Sustainable Transport and City Development

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Sustainable Transport and City Development Vision, Infrastructure and Policy

Emmerson RichardsonSinclair Knight Merz

ABSTRACT

This paper looks at the transport systems we might expect in Australian and NewZealand cities in about 50 years time. The future movement patterns and systemsand city form will be largely dependent on:

Vision for social, environment & economic improvements, including health andcommunity safety;

How existing and future infrastructure can be developed and adapted for use;

The policy framework developed to influence travel behaviour and regulate traveland land use planning and development.

To understand how cities will function 50 years out, it is necessary to understand howthey will function 10, 20, 30 and 40 years out. Transport and building infrastructure, inparticular, has taken many years to develop. Its physical form and presence can onlybe changed gradually and at considerable cost and disruption to the community.Most city and state governments around Australia and New Zealand have endorsedcommunity led visions of cities where people can move around freely with reducedcar dependence, reduced congestion, reduced energy consumption, reducedpollution and an increased level of safety and amenity. The paper will examine both

the community's preferences and demonstrated factors that have been influential inchanging travel behaviour. Existing evidence from TravelSmart behaviour changeprogrammes in Australia shows that a desire to improve health and fitness and tosave money are the two factors most likely to reduce car use and increase walking,cycling and public transport.

In support of these visions most governments are working towards increasing thecapacity of the public transport system in the current infrastructure developmenttimeframe - 5 to 10 years. A much more significant increase in capacity will berequired to meet the anticipated long term change in demand.

The major conclusions of the paper are:

Increased road capacity for private vehicle travel will induce increased demandfor car travel and contribute to increased congestion over time.

A very large increase in the capacity and service of the public transport systemwill be needed to meet the travel demands of future generations in growing cities.

Public Transport infrastructure and rolling stock expansion takes years to planand deliver. There is an immediate need to put in place an ongoinginfrastructure and rolling stock expansion programme in each city.

A comprehensive transport and land use policy framework is required for eachcity. This should include the role and principles of all major elements of thetransport system, including integration with land use and the role of traveldemand management. It should also include guidelines on location, designpriority and funding, to assist development of the long term infrastructure plan.


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1. INTRODUCTION

This paper examines likely and desirable movement systems in Australia and NewZealands largest cities in the first half of the 21st Century.

It concludes that the major drivers for change are climate change, road congestion,health and fitness, affordable living and road safety. It suggests a vision for thefuture that is focussed around the theme of reducing car dependence and improvingthe more sustainable forms of transport walking, cycling and public transport.

It notes that, whilst there is strong in principle support for strategies seeking to movein this direction, no Australian or New Zealand city has committed to this course ofaction through development of a comprehensive suite of policies and a long terminfrastructure plan designed to deliver the desired outcomes.

The paper provides examples of how different cities have influenced transport andland use through different investment strategies. It shows that consistent strategic

policy frameworks and targeted long term infrastructure plans are critical to movingtowards a community vision for a sustainable transport and land use system.

2. DRIVERS FOR CHANGE

Transport is a means to an end. Its role is to provide access for a whole range ofpurposes where people need to meet for work, social and other reasons and toprovide for the efficient movement of goods and to enable services to be provided.

In the future, it will be necessary to develop and maintain a transport system thatprovides a high level of accessibility for all in the community, without creating orcontributing to unacceptable environmental, economic or social consequences.Importantly, it will be necessary to balance present needs without compromising theability of future generations to meet their needs. The Brundtland Report (1987)defined sustainable development as development that meets the needs of thepresent without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their ownneeds.

The drivers for change are increasingly likely to reflect the communitys desire toimprove liveability and quality of life. In this environment, transport improvements willneed to move beyond improving accessibility alone, to development of more

integrated systems, providing more holistic and sustainable societal benefits. Thiswas recognised by the Western Australian Department of Transport in 1999, when itestablished an integrated transport planning unit with the objective of maximisingaccessibility of the transport system, utilising a variety of transport modes and tomanage transport demand in a way that improves liveability and minimises overallcosts to users and the community.

The following drivers for change reflect the growing community desire to improvequality of life, now and in the future.


