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Full text of "PTUA News - Volume 25 No. 2 - May 2001
"
See other formats
PLA
News
Public Transport Users Association
ISSN 0817 - 0347
Aston by-election
The sad and unexpected death of local MP Peter
Nugent means a by-election in the Knox-based seat
of Aston. This is, of course, the heart of the area
affected by the debate between supporters of im-
proved public transport and the Scoresby Freeway
lobby. The PTUA has been campaigning for im-
proved public transport in Knox since 1995, and the
by-election provides a never-to-be-repeated chance
to demonstrate that the public are nowhere near as
freeway-obsessed as those who claim to represent
them.
The announcement, on 13th May, of $220 million in
Federal funding for the freeway by Prime Minister
John Howard means we have to make the by-election
a referendum on transport policy.
The PTUA will be joining with community and
environment groups in a "Vote 1 public transport”
campaign in Aston. If you are able to help - by
staffing a stall, distributing leaflets or staffing a
polling place on election day - please contact the
PTUA office.
Please send your petitions back
We have had a fantastic response to the ‘Put Public
Transport First’ petition, with over 2000 signatures
collected so far. We now need to present the petitions
to Federal Parliament, so please try to return your to
the office by the end of May
Volume 25 No. 2
May 2001
Country Trains to
Return
Eight years of campaigning by the PTUA have been
rewarded by the announcment this week by the State
Government that passenger trains will return to Ararat,
Bairnsdale, Mildura and Leongatha.
Passenger services were removed from these lines by
the previous Liberal government and repiaced by
buses (other services, to Warrnambool, Swan Hill,
Shepparton and Albury were saved after heavy cam-
paigning).
This week's announcement includes an allocation of
$33 million in the State Budget for for capital works
and subsidies. Apparently, deterioration of the lines
has meant that trains cannot be immediately re-
turned. New trains will also be purchased to operate
the Mildura and Leongatha lines.
The PTUA is very pleased by this positive contribu-
tion to public transport by the State Government. In
his press release, the Premier stated that train times
would be faster than before the cuts. The PTUA looks
forward to working with the government to ensure
that frequency and connectivity are upgraded as well.
One lesson can be drawn from the fact that three of
the lines pass through the electorates of independent
MPs and the remainder through an electorate (Ripon)
in which a coalition MP was unseated by a huge
swing. The lesson is thata strong protest vote concen-
trates politicians’ minds enormously. The PTUA will
be seeking to apply this lesson in the Aston by-
election.
IN THIS ISSUE
Batchelor Bans PTUA
Heidelberg Meeting Opposes Freeway
Lalor Residents Grill Batchelor
Outer East Study Announced
PTUA Seeks Comment on Rural Paper
Vale George Yule
City Link Case Heads to High Court.
In brief
Keeping in touch...
PTUA office
Second Floor, 247 Flinders Lane, Melb.
Telephone: (03) 9650 7898
e-mail: office@ptua.org.au
Committee Meetings
Third Tuesday of each month.
Please call the office for details.
Membership Enquiries
Graeme Gibson: (03) 9650 7898
World Wide Web
Our home page is at
http://www.ptua.org.au/
Committee Members
Paul Mees — President
Anna Morton —Vice President
Vaughan Williams — Secretary
Les Chandra — Assistant Secretary
Daniel Borowski — Treasurer
Glen Boyce
John Cox
Roberto D'Andrea
Hayden Jones
Anthony Morton
Miriam Powell
Tim Petersen
David Robertson
Tim Mattingsbrooke
Dominic McMullan
Batchelor bans PTUA
from transport study
Peter Batchelor has established a "com-
munity reference group” to work with
Department of Infrastructure road engi-
neers on the study of transport options in
the "inner nor:nern corridor” between the
Eastern and Tullamarine Freeways. The
group is very large, with some 25 repre-
sentatives including councils, residents’
groups, government bureaucrats, the
RACV and trucking lobby peak group the
Victorian Road Transport Association.
The consultants wanted the PTUA in-
cluded, but ‘Transport Minister Peter
Batchelor, in a fit of pique, intervened
and had us excluded.
2 PTUA News - May 01
The exclusion of the PTUA, and Mr.
Batchelor's subsequent anti-PTUA dia-
tribe, have been greeted with astonish-
ment by local councils and community
groups, as well as the local media. Even
the consultants working on the project
have quietly let us know that the don't
agree with the Minister's decision and are
happy to consult PTUA informally. Mr.
Batchelor's latest behaviour comes only a
fortnight after he unleashed a similar dia-
tribe against the Cities of Moreland and
Darebin, and respected transport analyst
Professor Bill Russell. At least we are in
good company!
