Australian Government Urban Congestion Fund

[#Metro]

This thread is about the UCF, the same one that was scrutinised by the Australian National Audit Office for rorting.

Urban Congestion Fund
https://investment.infrastructure.gov.au/about/national-initiatives/urban-congestion-fund.aspx

Australian National Audit Office
https://www.anao.gov.au/work/performance-audit/administration-commuter-car-park-projects-within-the-urban-congestion-fund

So just over half a billion dollars is being spent... on car parks. Jonno, if you need counseling after reading this, PM me

The Government is investing around $4 billion through the Urban Congestion Fund, to reduce congestion in urban areas. Funding supports upgrades to the urban road network to reduce congestion and ensure commuters get home sooner and safer by:

- reducing travel times;
- reducing vehicle operating costs;
- delivering a more reliable road network for commuters and freight; and
- addressing local bottlenecks.

A $650 million Commuter Car Park Fund has been established within the Urban Congestion Fund to invest in commuter car park upgrades that encourage greater use of public transport.

The Urban Congestion Fund is upgrading the following pinch points, as well as intersections and commuter car parks at train stations: [list follows].

I think that the fund can be repurposed with an incoming red team government by widening the scope. Primarily to:

- Build intermodal interchanges (bus-rail, bus-tram etc)
- Remove level crossings (because, remember, these also hold up cars)
- Separate transit from mixed general traffic (e.g. pay for tram/car separation works because at least in Melbourne when a tram stops the cars also have to stop behind, which is one definition of congestion)
- Extend tram lines to rail stations (to indirectly reduce pressure on rail station car parks)

and so forth.[/list]

Repurposing the UCF will be really important in QLD because this can be a funding source for level crossing removal.