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2.1 CLIMAGE CHANGE

Climate change is now a major community concern and is firmly on the politicalagenda of most countries, including Australia and New Zealand. As the awarenessof potential consequences rises, it is reported and discussed daily in newspapers anddiscussed by the populace at large in cafes, golf clubs and other social gatherings.

Last century, the worlds average temperature increased by 0.74C and eleven of thetwelve years from 1995 to 2006 rank amongst the warmest years on record (UnitedNations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007). The Stern Review thatreported to the UK Government summed it up as follows:

The scientific evidence is now overwhelming; climate change presents very seriousglobal risks, and it demands an urgent response. (Stern Review: Economics onClimate Change, 2006).

In 2000, the transport sector accounted for 14% of all greenhouse gas emissions

worldwide (14% in Australia and 18% in New Zealand). Of greater concern,emissions from transport are growing. In Australia, greenhouse emissions fromtransport grew by 28.4% between 1990 and 2004, and are estimated to grow to 42%above 1990 levels by 2010 (Australian Greenhouse Office, 2006).

Table 1 compares greenhouse gas emissions per person in Australia, the UK and theUSA.

Table 1 Comparison of Greenhouse Gas Emissions per Person

AUSTRALIA UK USA

Population 20.1 million 60.3 million 296.4 million

Total Greenhouse Gas Emissions(CO2equivalent)

565 mt/yr 656 mt/yr 7147 mt/yr

Total Greenhouse Gas Emissionsper person

28.1 t/yr

100%

10.9 t/yr

39%

24.1 t/yr

86%

Greenhouse Gas Emissions fromTransport (CO2equivalent)

76 mt/yr 125.3 mt/yr 2000.3 mt/yr

Greenhouse Gas Emissions fromTransport per person

3.8t/yr

100%

2.1 t/yr

55%

6.75 t/yr

178%

Greenhouse Gas Emissions fromCars (CO2equivalent) 41.7 mt/yr 62.8 mt/yr 1170.5 mt/yr

Greenhouse Gas from Cars perperson

2.07 t/yr

100%

1.04 t/yr

50%

3.95 t/yr

191%

Analysis of data supplied under UN Framework on Climate Change, 2004

Table 2 provides comparisons of CO2emissions from public and private transport inurban areas around the world.


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Table 2 World Comparisons of Public and Private Transport Emissions (1995 data)

Region or

Country

Total privatetransport CO2emissions per

capita(kg/person)

Total publictransport CO2emissions per

capita(kg/person)

Total passengertransport CO2emissions per

capita(kg/person)

USA Cities 4322 83 4405

Australian/NewZealand Cities

2107 119 2226

Canadian Cities 2348 74 2422

West EuropeanCities

1133 134 1269

High Income AsianCities

688 162 825

Source: Kenworthy JR Transport Energy Use and Greenhouse Gases in Urban PassengerSystems: A Study of 84 Global Cities

The above tables show a direct relationship between car dependence and use andgreenhouse gas emissions from transport.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will be a driver to reduce car use in cities and toincrease walking, cycling and public transport.

2.2 CONGESTION

Traffic congestion is a growing problem in Australian and New Zealand cities and incities around the world. Commuters are becoming increasingly concerned about theimpact of congestion on their quality of life, and businesses are concerned with theimpact on efficiency and profitability.

In response to a perception of growing community concern about the sustainability ofSydneys transport system and land use development, the Warren Centre (2001)launched a major research study in 1999. Market research for this study found themost important transport problems to be:

42% traffic congestion 12% lack of public transport 11% reliability of public transport

Amongst the many findings in the Warren Centre study were:

Both the public and decision-makers favour strategies to reduce traffic overbuilding more freeways as the solution to traffic congestion. But the decision-makers underestimate public support for demand management.

There is a strong preference among residents for improving public transporteven at the expense of the road budget. Decision-makers underestimate this

support.


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At a superficial level, it may appear that building more or wider roads would reducecongestion in cities. However, more roads can induce more traffic to travel by carand can have a detrimental effect on public transport usage. The fact that inducedtraffic exists and is significant in congested areas is now widely accepted (refer toSACTRA, 1994; Noland, 1999; Richardson, Chalmers and James, 1999; and Nolanand Lem, 2001).