----~<
=.” nny
"~
SS
Heidelberg meeting overwhelmingly
opposes freeway
Concemed residents of the Yarra Valley
voted overwhelmingly torebuke the State
Government for its plans to build a free-
way linkage through the sensitive Yarra
Flats riverland. The public meeting, held
in Heidelberg on the 26th of March sur-
passed organisers’ expectations by first
exceeding the capacity of the hall being
used for the event, and by later producing
a more strongly-worded motion than the
organisers had been prepared for.
Several local community groups initiated
the meeting, which featured a number of
speakers who stated the cultural, environ-
mental and historical importance of the
Yarra Flats region to Melbourne. PTUA
PresidentPaul Mees spoke to the meeting
about the plans for the freeway link, which
are part of long-buried plans by VicRoads
to build a single ring-road surrounding
Melbourne.
As mentioned before in the PTUA news-
letter, this freeway would almost cer-
tainly be built to link the controversial
Scoresby Freeway (in reality the Eastern
Ring Road) with the Westem Ring Road,
and would be an unsightly and devastat-
ing above-ground road that runs through
miles of present-day parkland.
Residents were urged not to be conned by
the claim that the worst effects of this
PTUA forces
The transport policy Labor took to the
1999 Victorian election promised a series
of community-based transport studies
designed to improve public transport and
reduce car dependence, beginning in the
outer eastern suburbs. On being elected to
office, Transport Minister Peter Batchelor
dropped this promise and supported the
Scoresby Freeway. The work program
for the Departmentof Infrastructure's stra-
tegic planning section for 2001 made no
mention of the promised study.
In March, the PTUA issued press releases
to local papers pointing oul that the gov-
bypass could be avoided by making a
large portion of it run underground. Such
a tunnel would end up facing the same
problems as the disastrous Burnley Tun-
nel, while costing three billion dollars,
and all the time keeping only a tiny por-
tion of the freeway hidden from view.
Residents were urged by organisers to
send a message to their local councillors
and state and federal representatives by
voting for a motion opposing these plans.
The organisers were heartened by the
large tumout (around four hundred) which
meant that many people were forced to
stand in the aisles or listen from outside
the open doors. They were then een more
pleasantly surprised when those attend-
ing voted to change the wording of the
prepared motion to many it more explic-
itly condemn the plans.
Local Labor member Craig Langdon not
only attended the meeting, but also helped
to publicise it in a letter to local residents.
He was obviously surprised by the sheer
level of opposition being shown and has
since made efforts to gauge public opin-
ion about the proposed freeway.
The meeting approved the forma-
tion of a group to coordinate the com-
munity's opposition to both the Scoresby
Freeway and the Heidelberg Freeway.
The group is now meeting and planning
a more extensive campaign that will in-
clude a public meeting in July. (Details
in next issue).
Lalor residents
grill Batchelor
On Monday 7th May 100 people gathered
in Lalor to hear Prof Bill Russell talk
about the freeway and the alternative
packeage that his team developed. The
night was organised by the Lalor group
People Of Whittlesea Refusing Entry
(POWRE).
At the end of the meeting a show of hands
was taken about 'who wanted a freeway"
only 3 people said they did - a man sitting
next to Peter Batchelor, and the owners of
the truck wreckers in Cooper St Epping.
Peter Batchelor the local MP responded
to heated criticism from the organisers
and audience. An eyewitness reports:
“Most of what he said did not wash with
the residents. People felt that they had
been excluded from decision making."
Batchelor to announce
outer east public transport study
ernment had failed to honour its election
promises. On 2nd May, Peter Batchelor
announced that $2 million would be allo-
cated to fund a study of outer eastern
public transport.
While generally supportive of this move,
the PTUA does have concerns. In particu-
lar, we need to be reassured that the study
will be genuinely community-based and
that it will be directed to reducing de-
pendence on cars. We have concems about
the possibilities for reduction of car de-
pendence, because the Transport Minis-
ter's press release seems to imply that the
Scoresby Freeway is not going to be as-
sessed as part of the study. Given that the
Kennett Government's 1998 Environmen-
tal Effects Statement found that the free-
way would increase car use, we believe it
should be on the study's agenda too.
The PTUA is also concerned that projects
like the tram extension to Knox, which
were firm commitments in 1999, appear
to have been downgraded to "feasibility
studies”,
PTUA News-May01 3
COUNTRY VICTORIA
PTUA seeks comments on rural
transport paper
The PTUA is inviting members to com-
ment on its draft Connecting Victoria
paper. The paper will form the Associa-
tion's policy on public transport in rural
Victoria.
