BUSS 5127 Transport Policy

Critically review metropolitan transport policy for an Australian city of your choice in terms of ensuring minimised transport emissions over the next 30 years whilst meeting the mobility demands of the metropolitan area that you are examining. Critically review metropolitan transport policy for an Australian city of your choice in terms in terms of planning for future transport infrastructure needed to accommodate demands for future mobility over the next 30 years.  

Critically review the capacity of metropolitan transport policy in an Australian city of your choice for your choice of public transport (i.e. bus, tram, rail, ferry) to meet that city’s transport demands over the next 30 years.Critically review the capacity of metropolitan transport policy in an Australian city of your choice in facilitating increased walking over the next 30 years.Critically review the capacity of metropolitan transport policy in an Australian city of your choice in facilitating increased cycling over the next 30 years.

Review the role of a new transport technology or technologies in terms of facilitating improved urban mobility in an Australian city of your choice.  What policy options would you recommend to manage and regulate the introduction of transport technology/technologies over the next 30 years Review the issues associated with ensuring social equity in the provisioning of public transport in an Australian city of your choice.  Critically examine the policy options to provide people with better, more affordable and effective transport services.  What policies would you recommend to ensure social equity in urban public transport?

Review policy options for the financing of major elements of new transport infrastructure for an Australian city for one of the following transport infrastructure investments: (1) the provision of main roads; (2) mass transit systems (e.g. heavy commuter rail systems, light rail systems, metropolitan subways); (3) ports; (4) airports; (5) road freight handling facilities; or (6) rail freight services.  

Your essay should provide recommendation/s on the preferred financing model for the type of transport infrastructure investment that you have chosen. Review issues surrounding the transport of freight in urban areas in a city of your choice.  Evaluate the current policy approaches to managing these issues.  Develop new policies to accommodate freight traffic over the next 30 years. Review the transport issues affecting a particular regional area in Australia.  Develop a range of transport policy options that could be applied to solve and manage these issues.  

In this essay, the main focus is on the future planning of the transport infrastructure in Victoria to fulfill the demands of the Victorians in the coming next  30 years.  The future planning involves into the strategy or a plan that covers all types  of the infrastructure.  The main purpose of this essay is to set up the pipeline of initiatives to be delivered in the next 30 years. Talking about the transportation infrastructure, the most famous mode or medium is the rail in Victoria state of Australia.   

Looking into the statistics of the previous years, it has been seen that there are many risks involved in the use of trains for the purpose of the transportation like accidents in the Victoria state of the Australia. It is an obvious fact that such accidents create huge destruction of the infrastructure and creates many problems for the people living in the Victorian city. On the other hand, risk is also attached to the other mode of transportation, so it is important to analyze before using it to identify which is more safe than the other. It is very important to focus more on the safety of people and infrastructure. As a result of which, the government is responsible for taking the corrective and precautionary measures to deal with the destruction of infrastructure because of these accidents.  

It is a fact that there is a tremendous loss of the infrastructure because of the accidents, so government should invest some amount of money in the infrastructure when it comes to the safety of people. As it has been proved from the last year’s industry reports that the government steps taken for the safety of people in previous years are successful. Therefore, the government needs to invest some amount of money in the infrastructure of the transport system in Victoria. Thus, the strategy needs to be built in order to invest in the transport infrastructure of the Victoria (Infrastructure Victoria, 2016).

Talking about the strategic framework of the future planning, then the government vision is to build a sustainable Victoria, where everyone is able to access the jobs, education as well as the services by the year of 2046.  The objectives of the strategy are not only subject to have the good infrastructure in the Victoria but to get the best results with regard to the social, economic and environmental.   First of all the main objective is to accommodate the demands of the changing population in Victoria. It is expected that the population of the Victoria will increase to 9.5 million in the year of 2046.

Thus, it is very important to accommodate this growth and meet their demands by having the right infrastructure. The next environmental objective of the strategy is to fostering the safe, healthy and inclusive communities.  The safe and the healthy community is highly influenced by the design and quality of the infrastructure and services. Another objective is to minimize the disadvantages faced by the people related to socioeconomic problems.  Moreover, with the good infrastructure the disadvantage can be reduced by providing better employment opportunities and social services in the transport sector (Public Transport Victoria , 2016).

