If we’re going to insulate Australians from the impact of climate change, rising petrol prices and the transport needs of a rapidly growing population, a greater investment in public transport systems is essential.
This is why we’re working towards a national strategy that enables Australia to wean itself off expensive oil and reduce our car dependency.
Our Public Transport Report shows that for decades our governments have underspent on public transport projects, instead allocating the lion’s share of transport budgets to roads.
This might not sound alarming when petrol is plentiful and cheap, but the only thing currently protecting us from much higher prices is a strong Australian dollar.
The current transport challenges facing Australia
Federal budgets consistently favour roads over public transport spending. Now is the time for our government to provide incentives and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and make it easy for people to choose public and active transport.
Why do we need active public transport?
Our large cities are rapidly developing on the urban fringes due to population increases and it is the responsibility of government to provide public transport options so that low income families living in these areas are not forced to own and maintain two cars for the rest of their working lives.
To assist those living in remote suburbs and regions who can’t afford to drive and are at greater risk of exclusion from jobs and services due to poor public transport.
The economic benefit of providing more public transport is apparent when you look at the costs of roads versus rail. Rail is considerably cheaper to provide per passenger kilometre travelled than road.
Congestion on our roads is growing and costs about $21 billion per year in productivity losses. It is essential to provide public transport options to enable those who need to be on the road to get around more quickly.
Public transport provides significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. If our urban train systems were powered by renewable energy this would lead to substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
Australia is particularly vulnerable to oil shortages. We are one of the world's most car dependent nation. We now import more than 50% of our oil and by 2015 it is projected we‘ll be importing 70% of our oil.
Public transport provides ongoing clean green transport jobs.
If we invest in sustainable transport systems, we will be better able to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and wean us from our addiction to oil
The solution to our transport challenges
ACF has formed an alliance to advocate change: RAATA (Rapid, Active and Affordable Transport Alliance) is a group of 17 organisations with a common interest in promoting public and active transport measures.
In collaboration with RAATA we produced the Investing in Sustainable Transport: Our Clean, Green Transport Future that catalogues our vision for a sustainable transport future.
We call on the development of a national strategy that reduces Australia’s demand for, and vulnerability, to imported oil. We recommend an overdue rebalancing of the transport budget: two thirds should be spent on public and active transport measures and one third should be spent on roads.
We support national public and active transport targets that aim to:
Decrease traffic accidents, congestion and pollution;
Encourage Greater physical activity improving our health;
Use fewer resources used in providing transport;
Reduce social isolation for people living in remote suburbs with poor public transport links;
Alleviate vulnerability to oil scarcity;
Increase clean green transport jobs;
Redevelop cities and suburbs to enable communities to access jobs and services in local areas by walking, cycling and public transport;
Double the number of trips made by public transport in all major cities in the next decade;
Triple the number of cycling trips made within 10 years; and
Quadruple the number of walking trips within a decade.
If the Federal Government reallocates its transport priorities and follows through with these changes, we could enjoy a world-class public transport system that provides a raft of benefits for all Australians.
Read about the work we’re doing to reshape the way we think about transport and fuel.