Figure 1 shows that the delay per driver (a measure of congestion) is totallyunrelated to the number of miles of freeway and arterial roads per 1000 population inthe 20 biggest cities in the USA.

Figure 1 Measure of Delay Americas 20 Biggest Cities

Source: Urban Transportation Monitor 1999 (Data from Texas Transportation Institute)

Similarly, cities with good public transport encourage more use of public transport.Table 3 shows that cities with large rail systems have significantly more publictransport use, less car driving and less deaths from car accidents than cities with busonly systems on a per capita basis.

Table 3 Travel Characteristics in Americas 50 Largest Cities

Increase/Decrease Compared to Bus OnlySystem Cities

Indicator Large RailSystem

(7 Cities)

Small RailSystem

(16 Cities)

Bus OnlySystem

(27 Cities)

Public Transport Ridership(kms per person)

+500% +50% 0%

Car Driver Travel(kms per person)

-20% -10% 0%

Traffic Safety(Deaths per100,000 persons) -35% -15% 0%

Source: Rail Transit in America - A Comprehensive Evaluation of Benefits: Litman, T (2004)


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An increase in public transport and a reduction in car travel will create more space onthe road network for freight and emergency service vehicles. This increase in thetransport system efficiency will contribute to reduced freight costs and result in morereliable response times by emergency and other service vehicles.

The desire to reduce congestion will continue to be a driver in developing efficientand sustainable transport systems in cities. This will require there to be a per capitareduction in car driving.

2.3 HEALTH AND FITNESS

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the problem of obesity as anepidemic on a world wide scale.

The Australian Society for the Study of Obesity has reported:

Almost 60% of Australian adults are either overweight or obese (2.5 times higherthan in 1980).

25% of Australian children are either overweight or obese.

Childhood obesity is growing by 1% per annum.

Obesity is costing the Australian Government more than $1.5 billion per annum.

New Zealand figures are similar, with about 52% of the population either overweightor obese. Obesity in New Zealand increased by 50% between 1989 and 1997.

A lack of exercise is one of the main reasons for the increase in obesity the other

main reason is inappropriate diet.

For weight loss and general health, the US Surgeon General recommends bephysically active for at least 30 minutes (adults) or 60 minutes (children) on mostdays of the week. Some of this exercise can be undertaken as part of the dailytravel routine walking or cycling to work, or walking to or from public transport. Forchildren, more walking and cycling as a part of independent transport access (i.e. notdriven by parents) can assist.

The Western Australian TravelSmart behaviour change programme (refer to James1998, James 2002, Ker 2002 and Brog and John 2001) found that improving healthand fitness was one of the two major motivators to drive less and walk, cycle or use

public transport more.

The desire to lose weight, or for your children to lose weight, will be a driver for someto use the car less and to walk, cycle or use public transport more.

2.4 AFFORDABLE LIVING

Citizens around the world are obliged to balance their personal and family budgets.There is a general desire to reduce day-to-day expenditure so that money can besaved for an individual or family holiday, savings for retirement or some other

personal preference expenditure.


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The Western Australian TravelSmart behaviour change programme found that thepotential to save money was one of the two major motivators to drive less and travelmore by walking, cycling and public transport.

The RAC in Western Australia has produced the following information on the cost ofowning and operating a private car.

Table 4 Cost of Running a Car in Australia ($ Australian)

Vehicle Type Average Weekly Cost Average Annual Cost

Light (up to 1.6 litre) $116.67 $6,067

Small 1.6 to 2.0 litre) $152.32 $7,921

Medium (2.0 to 3.0 litre) $194.98 $10,139

Large (> 3.0 litre) $208.09 $10,821

Medium 4WD $247.79 $12,885Source: RAC Western Australia (2007) (www.racwa.com.au/go/search then click OperatingCosts Guide)

These costs include depreciation, fuel, etc, but do not include the cost of parking.For a person on the average take home pay of about $41,000, the percentageincome expended on owning and operating a car would vary between:

14.8% light car 19.3% small car 24.7% medium car 26.4% large car

31.4% medium 4WD

It is clear that families who are able to avoid buying and using a second car will havethe potential to make a considerable saving.

