Tuesday, 30 July 2024

Public transport

Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (15:21): When it comes to public transport, frequency is freedom. Frequency means that public transport is a convenient option to get to work, to sport, to school and to meet up with friends. Frequency means households might not need to buy that second car or even a first one. But as a recent report from the Climate Council has shown, almost half of Melbourne does not have access to all-day frequent public transport and access is 27 per cent lower in lower income areas. This makes it harder for people in many suburbs to get around, which means they either cannot access opportunities for jobs, study or socialising or have to put their household budgets under even more pressure by paying for multiple cars, with the fuel, insurance and more costs that go with them. It also means more traffic congestion and of course more carbon emissions.

As Climateworks and other organisations have made clear, to meet our emissions reduction targets we will need to take a multipronged approach that includes giving people options to be less car dependent and take public transport more as well as switching to EVs and low-emissions vehicles. This is very achievable. Most of the holes in our timetable currently are at off-peak times, when the infrastructure actually has plenty of spare capacity, and the Victorian Transport Action Group have recently put out a paper that lays out some quick wins where gaps could be filled very quickly and cheaply compared to infrastructure investment. It is time we had a public transport system that works for everyone, with frequent services to all suburbs at all times of the day.