen in issues noted above ie the rising cost of road trauma and loss of patronage and freight on our rail lines, the damage to roads caused by heavy trucks carrying freight that should be carried by rail, the health impacts of pollution. It is reflected in the quality of delivery and cost overruns for major infrastructure projects. It is also reflected in the cost of car dependency more generally and the impact it has had on city development (suburban sprawl etc). But most importantly it has left policy planning in a vacuum – without any realistic vision for the future including challenges that must be faced and a pathway to address them.
These shortcomings were immediately obvious to Prof Marco te Brommelstroet, Chair of Urban Mobility at the University of Amsterdam, when he visited Melbourne recently. His concerns, reported by Patrick Hatch (The Age 14 September) “we need a conversation, not about infrastructure, transport and mobility but about the cost of cars dominating our city, for the environment, for society and especially for children”. Further, “that every child should have the right to public space, to roam, to be autonomous and the freedom to travel to school by themselves. He added “that something is going terribly wrong with young people’s mental health” and he believes designing cities to encourage connection to other people is part of the solution.
The impact of car dependency has been discussed for decades. Reducing it was once a priority and reflected in some of the earliest transport plans for Melbourne but it seems this goal is no longer of interest to politicians and paid lip service at best. But this will come back to haunt us as environmental pressures grow and force people to travel less often and more efficiently over shorter distances. Meaningful progress is possible and could be achieved relatively quickly but it requires a new mindset, particularly on the part of politicians and institutional change, with a willingness to learn lessons from international best practice and apply them here. But most importantly it requires a commitment to take the politics out of transport policy and planning and delegate it to experts with a new vision and priorities that reflect the interests of the broader community.