Kenworthy and Laube (2001) have estimated the proportion of metro GDP expendedon transport (refer Table 5):

Table 5 International Comparison of Metro GDP Expendi ture on Travel

City or Region

Total private

passengertransport cost asa percentage of

metro GDP

Total pub lic

passengertransport cost asa percentage of

metro GDP

Total passenger

transport costas a percentageof metro GDP

Australian average 12.2% 1.2% 13.4%

US average 11.2% 0.6% 11.8%

Canadian average 12.9% 0.9% 13.7%

West Europeanaverage

5.6% 1.8% 7.4%

Asian average 3.6% 1.3% 4.9%

Source: Kenworthy and Laube (2001) Millennium Cities, Database for Sustainable Transport


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Cities with high car use spend a much higher proportion of their wealth on transportthan do cities with good public transport systems and lower car use.

The desire to save money will be a driver to walk, cycle and use public transportmore as a trade-off with lower car use.

2.5 ROAD SAFETY

Over 1 million people lose their lives each year as a result of road crashes. InAustralia, about 1,700 people die from road crashes each year. In an attempt to putthis in perspective, more lives have been lost in road crashes in Australia than the100,000 Australians killed in wars.

Road crashes have a particularly high impact on young people. In addition to thepersonal trauma, the economic cost is high. The Australian Bureau of Transport

Economics estimated the annual cost in Australia to be about $15 billion, or about$750 per person.

Table 6 compares the deaths per million people from road crashes in Australia, theUK and the USA.

Table 6 Comparison of Road Death Rates (Australia, UK and USA)

Austral ia(2005)

UK(2005)

USA(2005)

Population 20.1m 59.6m 295m

Road Deaths 1,636 3,201 43,443

Deaths/Million People 81.4 53.7 147.2

Source: Australian Transport Safety Bureau. Road Deaths Australia, 2005 StatisticalSummary, and US Department of Transportation (www.dot.gov/safety.html), and UK NationalStatistics (www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1208)

The death rate from road crashes in the USA is 81% higher than in Australia, whichin turn, is 52% higher than the UK. Whilst there will be different factors responsiblefor this variation, the figures demonstrate that countries with lower car use and higherproportions of people travelling by other modes, are likely to have lower death ratesfor road crashes.

The desire to reduce road deaths may become a driver to reduce car use andincrease travel by other modes, though this has not occurred to date.


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3. A VISION FOR THE FUTURE

This vision for the future has been formulated by the author taking account of:

The desire of communities to achieve an improved quality of life, based on

improved accessibility for all and improved social, economic and environmentaloutcomes based on reduced dependence and use of cars;

expert analysis that shows that congestion and associated negative impacts areunlikely to be reduced by building more and bigger roads in urban areas;

the need to develop an integrated and sustainable transport system 1 that willdeliver a greater travel choice for more people and global and localenvironmental benefits with tangible benefits to community health.

3.1 Vision

By 2060, major Australian and New Zealand cities will have developed a sustainableand integrated urban transport and land use system, where:

Fast, frequent, electric trains, zero emission buses and light rail vehicles onpriority routes, will provide an integrated network of services and move largenumbers of people in an efficient manner;

car travel will remain an important choice mode of transport for dispersed tripsand for trips outside of centres and in outer areas, but smaller, more energyefficient, low emission vehicles will be predominant;

reduced car travel will result in reduced congestion and an improved level ofsafety and amenity, particularly in city and town centres and in inner city areas;

reduced car use and congestion will result in more efficient freight movementand more reliable response times for emergency and other service vehicles;

walking and cycling will increasingly become transport modes of choice,particularly in inner city areas, in mixed use centres and in transit orienteddevelopments around stations;

a network of cycle paths and safe cycle friendly streets will induce more cycling,both as an independent mode and as an access mode to public transport.

Whilst this vision may seem idealistic to some, the drivers for change, discussed insection 2, would seem to indicate an inevitable move in this direction.

The extent to which this vision is fulfilled will be dependent on the way infrastructureis developed and adapted for use and the extent to which government policy isimplemented in support of the vision.

