Implementation plans > Integrated Transport > What are our transport needs?

What are our transport needs?
Travel is rarely an end in itself; it is a means for people to access activities and services or to move goods from one place to another. As much of this movement is essential, transport is a critical element of the Government’s strategy to manage growth and change across metropolitan Melbourne and the surrounding region.

The majority of travel in Melbourne is road-oriented. We rely heavily on private cars for most of our personal travel, and on road vehicles for most freight movement. In our spread-out city, motor vehicles make a major contribution to our quality of life. This contribution can not be ignored as we plan for Melbourne’s sustainable development, but we must consider it alongside changes that will make public transport an acceptable alternative to the car for many more trips and thus reduce
congestion on our roads.

Many of our arterial roads already operate under congested conditions for several hours each day. Congestion means slower travel times for all road users - private cars, buses and trams, freight and commercial vehicles.

Meeting our transport needs over the next 30 years will involve managing the growing demand for travel on roads in and around Melbourne and linking to the surrounding regions. This demand will come both from commercial and from private transport needs.

One challenge for the future is to maintain an efficient road system for business needs. Our economic growth relies on ease of movement for the ever-increasing volume of freight and commercial traffic. With its connections to important airports and sea ports, Melbourne is the natural hub for freight movements in Victoria and in south-east Australia. An estimated 60 per cent of Victoria’s freight is picked up in the Melbourne metropolitan area and most freight - ranging from groceries ordered over the Internet to import and export containers - currently moves by road. Freight and commercial vehicles account for more than 20 per cent of our road traffic, up to 30 per cent on some arterial roads.

Another challenge is to moderate our over-reliance on the private car for personal travel. Parts of the metropolitan area have good access to public transport but it does not always suit travel needs. Also access for most of the recently developed urban area is poor. This, and the dispersal of jobs and facilities away from public transport routes, means more reliance on cars. As a consequence, journeys have become longer, emissions from cars degrade the atmosphere, congestion increases and road trauma continues at unacceptable levels.

To ensure long-term economic growth and improvements in environment quality and social equity, we need to progressively decouple economic growth from increase in the use of private cars.

Reliance on providing more road capacity is not a long-term solution. We need to improve the choices available for personal travel and encourage the use of public transport.

We need to:

• better link land use and transport planning so that increased car travel is not the only answer to improving access to jobs, facilities and services
• substantially increase public transport use, walking and cycling
• direct investment in new transport infrastructure and services in ways that are consistent with the directions of Melbourne 2030
• provide for growing freight and commercial traffic while directing more heavy freight traffic onto the rail system.

Figure 1. Average weekday mode share (trips) -
Melbourne Statistical Division - click for more detail

Evidence from around the world paints a clear picture of what is needed to make a metropolitan public transport system successful. Important elements include service availability, convenience of use, reliability and safety; this is shown in Table 1.

Figure 2. Enabling efficient freight movement - click for more detail

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