27 April 2011
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is mistaken, and figures it has released today actually prove that governments are favouring public transport over roads, according to the Urban Taskforce. The ACF today says that, since 2000, local, state and federal governments in Australia have spent 4.3 times more on the construction of public roads and bridges than on public railway construction.
The Urban Taskforces chief executive, Aaron Gadiel, said that, contrary to the green groups claims, the figures actually make it clear that governments have got the right balance between public transport and roads expenditure.
According to the ACFs figures, 19 per cent of public funding is invested in public transport, while 81 per cent is invested in public roads and bridges, Mr Gadiel said.
This is despite the fact that 90 per cent of passenger transport in cities takes place with a private motor vehicle and just 10 per cent is by public transport.
Even when shopping and social visits are excluded, and you just look at commuting, 84 per cent of passenger transport trips are made with a private motor vehicle.
Governments have, rightly, been giving public transport 19 per cent of the funding, when it accounts for just 10 per cent of urban passenger transport.
Mr Gadiel said that it is appropriate for public transport to be given an extra emphasis, because better public transport services and more extensive networks will boost patronage.
However, increased public transport usage will not mean that most trips will be carried out on bus or rail in the decades to come, Mr Gadiel said.
In fact, no matter which way you cut it, most people will, for most of their journeys, still be using their cars.
Thats why governments cannot walk away from adequately funding our road networks.
If they do, they would be abandoning the health of our cities.
Mr Gadiel said that public transport systems are generally geared to get people to the area of a city which has the highest concentration of workers.
But this centre only ever has a minority of jobs in a city, Mr Gadiel said.
Only 14 per cent of Sydneys jobs are found in the inner and inner western Sydney area.
Just 16 per cent of Melbournes jobs are found in inner Melbourne.
Brisbanes inner ring is home to 27 per cent of its jobs and Perths central metropolitan area accounts for just 9 per cent of its jobs.
Mr Gadiel said that many people work ˜on the road, in suburban locations and smaller centres.
We cant ever assume that most workers will be able to use public transport to get to their job – in fact most will never have that choice, Mr Gadiel said.
Mr Gadiel said the real issue here is the lack of overall transport funding.
Governments have failed to appreciate the high social and economic costs imposed on our cities by a lack of transport infrastructure investment, Mr Gadiel said.
This problem cant be addressed by fiddling between the current mix of roads and public transport funding, but instead needs to be tackled by a very significant long-term boost in public funding for transport infrastructure generally.
The Urban Taskforce is a property development industry group, representing Australias most prominent property developers and equity financiers.