1A sustainable transportation system is one that: allows the basic access needs of individuals and societies to be

met safely and in a manner consistent with human and ecosystem health, and with equity within and betweengenerations. Is affordable, operates efficiently, offers choice of transport mode, and supports a vibrant economy.Limits emissions and waste within the planets ability to absorb them, minimizes consumption of non-renewableresources, limits consumption of renewable resources to the sustainable yield level, reuses and recycles itscomponents, and minimizes the use of land and the production of noise.Source: Centre for Sustainable Transportation, University of Winnipeg (cst.uwinnpeg.ca)


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4. LONG TERM INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT

The urban transport infrastructure necessary to provide for the accessibility andmobility needs in cities has taken many decades to develop, at a cost of manybillions of dollars. Infrastructure for future transport needs will cost many more

billions of dollars.

A long term transport plan is needed for all major cities so that future infrastructureneeds can be planned, funded and implemented on a progressive basis. The longterm infrastructure plan should:

be capable of meeting projected future long term travel needs;

address the communitys desire to improve overall quality of life objectives(environmental, economic and social), in addition to the specific transport goal ofimproving accessibility for all;

ensure efficient use is made of existing transport infrastructure by increasing its

people moving capacity and/or freight moving capacity through progressiveadaptation and renewal;

fund and implement new transport infrastructure, continually and progressively,as part of a sustainable transport plan that will meet the communitys vision forthe future and address concerns in relation to climate change, congestion, healthand fitness, affordable living and road safety.

Planners and engineers need to be continually on the lookout for innovative solutionsthat will address all or some of the drivers for change discussed above. However, itseems inevitable that these innovations will continue to require existing infrastructureto be used with increased efficiency.

Without doubt, we will continue to see the development of low and zero emissionvehicles. There is also likely to be new technology options for the propulsion ofpublic transport vehicles. It will also be necessary to move more people in lessvehicles, using less space in a way that is more energy efficient. In the foreseeablefuture, this means a higher utilisation of public transport.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence in the use of public transport, especiallyrail (or bus or light rail operating along dedicated rights of way). An example isPerths Northern Suburbs Railway that was constructed in the centre of a major 6lane freeway in 1993. It now moves more peak hour travellers than the adjacent

freeway, in considerably less space. Peak hour rail travel increased by 33% between2002 and 2005 in response to increased system capacity and frequency. The railsystem, which has trains running at 4 minute average frequencies during the peakperiod, is again at full capacity and further growth is again constrained by the lack oftrain capacity.

There is now significant evidence that increased use of public transport can beinduced by improvements to service and frequency. For a summary of Australianexperience, refer to Richardson and Burgess (2005).


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cycling. It is also true that a number of excellent public transport projects have beenimplemented or are being implemented. Examples include the southern suburbsrailway in Perth, which will almost double the size of Perths rail system; and anumber of busway projects in Brisbane. However, it is also true that many cities arecontinuing to spend a significant proportion of the transport budget on major urbanroad capacity expansion projects. Examples include an inner city bypass tunnelrecently opened in Sydney and inner city bypass tunnels planned for Brisbane.

At this point in time, it seems that no city has developed a comprehensive suite ofpolicies to support their integrated transport strategies and to provide guidance forlong term infrastructure planning and implementation. Without such policies and longterm infrastructure plans, there is little prospect of any of the current strategiesmeeting their objectives or targets.

A comprehensive suite of transport and land use policies is required for each city toassist in the development and implementation of long term public transport

infrastructure plans. Key policy initiatives should include;

public transport role and principles;

role and principles of road network development;

induced demand and implications of building more and bigger roads and buildingmore high capacity, high frequency public transport systems;

long term (50 years +) capacity requirements of the strategic public transportsystem;

location and design guidelines for major public transport routes and for publictransport integration infrastructure, including rail/light rail/bus interchanges andpark and ride facilities;

guidelines on density, form and mix of development around train and majortransit stations and along activity corridors and in activity centres;

guidelines on the location of intensive development in relation to existing andfuture planned public transport systems;

guidelines on the priority and the means of funding major transport infrastructure,taking account of the desired vision, cost and long term benefits;

travel demand management and behaviour change programmes;

road user and public transport user pricing and charging for use;

parking as a means of influencing modal travel demand.

In addition to development of policies and guidelines, it will be necessary toundertake locational place-based studies using enquiry by design and othertechniques. These techniques can be very helpful in understanding both the needand the means of delivery of high capacity public transport in city and town centresand along major activity corridors.


