Category: advocacy

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

Rail Failings Require First-Class Response

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 05/04/2023
2 Comments on Rail Failings Require First-Class Response

Whilst it is important that government gets value for money under the franchise agreement for the maintenance and renewal of railway assets, proper maintenance of railway assets is critical for the delivery of a safe and reliable service that must be carried out as efficiently as possible in line with best practice. Such an outcome should be expected by a responsible government but has not been realised for many years and was the subject of a Victorian Auditor General (VAGO) report in February 2023.

Concerns about this state of affairs were raised by Dr John Stone (Melbourne University) in his report in 2016 when the franchise agreement was being renewed. In his report Stone asked:

Who is driving the capital works and major maintenance program?

Does government have a strategic vision for asset renewal and maintenance and what are the indicators of progress?
Does PTV have strong tendering and procurement skills, necessary to ensure Government aims and objectives are realised in a way that provides value for money, particularly as crucial skills were leaking to the private sector or being downsized in the Department which was likely to compromise its ability to design, implement and administer the franchise agreement?
To what extent is Metro Trains (MTM) steering maintenance and renewal programs and taking control of capital assets?
Which renewals are done under the infrastructure lease and which are under projects agreement and who drives decisions about “enhancement” and cross subsidisation?

More specific concerns were raised about higher renumeration rates provided for “project” (enhancement) works compared to essential maintenance and renewal works and the opportunity this provided for the franchisee to maximise financial returns (for shareholders) at the expense of essential maintenance.

Stone also questioned who is likely to bid against MTM in 2023 and whether this may end up becoming a private monopoly that exploits the government and Victorians as a whole. He listed five ways to protect the public interest:

Strong and public negotiation of rollover
Separate and consistent reporting of expenditure
Shows maintenance and renewal linked to long term outcomes
Strengthen public sector skills.

We would add a further concern about the performance targets set by government for the franchisee which we believe are far too low and well short of world best practice. This has implications for government as well ie to provide the environment in which higher performance standards can be achieved by the franchisee.

Seven years later, railway maintenance has become the subject of a Victorian Auditor General (VAGO) report which was tabled in February 2023. Key findings from the report for the franchise period 2017-2022 were as follows:

The Department has not assessed whether Metro is optimising asset costs and if the current maintenance and renewal approach will sustain asset performance in the long term
The Department does not have a long term strategy for its infrastructure and technology assets or
Have an effective way to measure asset performance and asses Metro’s work.

Further, the Department needs this information to ensure the current agreement and any future contracts deliver value for money. VAGO provided 10 recommendations including

5 about how assessing how railway assets perform
3 about better guiding how Metro plans maintenance and renewal work
2 about overseeing the works Metro delivers

The Department has agreed to implement eight of these by 2026 at the latest, but serious questions remain. VAGO has echoed concerns voiced by Stone seven years earlier, including skills and expertise to establish reporting/recording data systems etc to measure asset performance and assess Metro’s work.

All of these concerns are of fundamental importance and must be addressed, including the need to raise benchmark standards, but the focus must be broadened. A maintenance plan must be part of an integrated transport plan for which railways are only part. It must also be updated based on future scenarios for which business as usual projections will no longer be appropriate, reflecting changes in travel and transport needs in a rapidly changing world. This new world will demand a total rethink of the transport paradigm and infrastructure to support it as discussed at our forums over the last three years, a world that will demand

rapid improvement in efficiency and reduction in greenhouse emissions
increased energy and material constraints of all kinds
a more frugal and constrained approach by government at all levels as economic and financial pressures increase and the ability of governments to fund essential services and capital and maintenance works becomes increasingly constrained.

The most likely scenario will not be one of endless growth but short term growth followed by decline, including the decline in demand for services of all kinds including transport with implications for supporting infrastructure and the embodied energy and emissions to provide, maintain and renew it. This will drive radical changes in transport and travel patterns accompanied by mode shifts in favour of more energy efficient and lower emission modes. It will demand the realisation of efficiency potential: no more empty buses, trams and trains – they must be well patronised to justify emission reduction targets at a time when the capacity of government to finance these services becomes increasingly stressed.

Under this scenario the economic life of all asset classes as well as standards to maintain them must be revised to ensure efficiency improvements and emission reductions are realised. Under this scenario it is inevitable that much of the existing transport infrastructure, including freeways will be downsized or become stranded assets and redeveloped for other purposes.

Infrastructure maintenance and renewal standards must also be reviewed to reflect changing environmental impacts such as extreme weather, rising sea levels etc and improve service delivery targets which are already well below those expected from world best practice.

