Stuck in traffic: how to get our cities and economy moving

[ozbob]

The Conversation --> Stuck in traffic: how to get our cities and economy moving

The strength of Australia's economy depends on how well our cities function – yet right now, it's as if we're driving with the handbrake on.

Cities are crucial to productivity. When they work well, they offer businesses the chance to bring together the biggest and best pool of available skilled employees.

As the Business Council of Australia recently stated in its Action Plan for Enduring Prosperity: "cities play a significant role in supporting economic growth... [they] are very much engines of commerce, science, innovation and progress."

But the reported dismantling of the Major Cities Unit – which provided advice on developing Australia's 18 biggest cities to the federal government – suggests that the new government may not understand how urgently reform is needed.
More time in traffic, less time with family

In our biggest cities, our transport infrastructure is too often holding us back. In many areas, particularly outer suburbs, residents can reach fewer that 10% of all metropolitan jobs within a reasonable commuting time.

Indeed, the OECD's Head of Regional Economics Dr Rudiger Ahrend recently described Sydney as being so badly connected that its economy functions more like a city of 1 million people, rather than the 4.5 million people who call it home. Opportunities are similarly limited in some outer suburbs of Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

Increasing congestion makes it harder and more time-consuming for businesses to connect with customers, potential employees and each other. It is perhaps even more important that time spent in traffic is also a drain on people's family and leisure time.

A 2005 study found that more than 10% of parents in paid work spent more time commuting than they did with their children, travelling for between ten and 15 hours weekly to and from work. Eight years on from that study, as our cities continue to grow, the situation for families is getting no better.

Meanwhile public transport is stretched to the limit at peak times and many people living further from the city have little access to it at all.
Unleashing frustrated commuters

Poor transport links, which cut many employers off from potential employees, are a big drag on our economy, especially when employers frequently cite a lack of skilled workers as a barrier to growing their business. People poorly served by transport are likewise cut off from better job opportunities.

Many parents – particularly women – caring for younger children are especially disadvantaged. Childcare and school hours limit the time parents can spend commuting, putting them on a "spatial leash", limiting how far they can live from their work, and in the process often drastically reducing what work they can do.

Tony Abbott was right to recognise the need when he said that he wanted to be known as an "infrastructure Prime Minister". This would be a valuable legacy.

But the Prime Minister's view that federal government should not fund urban rail projects is troubling. Roads alone will not overcome the costs of congestion and poor access to transport.

There is limited space to expand road access to the inner suburbs and CBDs of cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth – areas with the highest concentrations of the knowledge-intensive jobs that are central to strong productivity growth. Demand for public transport is growing in all these cities, but existing infrastructure can only do so much.
Federal funding and tax fixes

National funding of major public transport projects will be central to enabling our cities to work well and therefore to productivity growth. State governments have an important role to play in building and funding transport infrastructure. But the funding need and importance to the national economy are too great for them to do this alone.

The federal government collects most of our taxes. It must do its share of the work to help businesses to connect with more of the employees they need, and help people to spend more of their time working or with their family, rather than stuck in traffic or on overcrowded public transport.

Enabling more people to live closer to where they work can also help slow growth in congestion. Our homes are our castles, but housing is also economic infrastructure – where people live is critically important to the strength of a city's economy.

The federal government has an indirect but substantial influence on the housing market. Buyers, builders and developers' decisions are shaped by the taxes levied by local, state and national governments.

Taxes affecting the housing market include municipal rates, stamp duty and capital gains tax, as well as settings such as negative gearing rules. Examining how these taxes shape our $1.6 trillion housing market – and how they could be improved – could make a big difference to ensuring that the housing Australians say they want is built closer to job opportunities.

There is room for improvement. Taxes and charges on buyers and sellers of housing in Australia are some of the highest in the world. The Coalition's commitment to a tax white paper is a great first step.

Let's hope the critical economic impact of where we live and how we get around is at the centre of reforming our tax system. If not, we can expect economic decline as our cities buckle under the weight of neglect.

The Grattan Institute's Productive Cities report is available here, along with detailed reports on Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth.

[ozbob]

The Guardian --> Tony Abbott's roads plan will lead us nowhere, transport advocates claim

The Coalition's pledge to "build the roads of the 21st century" and withdraw funding for rail projects is regressive and fails to tackle the issue of congestion, according to public transport advocates.

Critics point to the fact that public transport usage in Australia's major cities has increased by an average of 65% over the past decade, compared to a minimal rise in car usage.

Rail proponents claim that congestion is best fixed with an integrated plan that gives commuters options other than car use, rather than more Los Angeles-style highways.

"I think all but the most car-centric person would see that in modern growing cities, you can't move everybody around by road — that rail, particularly in inner-city areas, is much more efficient," said Daniel Bowen, a leading public transport advocate.

"It comes down to this: if you want more people on public transport, provide more public transport. If you want more people on the roads, build more roads. (Tony) Abbott is clearly backing the latter."

In April, the then-opposition leader stated that should the Coalition win power, it will "stick to its knitting" when it comes to infrastructure. "And the Commonwealth's knitting when it comes to funding infrastructure is roads," Abbott added.

This commitment to roads, which sweeps aside virtually all federal funding for rail projects, has become a key mantra for the Coalition since its 7 September victory, with "building roads for the 21st century" becoming a familiar ministerial catch cry.

The Coalition costings, released shortly before the election, make it clear that the word "infrastructure" could simply be substituted with "roads" for both brevity and accuracy. It lists 30 different road projects and just one rail plan – $180m over four years to build an inland freight line between Melbourne and Brisbane.

In all, $11.5bn has been pledged by the Coalition with not one dollar going to urban rail extensions or upgrades. Work on road upgrades has already begun, with Abbott last week unveiling the business case for the $1.5bn WestConnex project in Sydney. "I want to be known as an infrastructure prime minister and I want building the roads of the 21st Century to be a hallmark of my government," he said.

A further $6.7bn will go to fix the rather dilapidated Bruce Highway in Queensland, while $5.6bn will be spent on lengthening the Pacific Highway. There will be $1.5bn to help build the highly controversial east-west road link that will demolish houses and part of a park in Melbourne.

The government, along with backers such as the Business Council of Australia, claims that the roads will ease congestion, improve business productivity and free up state government budgets to be spent on rail projects. It estimates that the 33km WestConnex road will benefit the New South Wales economy to the tune of $20bn.

Abbott appears to have a long-standing scepticism of public transport. In his book, Battlelines, he states that even the "humblest person is king in his own car."

He adds: "In Australia's big cities, public transport is generally slow, expensive, not especially reliable and still a hideous drain on the ­public purse. Mostly, there just aren't enough people wanting to go from a particular place to a particular destination at a particular time to justify any vehicle larger than a car, and cars need roads."

Here are some of the key rail projects that are unlikely to get any federal cash under an Abbott government ...

More --> http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/abbott-road-plan-criticised

[ozbob]

Twitter

Robert Dow ‏@Robert_Dow

@TonyAbbottMHR G'day Cobber! --> http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/25/abbott-road-plan-criticised ... getting very serious, you clearly do not understand transport or economics #auspol

[ozbob]

Letter to the Editor published Quest South West News 25th September 2013 page 8

No support for urban rail

[ozbob]

Just for interest ..

Here's An Idea: Tax Drivers Instead Of Raising LA Metro Fares

--> http://cleantechnica.com/2014/03/22/heres-idea-tax-drivers-instead-raising-la-metro-fares/