The Eastern Transport Coalition has recently commissioned a survey by the Australian Research Group into the views of residents about the problems with transport in their area.

Cr Mick Van de Vreede said that cars are overwhelmingly the most used form of transport in the outer east and residents have very poor knowledge of what other transport options there may be.

“It’s quite clear from the results of the survey that more needs to be done to give people transport options other than the private vehicle.

“It would be better for the environment and the family budget if they didn’t have to rely on cars to get around all of the time.

“Not surprisingly, road congestion is a big problem in our area, 40 per cent of respondents reported encountering a very high level of congestion on major roads with another 47 per cent reporting a high level.

“The link between people having public transport options and their understanding of congestion as an issue was clear. A comparatively low 29 per cent of respondents living in Chisholm (Box Hill, Burwood, Mount Waverly and Oakleigh) thought there was a very high level of congestion on major roads.

By contrast, Aston has high levels of congestion and low levels of public transport use.

“This shows that if people have decent public transport options they won’t be as concerned or affected by on road congestion.

“The survey also showed that when people have public transport as a real option they would be more likely to use it. Residents in Chisholm reported the most frequent use of public transport with 12 per cent saying they used it every day and 21 per cent using it several times a week.

“This was in contrast to respondents in the Federal electorate of LaTrobe (Belgrave, Berwick, Boronia Upper Ferntree Gully and Mount Dandenong) which were less likely to use public transport. In their cases only 16 per cent saying they used it at least once a week. One third said they never use public transport.

The survey also showed that we have a long way to go to meet goals to increase public transport use.

“Currently only 15 per cent of people use public transport as the primary means of travel to work and only 10 per cent for use it when it comes to not work trips.

“The State Government has a target of 20 per cent of trips by public transport by 2020 which is a goal we support, but a much greater level of investment in new public transport is needed.

“In our view Federal Government, in addition to the role played by the State Government, should play a role by increasing the availability of public transport. They currently provide funds for some major road capacity expansion projects and those funds should also be able to be used for major public transport projects which will reduce levels of congestion – for instance train and tram lines extensions,” Cr Van de Vreede concluded.

The sample for the survey was 1000 people in the Federal electorates within the ETC member Councils area.
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The Eastern Transport Coalition took the Victorian Co-ordinator General for Infrastructure, Meredith Sussex on a tour of the area on Friday 13th.

ETC Chair Mick Van De Vreede said that he was pleased to take the Co-ordinator General on a tour of the seven municipalities as it would help improve the area’s public transport infrastructure over the long term.

“One of the aims of the Eastern Transport Coalition is to campaign for improved co-ordination between trains, trams and buses.  With that in mind we thought it important to ensure of the key decision makers in the area understood our issues.

“The Victorian Co-ordinator General for Infrastructure’s role is to improve the coordination and integration of transport and land use planning and policy.

“It was a lively afternoon, with officers and Councillors from the cities of Greater Dandenong, Knox, Manningham, Maroondah, Monash, Whitehorse and Yarra Ranges Councils attending.

“The tour started in Dandenong and worked its way to Ringwood, looking at key bottlenecks and public transport issues.

“As well as explaining our point of view we also showed her the Dandenong Station, Stud Park Shopping Centre, Ringwood Station, Doncaster Park and Ride, Box Hill bus terminus and the Springvale Road/Whitehorse Road intersection

“Now that she has seen the key transport issues in our seven cities she will be able to better take into account our issues as she assists the Government implement their commitments to improve our transport,” Cr Mick Van De Vreede concluded.

For more information please contact:

ETC Chairperson Cr Mick Van De Vreede        0438 029 932
CPR Communications, Robert Larocca            0409 198 350

To further its advocacy for public transport improvements, the ETC has produced a series of factsheets highlighting its priorities for the region:

Despite having one of the highest levels of urbanisation, Australia remains the only OECD nation where the Federal Government does not provide funds for sustainable transport infrastructure.

This places Australia at an international disadvantage, compared to countries such as the UK and US, whose national governments invest heavily in public transport infrastructure.