In summary the VAGO report highlights significant shortcomings in the way railway infrastructure is carried out under the franchise agreement but terms of reference are relatively narrow

confined to infrastructure that supports railway operations rather than the transport system as a whole
it is silent on issues raised by Stone, including the cost of the franchise model, whether it is suitable and will ever deliver optimal outcomes for Victorians
its recommendations are based on a business as usual scenario for the future, a scenario which is totally unrealistic. Whilst principles outlined in the report remain valid they must be modified to reflect a rapidly changing environment which will demand a new transport paradigm.

It is argued that all of the above are important and require more detailed investigation. The extent to which governments and policy makers are prepared to respond is not clear, but sooner or later economic and environmental pressures will force a change in thinking. How long this takes is an open question but it may happen sooner than most policy makers and their political masters think.

advocacy public policy sustainability governance best practice

Another Transport Crisis – Looking for Solutions

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 15/03/2023
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CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - MAR 25, 2016: Interior view of the House of Representatives in Parliament House, Canberra, Australia

It is clear our transport problems are increasing. The Age has stated we need more trains. Others have suggested we need a European style public transport system. We also need a system that responds to our growing environmental crisis. All of these are simplistic band aid responses to a growing problem that is rapidly becoming unsustainable. The reality is there are no simple single fix solutions, but the crisis we are facing is not on the roads or train tracks, it is the lack of ideas and a plan on how to address it.

This was the conclusion we arrived at when TfM was formed nearly ten years ago and was the subject of our first forum in 2013. Put simply, our governments have failed to learn lessons from cities that have become models of international best practice; cities that have confronted similar problems and apply these lessons here. More fundamentally, successive governments have failed to understand transport itself and how it functions as a service industry. Governments continue to see “solutions” in terms of infrastructure, arguing we don’t have enough of it. Our State government continues to spend huge sums of money on building more, whilst neglecting service and institutional issues that must be addressed if we are to achieve better transport outcomes.

TfM has discussed these issues at our forums and provided advice on how they can be addressed. They are also addressed in our Charter. We have asked “Where is the Plan”, outlined actions to address governance issues, practical measures to improve public transport and transport more generally, provided advice on the future we must plan for and strategic responses to the challenges we face in the future. Our focus has been on service issues that determine the way people and businesses travel and transport goods and services, on better management and more efficient utilisation of existing infrastructure and ensuring infrastructure investment is made in areas of real need. The cost of these responses is modest compared to the massive spending on transport infrastructure today.

Service issues continue to dominate Victoria’s transport system. Many of the problems are a direct result of disruption caused by the government’s Big Build infrastructure program. Train services are regularly disrupted by level crossing works, requiring substitute buses which significantly add to travel time and make them far less convenient for travellers. This degradation in service results in loss of patronage which is very difficult to recover and more traffic on the roads. It is much easier to get new passengers than get back old travellers. Services continue to be disrupted by maintenance (as well as construction) operations – many of which used to be carried out at night in a way that did not disrupt services.

Construction activities on road and building projects is also resulting in significant disruption which is adding to congestion and traffic pollution. The impact is reflected in growing health problems as well as increasing greenhouse emissions. Service quality should be the driver for all transport planning, particularly for personal travel. There are many dimensions to this and they need to be understood and addressed. This focus must apply to all travel modes, including active transport and will become increasingly critical in the future if we are to wean people off high emission vehicles onto low or close to zero emission modes such as walking and cycling.

Increasing travel demands are also fuelled by city planning policies and government policies at a state and federal level that continue to promote growth and hyper mobility. Whilst “solutions” should be straight forward they are politically complex and challenging and require a radical change of mindset – a change that is unlikely to happen soon unless there is significant political pressure on governments to do so.

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

Where is Werribee’s Super City ?

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 10/03/2023
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Where is Werribee’s Super City? This was the question asked by The Age’s city reporter Rachel Dexter. But the more important question must be: do we need a super city at Werribee in the first place and if one was built what would be its future?

In our recent submission to the State Government, which was the subject of a recent blog, TfM outlined future scenarios for Melbourne for the medium to longer term.

The scenarios are grim, particularly for the western suburbs which will become increasingly unliveable heat islands. The western suburbs are the hottest and driest part of Melbourne. Extensive paving of this area compounds this problem and the challenge of establishing shade trees. As noted in our submission, even if it were possible to plant trees, roots would cause extensive and widespread damage to housing structures.