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6. NOT ALL CITIES AND TRAVEL PATTERNS ARE THESAME

Even the most cursory comparison of public transport in cities shows that some citieshave been much more successful in retaining and growing patronage than others.For example, the following three cities on the west coast of North America weredeveloped in the same area of the world around the same time but have vastlydifferent public transport use.

Table 7 Mode Share Comparison North American West Coast Cities

City and Public TransportMode Share

Comment

Vancouver (British Columbia)

8% to 9%

Vancouver has put a reasonable effort into developingits public transport system over most of the last 50 years

and has generally not built urban freeways within theinner city area.

Portland (Oregon)

About 5%

Portland changed direction in the 1970s and has greatlyincreased investment in public transport since that time.

Los Angeles (California)

2% to 3%

Los Angeles allowed its rail system to be removed andits public transport system generally to fall into disrepair,whilst it invested heavily in major road systems. Morerecently, it has begun re-investing in rail based publictransport.

Richardson and Burgess (2005) have examined a number of case studies inAustralian cities and have found the following factors are important in inducingincreased travel on the public transport system:

Improved frequency of service;

improved speed and reliability of service;

safer, more comfortable and more convenient modal interchanges, includingpark and ride;

integrated easy to use ticketing systems;

improved passenger security;

TravelSmart behaviour change programmes; and

demand management measures designed to progressively increase restraint oncar usage in certainareas.

The general conclusions reached by Richardson and Burgess were:

It is both possible and practical to induce greater usage of the public transportsystem through improvements to frequency and service, improved management oftransport infrastructure and through behaviour change programmes such asTravelSmart.


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Sustained increased growth in the mode share of public transport will require thepublic transport system to be improved continuously at a rate greater than theimprovement to the road system.

The UK Commission for Integrated Transport has undertaken a number of

benchmarking studies (e.g. Atkins - 2001, MVA 2005) on cities that have beensuccessful in promoting high use of public transport.

Table 8, below, compares public transport and car mode share in Munich,Manchester and Glasgow 3 European cities of about the same size.

Table 8 Mode Share Comparisons Medium to Large Size Cities

Munich Manchester GlasgowSE

Queensland

Metropolitan population 2.9m 2.6m 2.2m 2.5mPublic transport modeshare

25% 14% 12% 7%

Car (driver pluspassenger) mode share

41% 59% 55% 80%

Source: WS Atkins, 2001

Munich has invested heavily in its public transport system since around 1970. Inparticular, it has implemented an efficient regional rail (S-Bahn) and subway (U-Bahn)system to complement its tram and bus system. It has constructed 4 new U-Bahnlines since 1972 at a cost of over AUS $5 billion. The extent of the current public

transport system is:

S-Bahn 517 kms

U-Bahn 138 kms and 100 stations

Train 98 kms

City bus routes 656 kms

Regional bus routes 3600 kms

Munich has invested more on public transport and less on roads when compared to

the UK cities of Manchester and Glasgow.

Table 9 Annual per capita Investment in Infrastructure (Euros)

Public transport RoadsRoads plus pub lic

transport

Munich 221 (65%) 121 (35%) 342

Manchester 32 (18%) 149 (82%) 181

Glasgow 23 (11%) 216 (89%) 239

Source: WS Atkins, 2001


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Other factors contributing to the success of Munich in attracting patronage to its

public transport system are:

High frequency of the public transport system. The U-Bahn and S-Bahn operateat 2-3 minute frequencies in peak periods and 5 minutes off peak. Trains andbuses operate at about 10 minute frequencies all day.

Ticketing and Information System. A fully multi-modal ticketing system with avariety of discount tickets is available. Real time information on vehicle arrivalsis available at stations and on the internet and is being expanded.

20,000 park and ride bays have been provided at stations providing improvedaccess to public transport and reduced traffic in the city.

High quality pedestrianisation and demand management measures to limitdriving including supply and price of parking.

Improved accessibility to the system by people with disabilities. The entire U-Bahn system is fully accessible. In 2001, the S-Bahn was 20% accessibly with

plans to improve this to 50% by 2011. All trains and 50% of buses are low floorcompared to 20% in Glasgow and 18% in Manchester.