The Federal Government currently funds major upgrades of roads and public transport should be eligible for similar funding, especially since it would reduce congestion and greenhouse gases.

• View Factsheet #1: Federal funding for public transport

To further its advocacy for public transport improvements, the ETC has produced a series of factsheets highlighting its priorities for the region:

The Belgrave/Lilydale line, with approximately 93,000 daily boardings, is Melbourne’s most highly patronised rail line. Ringwood, 25.8 kilometres eastwards from Flinders Street, serves as a junction between the Belgrave and Lilydale lines.

Linking many of Melbourne’s main activity centres and growth areas, the Belgrave/Lilydale line is critical to ensuring liveable eastern suburbs and now is the time to expand the capacity and allow for future growth.

• View Factsheet #2: Belgrave / Lilydale rail line

To further its advocacy for public transport improvements, the ETC has produced a series of factsheets highlighting its priorities for the region:

The Dandenong line with approximately 60,000 daily boardings is experiencing some of Melbourne’s highest levels of patronage growth.

Dandenong, 31.2 kilometres from Flinders Street, serves as a junction between the Pakenham and Cranbourne lines.

Since it links many of Melbourne’s main activity centres and growth areas, the Dandenong line has been nominated for an expansion in capacity and the ETC looks forward to its delivery as quickly as possible. With the rapid growth experienced this additional track is required to provide reliable express services and to facilitate efficient travel of V/Line regional services.

• View Factsheet #3: The Dandenong Rail Corridor

To further its advocacy for public transport improvements, the ETC has produced a series of factsheets highlighting its priorities for the region:

Linking the CBD, Monash University and Stud Park, rail to Rowville has long been acknowledged as the missing link of Melbourne’s train network and now is the time to commit to its expansion and provide for the removal of 2400 cars an hour off local roads.

The Rowville rail line would also service Monash University which has over 23,000 students and a scientific precinct that includes Australia’ first synchrotron.

The City of Monash alone accounts for 6% of all metropolitan jobs within Melbourne, with the majority of employees living in neighbouring municipalities such as Knox.

• View Factsheet #4: Rail to Rowville

To further its advocacy for public transport improvements, the ETC has produced a series of factsheets highlighting its priorities for the region:

The City of Manningham, with over 110,000 residents is the only municipality within Melbourne that lacks any form of rail or tram access. This places the region at a competitive disadvantage due to the lack of fixed rail infrastructure.

The existing bus services to Doncaster along the freeway has shown the high demand that exists for better public transport. The carrying capacity of the existing bus services is insufficient, resulting in severe overcrowding and the heavy congestion on the Eastern Freeway could be reduced with a rail line to Doncaster.

Doncaster Hill is a designated activity centre and includes major landowners such as Westfield Shoppingtown. Fixed rail would help facilitate the urban revitalisation of Doncaster Hill.

• View Factsheet #5: Rail to Doncaster

To further its advocacy for public transport improvements, the ETC has produced a series of factsheets highlighting its priorities for the region:

Melbourne’s public transport system needs to operate as an integrated network, consisting of coordinated travel between bus, tram and train services.

While issues relating to the frequency and temporal coverage need to be addressed, it is also imperative that interchanges are comfortable, accessible and facilitate ease of transferring between transport modes.

A number of transport interchanges are in need of upgrading to ensure they provide a convenient transfer between services.

• View Factsheet #6: Better Transport Interchanges

To further its advocacy for public transport improvements, the ETC has produced a series of factsheets highlighting its priorities for the region:

Whilst the expansion of rail and tram services is necessary to provide a fast and efficient public transport network, this must be complemented with bus service improvements to serve as feeder services to public transport nodes and activity centres.

In this regard, there is a need to couple bus service improvements with bus priority, such as transit lanes and traffic light priority, to provide a journey time competitive with car travel and a higher utilisation of the bus fleet overall, which result from reduced journey times.

• View Factsheet #7: Better Bus Services