ARA calls for national coordination of urban passenger transport planning and funding

By Jennifer Perry

“This is a great opportunity to put the Government under pressure to really reform its governance structures for managing urban passenger transport which the ARA has done in its submission to the inquiry,” Sochon said.
The ARA’s submission primarily calls for the national coordination of urban transport planning and funding and the formalisation of the Commonwealth Government’s role in this, so that there is a level of cooperation, integration and consistency between the Commonwealth and the States.
“Then we are able to institutionalise the long-term planning that needs to occur and we are able to address the question of, ‘what is the shape of our cities for the future,’” Sochon said.
Urban transport planning has historically been the State’s focus and while some States are already engaged in long-term planning for urban transport in city centres others are not.
“Western Australia has come up with long-term planning for arterial roads and railways - their Mandurah line was set aside in the early 1960s by a very farsighted Government and those lines have now been built in recent years,” Sochon said.
“Another leading edge demonstration is in Perth on their Southern line - you build a railway and things will follow such as suburbs around the railway line which means integrated transport.
“These are great examples of how long-term planning and a vision for what a future city could look like can actually pay off.
“Then you have the basket case, Sydney, where politically they can’t get their act together - it is the one place that is truly lacking long-term plans.
“Industry believes long term planning needs to be at least 30 years and that it is vital that land use planning and transport planning are joined at the hip - this is still not happening effectively in most jurisdictions.”
The Federal Government is already engaged in urban transport planning, something that Sochon said is evident in their funding for urban rail projects in Australia’s city centres.
“This role just needs to be formalised,” he said.
“The ARA believes this is important not just for rail sake - we want to see the best passenger transport mix occurring in each capital city and we are saying rail has a place in that.”
The Senate Inquiry has attracted considerable, widespread interest from around Australia with187 submissions received so far from a diverse range of stakeholders. Findings are likely to be released in August.

To view the ARA’s submission visit: www.ara.net.au

For more information on the Senate Inquiry including all submissions visit: http://www.aph.gov.au/Senate/Committee/rrat_ctte/public_transport/index.htm