For the first time in many years there is a
real political desire to improve public
transportin country areas. HoweverCon-
necting Victoria wams that current plans
to introduce fast rail services to regional
cities, will fail unless matters such as
network coverage, service frequency,
co-ordination with buses and convenient
links to town centres are addressed.
Connecting Victoriapoints out that though
Australia is one of the world's most
sparsely populated countries, much of
Victoria has population densities compa-
table to parts of Western Europe that
enjoy good public transport. Connecting
Victoria examines public transport ex-
amples from around the world ane rto-
poses anefficient and affordable statewide
transport system for Victoria.
History
Before World War II, most Victorian
towns and cities had passenger rail links
to Melbourne. Services remaine:’ sire-
quent, slow, and uncomfortable. . hey
proved no match for the private car run-
ning on continually expanding publicly
funded roads. As a result train patronage
declined.
Apart from some innovations in the 1980s,
the general response to the challenge posed
by the car was to reduce services further
and replace trains with buses. Not sur-
prisingly this led to further patronage
loss. More recently, train and coach serv-
ices were corporatised and then priva-
tised. Evidence that these reforms im-
proved service levels or operational effi-
ciency appears lacking.
Current government
proposals
Labor won office largely due to large
swings in country areas. It promised the
provision of ‘fast rail’ services along four
corridors (Melbourne to Geelong,
Bendigo, Ballarat, Traralgon). $550 mil-
lion has been pledged towards the project.
The benefits of parts of the ‘fast rail’ plan
are questionable. For example it is pro-
posed that tracks be removed from the
Bendigo and Traralgon lines. This would
make it impossible to run frequent trains
in both directions throughout the day,
hamper freight traffic and require trains
to wait in passing loops. Furthermore, the
current proposals emphasise commuters
from the larger centres, and could disad-
vantage those whose towns are bypassed
or suffer reduced service frequencies if
intermediate stops are removed.
Alternatives
iu examine alternative approaches we
looked at best and worst public transport
examples in the UK, US, France and
Switzerland.
UK: Competition
The UK deregulated regional city buses
and transferred rail services to the private
sector in the 1980s and 1990s. Passengers
wishing to transfer between services are
particularly disadvantaged due to a lack
of timetables or fare co-ordination. Serv-
ices on quieter routes declined as compa-
nies scrabbled to compete on the main
routes.
The rail system appears to have become
less efficient as fares and subsidies paid
to private operators have both risen. Safety
has emerged as a major concern, with
Britain suffering several serious rail acci-
dents in recent years.
US: Commuter rail
Many US cities do not have urban rail
services throughout the day. Instead ‘com-
muter rail’ services are offered. These are
peak-hour trains between a dormitory
suburb and the CBD in the morning and
back again in the afternoon. Service at no
other times is provided. Commuter rail
makes little contribution to public mobil-
ity, entrenches car-dependency andis very
expensive to run.
France: Fast trains
France's TGV trains provide fast trans-
> port between major centres. The system
required the construction of expensive
new lines, which bypassed smaller towns.
The train turned many towns into dormi-
tory suburbs of Paris. Initially services
were concentrated in peak hours, though
hourly services now exist on some lines.
Switzerland: A network solution
Instead of spending billions on new track,
Switzerland improved services on exist-
ing lines. Interchanges in major cities
receive services every 30 or 60 minutes.
Careful planning has created rail, bus and
taxi services that together form an inte-
grated network covering the whole coun-
try. The result is a go anywhere anytime
system that meets many public travel
needs at reasonable cost.
A transport network for Victoria
Population density is often cited as the
main reason for rural Victoria not having
good public transport. However, if the
less settled half of Victoria is excluded,
the remainder has population densities
more than twice that of Sweden and over
half that of countries such as Ireland,
Spain and Austria. There are over 20
regional towns with populations exceed-
ing 9 000. Therefore Victoria can have
effective rural public transport, provided
services are properly planned and do not
4 PTUA News - May 01
duplicate one another fund a model. These
are:
1, All-day operation: early morning to
midnight for key services
2. Frequent service: at least hourly, ex-
cept in remote areas
3. Quality rail: to link regional cities to
Melbourne and provide network ‘back-
bone’
4. Convenient buses: to link regional cen-
tres with easy to understand routes that
reflect local travel needs
5. Statewide coverage: all but smallest
towns receive service
6. Easy transfers: Able to be made at rail
and bus route junctions. Services to oper-
ate to ‘pulse timetable’ to reduce transfer
times.
7. Quality interchange facilities: Trans-
fers be as easy as possible.
8. Priority for buses in urban areas .
9, Fares tocompete with the car: with free
transport: these matters to be taken seri-
ously, with adequate staffing and facili-
ties
Proposed services
Connecting Victoria proposes a core net-
work of hourly bus and train services.
