Mind the (funding) gap: How are we going to fund public transport?

[#Metro]

Sustainable public transport requires a sustainable financing source.
How are we going to fund all the improvements that people want and need?

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/03/17/2848322.htm
http://www.ttf.org.au/Content/ptfundingchallenges0910.aspx

[#Metro]

money money money money
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Where is it all going to come from to do all of this?

The financial funding really needs to be re-thought. Where is the cash going to come from? Other states are coming up with astronomically expensive competing proposals too (Melbourne Metro, Sydney Rail tunnels) and Infrastructure Australia is being seen as a an ATM for which these projects are justified on. And we haven't even got to the metros "wish list" for Brisbane yet.

Congestion tolling and road user charges along with re-direction (see Jonno's ideas) to replace all current motorist charges are the Elephant in the room IMHO. Its a bit hard to say with any great clarity about what should happen on this front, but there is just no way all these upgrades can be funded - it seems impossible with the funding the way it is now.

If only we were spending those billions on motorway constructions on fixing up the core rail system and unblocking bottlenecks...
and this is also one of the reasons why the multi-billions wanted for the Very Fast Trains idea all around Australia would be much better spent locally on local city transport...

http://railbotforum.org/mbs/index.php?topic=5554.msg49805#msg49805

[Jonno]

Stop expanding freeways, bypasses, tunnels and motorways and there is an instant funding source.  All funding debate assumes that all the road construction MUST still occur which contradicts the susutainable transport intent!!

[#Metro]

Much but not all of the funding is also private- an instrument that might not be available under public funding (thanks in part to the zero public debt philosophy of public admin that is going around now).

I think that these rail projects could easily use up all the motorway funds and still more- so more funding sources need to be identified. Congestion tolling and road user charges are one potential option, but they would probably have to replace existing fees and charges to be acceptable.

[Stillwater]

CRR was going to cost $8.5 billion, but probably will cost $11-12 billion by the time the last section of rail is installed and the project is finished, round about 2019-2020.  If there was just $4 billion available to SEQ - a 'saving' of at least $4.5 billion, if you like - what projects could that $4 billion buy?  Not recurrent spending, or operational expenditure, but straight out infrastructure -- stuff that would make a difference, big (new lines) and small (extra crossing points).

[ozbob]

And add on the broad costs of the delay of CRR, billions in congestion costs, billions in more environmental outputs, billions in more run away road trauma costs ... seems a stupid thing to do delay CRR ...