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The strategic framework
> Key directions > Better
transport links
Better transport links
The Government is committed to providing a more sustainable transport
system that offers genuine options to travellers. Melbourne
2030 supports real transport choice for most residents,
and aims to increase the numbers of people who use public transport,
cycle or walk.
The interim report of the Infrastructure Planning
Council (IPC) highlighted the need for a better balance of use between
private and public transport. The current system provides incentives
that favour car use. Substantial improvements are needed to the
public transport system. These must be supported by incentives that
favour public transport, and better information for users on the
choices available and the implications of making those choices.
Public transport
Currently, only 9 per cent of motorised trips within the metropolitan
area are made on public transport. The Growing Victoria Together
target is 20 per cent by 2020, to return public transport usage
to the levels of the 1970s. The public transport system in and around
metropolitan Melbourne must be expanded, resourced and promoted
accordingly.
Major upgrades in public transport capability will
be achieved in several ways, including expanded coverage and improvements
in speed, reliability, ease of use, amenity and safety. A Principal
Public Transport Network will be established by building on existing
train and tram services, and creating new cross-town bus services,
between Principal and Major Activity Centres in metropolitan Melbourne.
Local public transport services will be improved, particularly bus
services, and a key focus will be improved services in middle and
outer metropolitan areas. Attention will also be paid to impending
capacity constraints in the inner area.
Figure 24. Travel changes - click for more detail
Integrated land-use and transport strategies will
complement the upgrades so that additional development can be accommodated
in areas that are highly accessible to the public transport system
and to the Principal Public Transport Network.
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The Infrastructure Planning Council
and transport in Victoria
The Government set up the IPC in May 2000 to:
- examine the infrastructure areas of water, energy, transport
and communications
- advise on infrastructure needs for the next 20 years
- look at how priorities should be determined.
The IPC’s interim report appeared in October 2001. Recommendations
on transport included the need to recognise the true costs
of the private car, public transport and freight carried by
road, rail, air and sea, and the need to dramatically change
incentive structures that might encourage people to use public
transport and businesses to use rail freight.
- Three priority areas were identified:
- using incentives to make the transport system more efficient
and sustainable
- getting better value from existing transport infrastructure
- addressing future gaps in the transport system.
In its report, the IPC proposed that more work be done on
pricing relativities of transport by road and rail. This would
include price changes as a means of underpinning efforts to
get people to switch transport modes, and major upgrading
of the public transport system to make it more attractive.
Without adequate and realistic choice for users, the report
said, incentives to move people away from their cars had no
chance of success.
Increased freight traffic is inevitable, particularly around
the ports, with efficient freight movements an increasingly
important part of the production process. Road transport would
continue to be vital to Victoria’s future growth, but
some rebalancing would be needed with a greater share for
rail for long-hauls.
The Port of Melbourne, Australia’s largest container
port and central to Victoria’s economy, needs to be fully
functional and to achieve world-class operational efficiencies.
Its operations are presently constrained by the depth of the
channel, and by rail and road access.
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Road use
Melbourne 2030 will continue to support investment in the
road system to meet freight and personal mobility needs. Car use
will still be important and often essential, but past and current
rates of growth in private vehicle use are not sustainable.
- Priority for future road investments will be given to:
- completing the Scoresby Integrated Transport Corridor and links
to regional Victoria
- reducing the backlog in providing arterial roads in outer suburbs
- making safety improvements
- resolving conflicts between cars, cyclists and pedestrians
- making on-road public transport operate more efficiently
- making road freight operate more efficiently and with lower
external impacts.
Melbourne 2030 recognises that road system management,
rather than major road building, is a key issue for the future.
We must make the most of our substantial investment in the road
system and recognise the needs of all categories of road users.
Road management will now favour public transport
since much of it will be on-road.
Walking and cycling
Active modes of travel such as walking and cycling have the potential
to reduce the growth in all forms of motorised travel and to improve
public health. Melbourne 2030 recognises the importance
of providing safe, attractive and continuous pedestrian and cycling
routes and facilities, on and off-road, as an integral part of new
and existing urban development. The Principal Bicycle Network will
be completed.
Freight
An efficient freight system is vital to Victoria’s continued
economic growth. The transport system will have to cater for increased
freight traffic but its environmental impact must be lessened. By
2010, the Government intends that rail will carry 30 per cent of
all freight to and from Victoria’s ports – double the
present rate. However, even with rail playing a larger role, road
freight is expected to increase in volume.
One of metropolitan Melbourne’s strengths
is comparatively good freight infrastructure in terms of its ports
and associated facilities, airports, good road and rail systems.
Yet certain areas need improvement. Melbourne 2030 will
protect and invest in the long-term potential of the ports. It will
also recognise the need to improve road links serving the ports
and key industry areas (including the Scoresby Corridor) within
Melbourne, completing road links of freeway standard to regional
cities and progressively upgrading other key road and rail links
from regional Victoria to the ports. Land with good road and rail
access will be protected for longer-term industrial development
needs.
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