Senate: The role of public transport in delivering productivity outcomes

[ozbob]

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/Public_transport/Terms_of_Reference

The role of public transport in delivering productivity outcomes

On 12 December 2013, the Senate moved that the following matters be referred to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee for inquiry and report by 27 March 2014.

The role of public transport in delivering productivity outcomes;

    the need for an integrated approach across road and rail in addressing congestion in cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth;
    the social and environmental benefits of public transport projects compared to road infrastructure projects such as Westconnex and the East-West Link;
    the national significance of public transport;
    the relationship between public transport and building well-functioning cities;
    the decision of the Federal Government to refuse to fund public transport projects;
    the impact on user charges arising from requiring states to fund public transport projects; and
    any related matter.

Committee Secretariat contact:

Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Phone: +61 2 6277 3511
Fax: +61 2 6277 5811
rrat.sen@aph.gov.au

[Jonno]

another inquiry that will highlight that building roads achieves nothing with massive negative ROI and that active and public transport has significant benefits just to be completely ignored!!!!

[Stillwater]

OR, it signals a change of thinking that causes senators to ask whether they could get more value for money from PT, as opposed to massive investment in roads infrastructure.  Significantly, the terms of reference would suggest that pollies want to know whether there is a broader way of calculating PT benefits that is legitimate and includes what is excluded now (social, town planning, health benefits.)  Time will tell.

The good thing about these inquiries is that a lot of good information is uncovered that can be used to beat the government over the head for not investing more in PT.

[Fares_Fair]

http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/Public_transport/Terms_of_Reference

The role of public transport in delivering productivity outcomes

On 12 December 2013, the Senate moved that the following matters be referred to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee for inquiry and report by 27 March 2014.

The role of public transport in delivering productivity outcomes;

    the need for an integrated approach across road and rail in addressing congestion in cities, including Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth;
    the social and environmental benefits of public transport projects compared to road infrastructure projects such as Westconnex and the East-West Link;
    the national significance of public transport;
    the relationship between public transport and building well-functioning cities;
    the decision of the Federal Government to refuse to fund public transport projects;
    the impact on user charges arising from requiring states to fund public transport projects; and
    any related matter.

Committee Secretariat contact:

Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

Phone: +61 2 6277 3511
Fax: +61 2 6277 5811
rrat.sen@aph.gov.au

[Fares_Fair]

Committee Members

Chair

Senator Glenn Sterle
Australian Labor Party, WA



Deputy Chair

Senator the Hon Bill Heffernan
Liberal Party of Australia, NSW


Member

Senator Alex Gallacher
Australian Labor Party, SA



Member

Senator Sue Lines
Australian Labor Party, WA


Member

Senator the Hon Ian Macdonald
Liberal Party of Australia, Qld



Member

Senator Peter Whish-Wilson
Australian Greens, Tas

Participating Members

Senators Abetz, Back, Bernardi, Bilyk, Birmingham, Bishop, Boswell, Boyce, Brandis, Brown, Bushby, Cameron, Carr, Cash, Colbeck, Collins, Conroy, Cormann, Dastyari, Di Natale, Edwards, Eggleston, Farrell, Faulkner, Fawcett, Fierravanti-Wells, Fifield, Furner, Hanson-Young, Johnston, Kroger, Ludlam, Ludwig, Lundy, Madigan, Marshall, Mason, McEwen, McKenzie, McLucas, Milne, Moore, Nash, O'Neill, Parry, Payne, Peris, Polley, Pratt, Rhiannon, Ronaldson, Ruston, Ryan, Scullion, Seselja, Siewert, Singh, Sinodinos, Smith, Stephens, Thorp, Tillem, Urquhart, Waters, Williams, Wong, Wright and Xenophon.

Substitute Members

Senator Rhiannon to replace Senator Whish-Wilson for the committee's inquiry into public transport.

[Stillwater]

I can feel a submission coming on!

[Fares_Fair]

I can feel a submission coming on!

My submission (No. 9) has been accepted and published on the website.
http://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Rural_and_Regional_Affairs_and_Transport/Public_transport/Submissions

There are 13 submissions to date.

[Stillwater]

Now 26 submissions, including one from Prof. Philip Laird

[ozbob]

Some good submissions.

Also good to see the academics submitting.

Dr Matthew Burke http://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=bcc6918d-4e15-4474-9b91-ac62a7d37175&subId=32256

Has this gem of a paragraph

10.  The legacy of our historical rail system investmentss is often under-utilised in Australian cities. Rail
passengers are the most heavily subsidised (in Brisbane at a rate around three times that of ferries
and four times buses) due to the systems having too few users. The Millenium Cities dataset, an
inter-city comparative dataset on cities, identified greater Brisbane as having the highest proportion
of heavy rail kilometres per capita of all 100 world cities surveyed, yet it had one of the lowest mode
shares for rail use. This could be explained by only around 9% of rail passengers using a bus to
access trains in Brisbane – one of the lowest rates in the world – due to a lack of transport
integration, strong modal competition from buses, and poor frequency. But we have seen dramatic
rail patronage increases where service frequencies have improved, particularly in Melbourne in recent
years.

Good work on the submissions.  I am happy to leave it to experts and others.  It is already all there ..

[#Metro]

Modal competition (buses competing with trains) and poor land use arrangements
fundamentally reduce system efficiency and lead to stubbornly high rail public transport subsidies.

Cough, Brisbane City Council and Brisbane Transport, Cough...

Have you SEEN the land use and road patterns for Brisbane! My goodness!!

[Stillwater]

Delay in reporting ... a good sign perhaps?

On 12 December 2013 the Senate referred the following matter to the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee for inquiry and report.

The role of public transport in delivering productivity outcomes.

Submissions should be received by 30 January 2014. The reporting date was 27 March 2014. On 27 March 2014, the Senate granted an extension of time for reporting by 4 December 2014.