Scientists tell us the race to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, even 2 degrees has now been lost and the best we can hope for is 3 degrees – a global average which for Australia will be an unliveable 4 degrees. But a global rise of 3 degrees will be only temporary and will escalate once the planet becomes locked into an irreversible hothouse trajectory. These new suburbs face a bleak future and will end up becoming unliveable “dead” zones where no one lives – not a sound case for establishing a “super city”.

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

Hydrogen Trucks Promise a Quieter Garbage Run?

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 10/03/2023
No Comments on Hydrogen Trucks Promise a Quieter Garbage Run?

In a recent article by Patrick Hatch for The Age “ The makers of Australia’s first locally designed and built hydrogen-powered truck say it will be towing cars and potentially collecting garbage this year in a rollout they believe could spur a shift away from highly polluting diesel vehicles.

Hyzon Motors says the 27-tonne truck it will unveil at its headquarters in Noble Park, in Melbourne’s south-east, on Monday is an Australian first and shows the trucking industry can go green”.

Whilst removal of diesel vehicles is important, claims that hydrogen powered trucks can go green are simply greenwash. To achieve zero emissions it is necessary to include emissions from every stage of the product life cycle. This includes the vehicle itself – to manufacture, service, maintain and dispose of at the end of its life, including supporting infrastructure such as roads as well and the power source itself – which in the case of hydrogen requires a lot of energy to produce, reticulate and so on.

A more sensible approach would be to look at ways of reducing garbage in the first place and how this can be carried out more efficiently. The first is a no brainer but government actions to reduce garbage and waste more generally have been feeble and largely ineffective. This is a complex matter and there are no simple solutions. It requires a systems based approach but so far government have not been up to the challenge even though the need for change has been recognised for decades.

One should ask why we need such large garbage trucks in the first place and why did we get rid of garbo’s. Before the large trucks were introduced, households and businesses used smaller bins that could be carried and emptied by garbos. This encouraged people to waste less. The trucks could operate in a way that enabled bins to be emptied on both sides of the street at the same time which meant fewer truck miles. They were also much quieter – mechanical emptying of large bins by modern garbage trucks is very noisy. Finally the heavy trucks used today are far more damaging to roads, particularly suburban streets which are not designed for heavy traffic.

Like many decisions that have been made in the past on narrowly based financial cost cutting criteria, broader issues are often overlooked. Many of these have social or environmental impacts and costs that should be part of a triple bottom line evaluation process. Whilst some of these are difficult to estimate it is obvious that the introduction of large garbage trucks has been a backward step. Removal of diesel trucks is welcomed, but their replacement with hydrogen powered vehicles will do nothing to reduce our rubbish problem – it will simply maintain business as usual and all of the problems this creates will remain unresolved.

Claims that hydrogen powered trucks can go green are greenwash. To achieve zero emissions it is necessary to include emissions from every stage of the product life cycle which are ignored by businesses that have a vested interest in promoting hydrogen powered vehicles.

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

Future Scenarios To Plan For

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 25/02/2023
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Understanding the future and the relevant time horizon is the starting point for any plan. Without it the plan is a waste of time. Whilst this might seem an obvious “no brainer” many government projects and city plans are based on political aspirations and a rosy future based on the most optimistic projections of business as usual, denying risks and gloomy outlooks that could sink the plan. Views that contradict this narrative are often ridiculed and labelled extreme and never included, even as worse-case scenarios.

Future-Scenarios-2 Download

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

A Review of Plan Melbourne 2017-50 – “Living in the Hothouse”

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 24/02/2023
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A Review of Plan Melbourne 2017-2050

“Living in the Hot House”

A-Critique-of-Plan-Melbourne-2017-2050 Download

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

Will Steffen

Tags obituary, Will Steffen

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

Managing the Transition to a Zero Emission Economy

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 29/10/2022
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The federal government has committed itself to a 43% reduction in greenhouse emissions by 2030 and 100% by 2050 in an attempt to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees – well short of what scientists have demanded (80% by 2030 and 100% by 2035 according to the Australian Climate Council). But even a modest target of 43% requires a plan to implement it and manage the transition.

Former Prime Minister Morrison stated that reducing greenhouse emissions would be no more difficult than responding to another Covid. Perhaps he had in mind a world where we all had solar cells on our roofs, drove electric cars, and life would proceed as normal – the good life with business as usual. Perhaps the new federal government has a similar view.

