Articles: New public transport Minister

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From the Melbourne Age click here!

Pakula: the heat is on

Pakula: the heat is on
JASON DOWLING
January 21, 2010

VICTORIA'S new Public Transport Minister is facing immediate pressure to buy more new trams and spend up on the rail network to help the system cope with hotter temperatures.

Hours after Martin Pakula took over from Lynne Kosky in one of state politics' toughest jobs, the head of Melbourne's privatised tram network told The Age he would be urging the new minister to invest more money.

Yarra Trams chief executive Michel Masson expressed dismay at what commuters are subjected to on older trams. ''Surely the public deserves better than that,'' he said, referring to a ride he took recently on a 1970s non-air-conditioned Z-class tram during a day of extreme heat.

The Government has announced it will order 50 new trams as part of its December 2008 public transport plan, with the first of the new trams arriving in 2012.

But Mr Masson said 50-70 new trams on top of those already announced should now be considered to cope with rising temperatures and almost 10 per cent annual patronage growth.

''We have got to recognise that the fleet is ageing,'' he said.

''The public in Melbourne definitely deserves to have some brand new equipment that will provide the air conditioning, the passenger information displays, with much greater quality than what they can experience now by driving in Z-class, for instance.''

Mr Masson said he was convinced that higher temperatures were not ''extraordinary'' but part of a pattern that Melbourne would need to adapt to.

The head of Metro Trains, Andrew Lezala, said he looked forward to working with Mr Pakula and that he too would be concentrating on improving the performance of trains in the heat. He said some of the already-increased Government investment in the rail network would be used to combat extreme heat.

"We've already started to use some of that funding to improve the performance of Comeng air conditioners in hot weather, and a full overhaul is planned. We also continue the roll-out of rail strengthening works that have already paid dividends in reducing track buckling in extreme heat," he said.

Hundreds of train services were cancelled in Melbourne earlier this month when temperatures soared above 43 degrees. ''Making the system less susceptible to the extremes of temperature in Melbourne is a priority, as is improving the quality of customer information when there are disruptions,'' Mr Lezala said.

Mr Pakula, 41, a former trade union boss, was sworn in yesterday as part of a minor reshuffle in which Mill Park MP Lily D'Ambrosio became the newest member of the Brumby cabinet.

Mr Pakula inherits one of the most challenging jobs in the Government as it struggles to overcome chronic overcrowding on trains and trams, the botched myki ticketing system and years of under-investment in infrastructure that has been blamed for system-wide failures on days of extreme heat.

Premier John Brumby instructed his new Transport Minister to spend a fortnight riding the state's trains, trams and buses. ''It's probably fair to say he's a casual user of the system at the moment. He will be an intense user of the public transport system,'' Mr Brumby said.

Mr Pakula described himself as a moderate user of public transport, saying he travelled by train a couple of dozen times a year. He said he would ride the system to hear about the problems first hand.

As Victoria's tram and train operators plead to the new minister for extra investment, the NSW Government is expected to announce the go-ahead for a controversial $5.3 billion underground CBD Metro for Sydney.

[ozbob]

From the Herald Sun click here!

New State Public Transport Minister Martin Pakula takes taxpayer-funded car for final leg of journey home

New State Public Transport Minister Martin Pakula takes taxpayer-funded car for final leg of journey home

    * Ashley Gardiner, Amelia Harris
    * From: Herald Sun
    * January 21, 2010 12:00AM

JUST hours after being chosen as the man to fix Victoria's public transport mess, Martin Pakula took a taxpayer-funded car instead of a bus for the final leg of his 21km journey home.

Before taking his "park and ride" trip home, the new Public Transport Minister boarded a tram with Premier John Brumby after he was sworn in at Government House.

Mr Pakula was seen by the Herald Sun getting out of his chauffeur-driven Ford Territory at his home in Black Rock. The bayside suburb is not served by trains, but by connecting buses from Sandringham or Cheltenham.

Tell the new public transport minister how to fix the system: Blog with Martin Pakula from 2pm on Thursday

Mr Pakula said he had caught the train to Cheltenham, where the government car waited to drive him the rest of the way home.

His driver was carrying Department of Transport briefings for the new minister, which he said he intended to read overnight.

"I'll be catching the bus from my home to the station in the morning," Mr Pakula said.

He said the Frankston line train, which he caught at Parliament, had been full, but numbers started to thin out from McKinnon.

Earlier, Mr Pakula said he was under orders from the Premier to be a strong advocate for the travelling public.

Mr Pakula said he wanted to have the full range of public transport users' experience.

With public transport expected to be one of the key election issues, the Government is keen to counter the perception of former minister Lynne Kosky as being out of touch.

Mr Pakula - who considers himself a "moderate user" of public transport - acknowledged that the troubled smartcard ticket system, myki, was one of his top challenges.

Mr Brumby said he had been briefed on myki earlier this week, but would not give a start date for the system on trams and buses.

"You are going to see a staggered introduction there," Mr Brumby said.

"There are still people who have purchased a card and it's not working 100 per cent of the time for all commuters.

There are some teething problems there as it's rolled out."

Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu Mr Pakula should not have two portfolios and should concentrate on public transport.

"This is John Brumby's failed transport system, and under his part-time Minister for Transport Victorians know that trains will still be late and overcrowded, train stations will still be unsafe and they will be paying $1.4 billion for a ticketing system no-one asked for that doesn't work," Mr Baillieu said.

-  with Matt Johnston