Moving further, the strategy for the investment in the infrastructure enables the people to participate in the workforce for the betterment of the wider economy of the Victoria. The rate of this participation is expected to be low in the coming 30 years because of the increase in the ageing of the population.  To increase the productivity is also an objective of this strategy. The infrastructure is helpful in the growth of the productivity of the Victoria by improving the business activities, promoting the health and wellbeing of the workforce as well as by giving full support to innovation and skills development. The other aims of this strategic planning are to promote the sustainable consumption and production, enhancing the natural environments, mitigating the climate changes etc.

Looking at the context of the political factors, the 30 year strategy provides the advice to the parliament of Victorian. Not only Government, but there are many other organizations who are involved in this planning of the infrastructure and delivery. The significant role is played by the local and federal government and community as well as private.  The strategy is not constrained by artificial boundaries. As we know that the state government is playing the best role in the infrastructure planning (Victoria Government, 2016).

The government needs to support the various modes of the transportation and their infrastructure.There are number of transports like rail, trams, pipelines, boats where the government need to focus and invest money to improve the infrastructure of these systems. The quick and cheap source of transportation in Victoria is the pipelines. The reason behind it is that  as compared to all other mediums, pipelines are more safe in the case of wastage of material. In the coming future, there may be a possibility that industry finds out the pipelines the most reliable source of the transportation because this method causes less damage to the environment(Currie, 2017).

There are many disadvantages of this medium as well because results of some  previous planning are not good because of the size of the population. It is not possible to manage the system with large number of people and co-ordinate with the people. Undoubtedly, the Victoria has a huge and extensive network , but still there are a lot of problems related to mobility are faced by the people of the Victoria city.  Talking about the boats as a medium of transportation, then it has the one best benefits is its volume and size to carry out the huge amount of material. Moreover, it is the best way to avoid the traffic jams and delays in delivery. One can transport the products at delivery place on time. The disadvantage of this transport is that it is not suitable in the rainy season  and also the huge loss to the environment if the material spilled from boats.

Apart from all this, the train is very famous mode in the Victorian city.  Talking about the transport through railways, then it is considered as the speedy transport medium.  But these train accidents cause huge damage to the infrastructure of the state. Similarly, the loss is high because of the rail accidents  and that loss is not compensated. It has been observed that the government subsidies are not enough for the improvement of the infrastructure as well as for the induction of the new rail lines. Moving further, it is very important that the appointed planners should have the capability to analyze and visualize the system in a more differentiated manner.

Moreover, it is a clear fact that the trucks is the only method to transport the goods anywhere where there are well built roads and these roads are the most important part of the infrastructure of the transport system.  In comparison to other medium of transports, the truck don not need any pre bookings as they can call on a very short period of time.This mode of transportation is least preferred over the other methods because of its some of the disadvantages like highly expensive, safety issues and quality (Eddington, 2014).

All the transportation systems have their own pros and cons. The government need to give his full attention on all these transport policies as well as the infrastructure of the different transports.

There are also many challenges faced by the Victorian people and the transportation community before building any strategies. The assessment is very important to take the correct decisions. There are a number of factors that need to be assessed. The cost of implementing the strategies in the infrastructure of the transport is the biggest challenge and the estimation of the cost over the next 30 years is also important. The impact of the socioeconomic and  environment on the designing of the infrastructure as well as on the implementation of the strategy is the important factor to be considered.

The community of the Victoria also creates some of the serious issues by not supporting in the strategic implementation. The strategy built for the coming years requires to assess all the needs and demands of the people as well as to receive the feedback from them before making any kind of investment in these infrastructures. The funding consideration for the strategy would be around $100 billion dollars and this is just a rough assumption for the next 30 years. The state government is the one which Is responsible for the spending or investing in the infrastructure.  It is very important to analyze that how the government will fund for the major transport policies as well as major projects (Whitelaw, 2016).

The government should focus on the implementation of the strategies to reach the goals and to launch the driverless vehicles  in the global markets in coming 30 years. The strategies should be like to hiring the new talent to implement the strategies and to achieve the goals.

