Re: Airport rail link

["whitehat" <whitehat@alphalink.com.au>]

> Dave Proctor <daproc@spambait.ozemail.com.au> wrote:
<snip>
>The long-standing
> planning framework for Melbourne had development occuring along radial
> corridors, defined by the railway lines, and separated by 'green wedges'
with
> comparatively little development.
>
> Some of these green wedges have filled in over time (most notably
Doncaster/
> Templestowe which still lacks decent public transport services), but it's
> still true that most travel in Melbourne occurs in the radial direction.
You
> have to distinguish this from the naive 'everyone wants to go to the CBD'
> notion.  That's not what the 'public transport activists' believe; rather,
> they point out that when you count people travelling _towards_ (but not
all
> the way into) the city, such as from Ringwood to Box Hill, you pick up a
lot
> of journeys that can still be served by a radial rail network.  Local and
> radial travel together account for around 80% of trips in Melbourne.
>
> A look at the census journey-to-work figures shows that the number of
people
> commuting from Reservoir to Ringwood across the Yarra Valley is
vanishingly
> small.  Ditto for travel from Ringwood to Dandenong or Frankston, which is
> why the Scoresby Freeway shapes up as an expensive solution in search of a
> problem.  The way to cater for Melbourne's particular travel needs is with
a
> high-capacity radial rail and tram system supported by a cross-suburban
bus
> network (albeit with frequencies and hours of operation similar to trams).

To a certain extent we have a chicken and egg situation in Melbourne. People
travel radially by public transport because it is the only convenient way to
travel - and public transport develops radially because that is the way
people travel. If you are, say, a student going to Monash University in
Clayton, you will most likely find accommodation in the appropriate corridor
or be forced to travel by car. The existence of the radial model perpetuates
the radial model. Similarly, certain outer regional clusters could develop
and thrive over time if good quality cross-suburb transport structure was
available

Long term models and what-if scenarios are only possible if voters or
shareholders give you the time to carry them through - and both rarely do in
Australia at the moment. So we continue to do what we have done in the past.
We should also remember that transporting people is only part of the
picture. If Victoria really wants to remain Australia's manufacturing hub it
has to be able to transport goods, parts and components quickly, efficiently
and often from A to B. Freeways play some part in this equation. The green
wedges are a valuable part of Melbourne but don't preclude well planned
cross suburb transport links.

Things have changed enormously in Melbourne since the radial train and tram
model first grew up. Some of the more significant changes over time include:

* Much fewer people with a predictable starting time and knock-off time for
work
* More people transporting bulky items to and from work
* Journey-to-work used to be the major travel consideration.
Journey-as-part-of-work is now a major part of the transport equation
* Fewer organisations prepared to concede work-based travel time as 'down
time'
* The major employer in Australia is now small business - i.e. small
workforces spread widely.
* An employee will change their workplace (and possibly place of abode) more
often than in the past
etc. etc.

Unfortunately, public transport has been slow to adapt to these changes. It
would often appear that future planning is based mainly on those who
currently use public transport, and not on those who want to use it but
can't, or those who could be enticed onto it if it suited their needs.

As someone who has consistently tried to use the most appropriate transport
in Melbourne for many years (i.e. walk, bike, car, public transport, car,
etc) I find myself using public transport less and less. It has improved in
the last couple of years, but still not kept pace with the needs of myself
or my colleagues.On the other hand, I find myself using public transport
overseas more and more. Consistent, civilised cross-suburb public transport
on which we could work and carry bulky work items would certainly entice a
number of us back - and we would possible be prepared to pay a premium to do
so.

whitehat