If anyone doubted the need for a plan then look no further than the energy crisis that is gripping the European Community, UK and even the US today. The EU decarbonisation program is more advanced than Australia and has higher targets so this crisis should have been an opportunity to accelerate decarbonisation. Instead these countries have attempted, unsuccessfully, to prop up their economies by importing oil and gas from other sources. Some people have even resorted to burning firewood and waste to keep warm. The impact on these economies has been disastrous and will almost certainly drive them into recession. It has exposed the extent to which all economies are dependent on fossil fuels and the absence of a transition plan and lack of understanding of what is required to make it work.

Reducing greenhouse emissions is not easy and costs money. Costs to business are invariably passed on to the community. Decarbonisation also requires major changes in behaviour which invariably costs money too. Government can assist businesses and the community to make the transition but this also costs money and will become increasingly difficult when the economy enters a difficult period with rising interest rates, other inflationary and cost of living pressures, stagnating wages and high debt levels.

Unfortunately the cost of adaption will not be shared equally and will invariably fall most heavily on those least able to adapt – the most socially and economically disadvantaged. This applies to transport, particularly for people who are car dependent. There are however opportunities for people to achieve substantial cost savings by making greater use of public transport or walking or cycling for more trips, but it is up to State and local governments to create the conditions which make these options more acceptable. There are many ways in which this can be done. Many of these have been outlined in our forums, papers, blogs and formal submissions to government. But we are not alone on this matter. The need to respond has been recognised by transport planners for decades but is becoming increasingly urgent.

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

Shiny New Trains and Buses for Melbourne

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 27/10/2022
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Shiny new buses and trains but will they put more bums on seats – by Roger Taylor

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

A Tunnel Vision Is Not The Answer

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 13/09/2022
No Comments on A Tunnel Vision Is Not The Answer

As we have said on numerous occasions, public transport is a service industry that operates in a very competitive market, so the key to improving transport outcomes is to focus on improving customer service – not building more tunnels.

Like many things, there are no magic fix solutions but we have a pretty good idea what people want from a public transport service and it pays to listen to the customers. Emily Day’s article in The Age, Wednesday 7 September titled “V/Line has a serious disconnect problem” raised concerns about the lack of wifi on regional trains, a concern shared by many readers but the readers raised other issues which VLine management and politicians should reflect on and address. The majority of respondents rated the VLine service poor.

Some of the more general comments included

Trains in Australia are a joke (or “rubbish”) compared to so many other countries around the world
V is for “Very Ancient” Line
We travel “first class” which would have to be the worst “first class” anything in the world.

And more specific concerns such as

If your trains mostly run on time you’re definitely not on the Gippsland line. Our trains, when they run, rarely get to destination on time,
Service passed Geelong is chronic and has been for decades…. services still cancelled at Geelong because they can’t manage their time-table efficiently.
On the Bendigo line it’s a 50-50 chance that your train will be replaced by a bus
Wi-fi would be ideal – but in the interim, I’d settle for clean windows at least to enjoy the view!
Back in the 1990s, you could buy a chardonnay from the bar on the old clunker trains. I miss that.

Whilst these responses may not be a representative sample they do raise important issues that should be treated seriously and justify further investigation. Many are the direct responsibility of VLine and are the kind of problems any smart service business would address as a matter of urgency if it wanted to stay in business. Some of these should not cost a lot to fix. The fact that they remain a concern is a reflection of management quality and its mindset. Clearly there are service issues which are more difficult to fix. Many reflect a broader systemic problem that pervades public transport generally. They also reflect government policies and priorities and the way government spends our taxes today.

Improving customer service was the focus of TfM’s annual forum in 2019. A summary of public transport service issues in terms of ranking and observations is provided below.

Public Transport Customer Service Issues

Ref charts provided by Prof Graham Currie summarized roughly in tabular form below. Service issues below are listed in priority order from travellers’ perspective.

Service Issue General Ranking	PT Issue Importance	PT Issue Importance (on scale of 3.5-6.5) Note: all scored between 6.4 – 5.6)	PT Issue Performance (on scale of 3.5-6.5)
1	Safe at night	6.4 Highest	4.5 worst – very poor
2	Reliability	6.3 Second highest	5.2 poor
3	Frequency	6.25	5.0 poor
4	Safe during day	6.4	5.4
5	PT available where and when needed	6.1	5.0 poor
6	Deal with disruptions quickly	6.2	4.5 V poor
7	Get to stops/stations		5.0
8	Quality of service	6.0	4.5 V poor
9	Make connections	6.0	5.0 poor
10	Available on weekends	6.2	5.5
11	Get information about PT		5.3
12	Disruptions don’t happen often	6.0	4.8 Very poor
13	Meet costs	5.9	5.0 poor
14	Information to plan journey	6.0	5.2
15	People I care for can use it safely	6.2	4.6 Poor
16	Available at night	5.8	5.0
17	Ease of buying/using a ticket	6.1	5.1
18	Over crowding	5.9
19	Staff courteous and friendly	5.8	5.1
20	Physical access	5.8	5.9
21	Can make trips to new places on PT	5.7	5.0
22	Travel time compared to car	5.7	4.3 V poor