These provide convenient linkages be-
tween large rural cities and with Mel-
bourne. The network will also allow
cross-country travel without going via
Melbourne.
Most services outside the core network
will run every two hours. Remote areas
will receive three services per day. All
services will be timetabled to allow con-
venient transfer to other routes.
The third component is intra-town buses.
These need to run frequently 7 days per
week. Fares and timetables should be
integrated with the statewide system de-
scribed above.
Conclusion
Connecting Victoria will be the PTUA's
policy paper for rural transport. Your
comments on the draft paper would be
invited. Please contact the Association
office to obtain a copy. We wish to com-
plete the paper shortly, so would appreci-
ate member comments as soon as possi-
transfers, easily purchased tickets and
sensible discounts for regular travellers
10. Safe, clean, comfortable and reliable
George Yule
1919 - 2001
George Yule's obituary in The Age touched on his work as an
inspiring church leader, historian and teacher, but he was also
one of the PTUA's most valued long-time members.
George was active in the PTUA, Amnesty and community
issues, always willing to offer advice, send letters to papers
or politicians and help out with fundraising appeals. In 1993
he travelled to Ararat to speak on behalf of the PTUA at a
rally to save the local train service (George would have been
very happy to hear the announcement of the line's re-opening
this month). Many of us fondly remember his largely extem-
pore presentation two years ago at the panel hearing into the
Scoresby Freeway. With acharacteristic mixture of affabil-
ity and seriousness, George outlined the deprivation ofouter
suburban residents trapped in their homes by inadequate
public transport, a problem he had encountered repeatedly in
the course of his ministry.
George and his three sisters an” **.!!:2r were brought up in
the semi-rural environment 4 in the 20s, where the
rolling hills of Doncaster, covered with orchards andremnant
bushland, made one of the most attractive landscapes in
Australia. His childhood play with a model Hornby train
layout based on Grimsby had developed into a fascination
with British railways, and he explored the British Isles from
north to south.
While he lived simply, George enjoyed many of the pleasures
of life. First came his family, Esther, Peter and Cathy - a
fourth child, Patrick, died as a baby - and seven grandchil-
dren. He enjoyed the bush, and in his later years he gained
great pleasure from helping to restore the Valley bushland
reserve in Mt Waverley. He loved music, and Bach, Handel
and Mozart were a constant background in his home.
George will be remembered for his gentleness, kindness and
humour, and for the infectious enthusiasm he brought to his
preaching and teaching, andindeed to everything he enjoyed,
from medieval churches to clearing weedsfrom native
parks.He died peacefully after a short illness, at home,
surrounded by his family, with Bach playing.
PTUA News - May 01 5
City Link case heads to High Court
West Brunswick resident Peter Allan's
challenge to the City Link tax breaks is
listed for hearing in the High Court in
Canberra on 23rd May. Some readers
may have seen the report on Peter's case
on Insight on SBS on 10th May. It's
probably a good time to briefly recap on
what the case is about.
In 1996 Transurban City Link was
awarded a certificate entitling it to tax
breaks, which allow banks who lend
money to the project to receive interest
tax-free. The breaks have also been used
to pay tax-free dividends to shareholders.
The total value of the tax breaks is un-
clear, but current estimates are $800-
$1200 million.
The tax breaks were awarded under a
scheme set up by the Keating govem-
ment, in the Development Allowance
Authority Act 1992. In 1997, the Howard
government abolished the scheme, be-
cause it was being used for tax avoidance
(mainly using City Link as a vehicle), but
people who already had tax breaks got to
keep them.
Section 930 of the Development Al-
lowance Authority Act states: "If.. there
is in force... a law that... will prohibit or
restrict the operation of other facilities in
competition with the infrastructure facil-
ity concerned, the DAA must not issue
the certificate."
But there are restrictions on compet-
ing facilities, as was dramatically demon-
Strated in February, when Transurban
claimed $36 million in compensation from
the Victorian government for road im-
provements that it claims have diverted
traffic away from City Link. Of even
greater concern are other parts of the City
Link agreement, such as that entitling
Transurban to compensation if the gov-
ernment restricts central city car parking,
introduces free or cheap public transport
or builds a freight-carrying heavy rail line
6 PTUA News - May 07
to the Airport.
So Transurban have been granted per-
haps a billion dollars to taxpayers’ money
they were never entitled to!