Munich intends to continue to improve its public transport system throughimprovements to the rail system, potential enhancements and additions to the U-Bahn and further priority measures for buses. In 2001, a target was set to reduce carmodal share from 40% to 35%.

There are also significant changes to mode share travel within cities as shown forSydney and Melbourne (Tables 10 and 11).

Table 10 Sydney Mode Share (2000)

Region Car DriverCarPassenger

PublicTransport

Walk Only Other2

All Sydney 48% 21.7% 10.9% 17.4% 1.8%

Inner East Sydney 35.6% 14.5% 16.4% 29.1% 4.4%

North East Sydney 47.7% 19.9% 12.1% 17.6% 2.6%

North West Sydney 54.6% 23.3% 8.7% 12.4% 1.1%

South West Sydney 52.8% 24.6% 8.6% 13.3% 0.7%

Source: 2000 Household Travel Survey, Transport NSW Transport Data Centre

2Other trips include bicycle, taxi, light rail and ferry.


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Table 11 Melbourne Mode Share (1997 1999)

Region Car DriverCarPassenger

PublicTransport

Walk Only Other

All Melbourne 43.7% 23.1% 6.6% 25.6% 1.0%Inner

3 24.6% 9.7% 15.8% 48.3% 1.6%

Middle pre 1960 43.3% 21.5% 6.6% 27.5% 1.1%

Middle post 1960 49.8% 24.4% 4.6% 20.2% 1.0%

Outer Stable 49.9% 28.2% 3.6% 17.5% 0.8%

Outer Growing 49.6% 30.7% 3.1% 15.8% 0.8%

Source: VATS 1997/1999

Other than the fact that walking is more widespread in Melbourne than in Sydney, thetrends are very similar. Both sets of figures clearly show that walking and public

transport are more viable transport modes in areas where there are more mixed usesand convenient public transport services are available.

7. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

There is growing evidence that the community is seeking transport solutions that willnot only improve accessibility for all, but will contribute to broader economic, socialand environmental outcomes. In particular, there is a strong desire to ensure thattransport solutions result in overall positive outcomes and have few, or limited,

negative consequences in relation to the following key societal issues;

climate change

road congestion

health and fitness

affordable living

road safety

A reduction of car travel in large cities has the potential to make a positive

contribution to each of the above key societal issues.

A vision for a sustainable transport future has been presented around the theme ofless dependence and use of cars and greater use of public transport, walking andcycling. It is concluded that achievement of the vision will be dependent on strongpolitical commitment delivered through a comprehensive policy framework and a longterm infrastructure plan.

The paper demonstrates that some cities have been much more successful thanothers in retaining and growing public transport and reducing dependence on cars.Important factors are the extent to which public transport infrastructure and services

3Comprises municipalities of Melbourne, Port Phillip and Yarra (total population 208,000) 16% of all transport trips inMelbourne are made in this area.


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have been retained or improved relative to road infrastructure and the form anddensity of development, particularly around transit stations.

The major conclusions are:

Increased road capacity for private vehicle travel will induce increased demandfor car travel and contribute to increased congestion over time.

A very large increase in the capacity and service of the public transport systemwill be needed to meet the travel demands of future generations in growing cities.

Public transport infrastructure and rolling stock expansion takes years to planand deliver. There is an immediate need to put in place an ongoinginfrastructure and rolling stock expansion programme.

A comprehensive transport and land use policy framework is required for eachcity. This should include the role and principles of all major elements of thetransport system, including integration with land use and the role of traveldemand management. It should also include guidelines on location, design

priority and funding, to assist development of the long term infrastructure plan.

REFERENCES

Australian Greenhouse Office (2006). Transport Sector Greenhouse Gas Projections,2006(Australian Government, Canberra)

Australian Society for the Study of Obesity (www.asso.org.au), March 2007

Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Road Deaths Australia, 2005 StatisticalSummary

Brog, W and John, G (2001) Individualised Marketing The Perth Success Story(Marketing Public Transport Conference, Auckland, NZ)

Brundtland Commission (World Commission Environment and Development), 1987.Out Common Future (Oxford University Press, UK)

Centre for Sustainable Transportation (cst/uwinnipeg.ca) March 2007. (University ofWinnipeg, Canada)

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Sustainable Transport and City Development

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