Source: Currie G Delbosc

A (2015) Variation In Perceptions of Urban Public Transport

Between International Cities Using Spiral Plot Analysis

TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH RECORD

No 2538 on pages 54- 64

Observations

Based on these surveys the most critical customer service issues listed above are also ranked lowest in terms of customer satisfaction ie

safety, particularly at night
reliability
frequency

TfM has argued for a long time that an affluent first world country like Australia can afford to run a world class public transport service and should make the effort to learn from countries or cities that have established themselves as examples of world best practice.

During the early days of railway history in this State, the railways were professionally managed and delivered a service that was comparable with the best in the world. But railway management was not complacent and made regular trips abroad, to the US, UK and the rest of Europe to study international developments and ways in which these could be applied to improve local performance. There are also lessons that can be learnt from other service industries that have established themselves as models of excellence in their field.

This should be carried out in an environment which promotes constant learning, a desire to keep improving to remain relevant and strive to achieve and maintain best practice. This should also be a matter of pride but at this stage, based on recent feedback from Emily Day’s article, there appears to be little this government should be proud of and must be demoralising for VLine and other public transport staff who have to respond to complaints on a regular basis.

In summary, quality of service is critical. There are many aspects to this but at the end of the day that is all that really matters, because serious short falls in this means you are no longer relevant and should be out of business. For a government service with community service obligations it shows little respect for the needs of the community it is supposed to represent.

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

Pause For Reflection

As our politicians and policy makers continue to pay lip service to warnings by scientists (made over many decades) to reduce emissions and stop the destruction of the earth’s biosphere it is worth reflecting on thoughts of Carl Sagan, astronomer, astrophysicist, author and researcher, referring to the pale “Blue Dot” that is planet earth, an image taken 32 years ago from the Voyager1 probe about 6 billion km away.

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home…The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena…Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark.

In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not for the moment, the Earth is where we make our stand.

There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world..it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we have ever known”.

Despite numerous claims by our politicians and policy makers, our “leaders” continue to plan on the basis of business as usual to suit their own political agendas and ignore lessons that should be learnt from failed civilisations during the last 10,000 years.

The extent to which this results in global decline and ultimately collapse has always been in our hands, but whatever course of action humanity takes from now on, adaption in an increasingly hostile world on a planet that supports fewer and fewer people will be unavoidable and needs to be planned for.

advocacy public policy sustainability governance

The Imperative to Travel Less

Post author By Roger Taylor
Post date 31/08/2022
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In 2009 Professor Will Steffen reminded his audience at the Sustainable Cities forum that humanity’s global footprint had increased from about half a planet earth in 1960 to more than 1.2 planet earths in 2000, that only the poorest countries were living within the means of planet earth, that the US required five and Australia is not far behind. These numbers have increased since then. The bottom line is the imperative to reduce our demands on planet earth – of everything, probably by a factor of 4 or more, noting this imperative does not include the need to reduce greenhouse emissions – that is an additional concern.

But the factor that must be applied to the transport sector is far greater.

As Patrick Moriarty and his frequent co-author Damon Honnery explain, we have entered a period of “hyper mobility”. The number of passenger kilometres per year has exploded by a factor of 240 between 1900 and 2018. This is an extraordinary increase considering the less than five-fold global population growth during the same period, and is about thirty times the growth in real GDP. The average for motorised travel is now about 6,300 km per person. It is around 30,000 km per person in the US. Australia is not far behind but in some countries it is only a few hundred.

Moriarty calculates that if each person in the world were to travel 30,000 km per year in motorised transport “world transport energy levels along would be about 668 EJ, greater than total global commercial energy use (578 EJ) for 2018”. This situation is clearly unsustainable. The question is how to apply the brakes. This is the subject of an article by Moriarty and Honnery titled “ Reducing Personal Mobility for Climate Change Mitigation” which has been summarised below by Bart Hawkins Kreps, originally published by An Outside Chance, August 23, 2020. Refer
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2022-08-23/hypermobility-hits-the-wall/