Peter Allan has applied to review this
decision. If he succeeds, the decision will
be reversed retrospectively and
Transurban will have to pay all the money
back. However, the real issue (whether
Transurban were entitled to the tax breaks)
has not yet been addressed. Instead, the
case has been fought on the technicality
of ‘standing to sue’,
Initially, the DAA denied Peter stand-
ing. He appealed to the (Commonwealth)
Administrative Appeals Tribunal and lost.
He then appealed to Justice Mansfield of
the Federal Court and lost again. A fur-
ther appeal to the Full Court of the Fed-
eral Court was successful (decision given
Feb. 1998). The case was sent back to the
AAT, which denied standing again, ona
different ground. He appealed to Justice
Merkel of the Federal Court, who upheld
the appeal and sent the case back to the
AAT, telling the AAT to stop wasting
time on preliminary points and decide the
real issue. Transurban then appealed, suc-
cessfully, to the Full Court (comprised of
different judges from last time). Peter
applied for leave to appeal to the High
Court, and the High Court granted leave
on 8th September 2000.
The PTUA has been helping Peter
with the costs of the case, thanks to gen-
erous donations from members. Peter has
also been able to secure the pro bono
services of three barristers: Mark Dreyfus
QC, Mr. Rob Heath and Ms. Dinusha
Joseph. A decision is expected 3 to 6
months after the hearing. If Peter wins on
standing, he then has the right to go back
tothe AAT fora hearing on the merits (i.e.
into the question whether Transurban were
actually entitled to the tax breaks).
Perth to expand rail
network
The WA Government has approved fur-
ther expansion of Perth's passenger rail
network. A new line to Mandurah, 80
kilometres south of Perth, and expansion
of the northern suburbs line to Butler are
part of the $1.47 billion project. Other
iniliatives include a doubling of the train
fleet with faster trains capable of speeds
of up to 130 km/h and two new stations on
existing lines.
Work on the project will start immedi-
ately. The northern extension will openin
2003 and the Mandurah lire in 2005. The
plans are part of a government strategy to
boost patronage by 60 per cent to 50
million annual passenger trips by 2006.
On current trends, this will give Perth the
second-highest per capita use of rail in
Australia after Sydney (yes, higher than
Melbourne).
Connex stops shopping
express
Connex has ceased running its eastern
suburbs shopper service. This hourly
weekday service provided express travel
between Ringwood, Mitci:.., Blackburn,
Box Hill and Camberwell. The last ran on
Friday April 27.
Connex Managing director, Bruce Hughes
said that poor patronage led to the deci-
sion to cease running the service. "When
we launched the service on 2 January
2000 we said we would run the service for
at least 12 months to give people an
opportunity to get used to the service,"
Mr Hughes said. "Despite innovative
marketing, patronage remained very dis-
appointing.
The PTUA is concerned that the service
has been removed without the approval
of the Director of Public Transport or the
Public Transport Customer Charter Con-
sultative Committee.
In Brief.. nnna
WRONG WAY
GO BA
Tram conductors or ticket
inspectors?
In the December 2000 PTUA News, we
cautiously welcomed the return of tram
conductors, but expressed concern that
the private operators may attempt to use
them as ticket inspectors. Unfortunately,
the early signs indicate that our concerns
were well-founded. The "tram attend-
ants” appear to be roving in groups of two
or three, and checking, rather than sell-
ing, tickets. If this continues, it means that
the private operators have sneakily nego-
tiated an increase in their subsidy, since
they are supposed to pay for inspectors
from their own pockeis. The PTU. calls
on Transport Minister Peter Batchelor to
intervene to make sure that public money
is not diverted for private purposes and
that we get the tram conductors we were
promised.
PTUA seeks printer
donation
The PTUA is seeking a donation of a
computer printer for its office. If you
have a spare printer, please contact the
office.
Risson centenary
The Transport Research Centre at RMIT
hosted a commemoration of the cente-
nary of the birth of Major General Sir
Robert Risson on 20th April. Risson, who
died in 1992, was the Chairman of the
Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways
Board from 1949 to 1970 and played a
key role in the retention of Melbourne's
tram system, the only complete tram net-
work to survive in the English-speaking
world.
Copy Deadline for the next PTUA News is | 5th June
Newsletter Production Team:
Les Chandra, Dominic McMullan and Peter Parke
Printed on recycled paper by Pulp & Pigment, Collingwood
Our thanks to the dedicated mailout team
PTUA News - May 01
PTUA News SURFACE | | POSTAGE
Newsletter of the Public Transport Users’ Association, Org. No. A-6256L PAI D
Print Post: Publication No. PP 331088/00009 M Al L
If undeliverable, return to:
PTUA Office, Second Floor, 247 Flinders Lane, Melbourne 3000
AUSTRALIA
A Warm Welcome to All Our New Members
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