Moreover, the government should utilize all the resources of the transport companies for successful implementation and the achievement of the goals to launch the driverless vehicles. The government should improve the infrastructure to attract the maximum number of employees The target market for these self driving vehicles is the businessmen, industries, Cab companies and the household people who need to perform multiple tasks at one time. People always prefer to minimize the workload by delegating its work to the technological appliances. However, the consumers and household people are going to demand for these driverless for the domestic work and for the easy life. These cars are not expensive in nature as the product of the company can be afforded by the all income groups of people and the  business owners. It is very important to  promote these cars as the latest technology trend and will thus target the businessman, rich domestic people, consumers, and the people performing multiple tasks who are the first ones to catch up with the latest technologies (Maroondah City Council, 2013).

The plan for the investment in the transport infrastructure is also explained in this report by making a proper strategy. The strategy involves the number of steps with the budget of $100 billion in which 35 % will be new projects and 45% are the initiatives of the supply chain management or change in behavior. The strategy is the most powerful tool once it is finalized and helps the developers to understand the infrastructure of Victorian  pipeline  supporting in the connectivity and development of the transport system. It is very important to access the employment clusters, particularly for the improvement in the infrastructure (Global Agenda Council, 2015). The major source of the funding of the for the infrastructure in the Victorian city  is the revenue of the state government that comes from the taxes, policies and various reforms. The government should increase the tax rates to increase its revenue, so that could be utilized by the government for the improvement of the infrastructure.                  

The above diagram shows the process of improving the infrastructure in the Victorian city by meeting the demands and utilizing the existing infrastructure. The new infrastructure needs to be established for the growth of the economy and to lift the productivity of Victoria state.  

To this end, it has been seen that  these strategies is not applicable only in one place or one region. The 70% of the applicability is on the state and 20 % of the metropolitan and 10% in the regional rural areas (Commonwealth of Australia, 2014). The Melbourne is the city comes under the metropolitan cities and it covers the 20%, depending upon the size and growth of the population in the coming years. The recommendations are given on the basis of the geographical spread are clearly explained in the below diagram.

• To manage the demands of the network,  the introduction of the pricing regimes in the transport system is important.
• To increase the supply, the government should invest in the social and housing for the Victorians who are vulnerable in nature.
• Establishment of the tram line
• To deliver the new railway stations with the expansion of the capacity in rail on the link of the regional rail along the Western Melbourne
• To construct the link roads in north east in the coming 10 years and on the outer ring road in the coming 15 to 30 years.
• To provide the facilities to the aged people in the established areas by minimizing the barriers of planning within 5 years (Snow & Kuhn, 2016).
• To target the high growth areas and the investment in the public health facilities in the Melbourne and Victoria in the next 5 to 15 years.

It is very important to use the manufacturing tools and advanced technology for the effective and usable system. As a result of which , the foreign investment should be promoted.  The government subsidies are not sufficient for the improvement in infrastructure, so it is important to invite the foreign companies for the purpose of the generating the revenues and funds.  Talking about the Australia, in the field of transportation , the globalization of the business is considered to be the best move to improve the conditions of the infrastructure.

It is recommended that the state like Victoria should plan the infrastructure as per the needs of the people and businessman by fulfilling their needs and this analysis can be done by conducting surveys or through questionnaire system (Dovey & Woodcock, 2014). The other most important thing that the state government should focus on is the safety of the people. It is suggested that the planners who are appointed for the future planning of the state infrastructure needs to be an expert and skilled and they should work more aggressively to get the best results in the future . As it is required to work more on the different types of the transportation as well as the needs of the people with regard to the infrastructure of the Victoria state.

As we know that the technology will play the vital in transforming the delivery of services and the infrastructure to be established in the next 30 years. In the coming decades, there are many technologies like driverless vehicles, battery storage, more innovations  and the robotic revolution will change the shape of the economy of the Victoria. The role of the Victorian government is important in the development of these kind of strategies. The government should remove all other barriers in the future for the growth of the economy and to enhance the productivity. The innovation that may take place in the Victoria in the next coming three decades should focus on the Self driving vehicles or driverless automobiles, delivery of the education through the mode of technology, technology used in the healthcare system and public transport real time information (Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 2016).

In the end, it is concluded from the essay that the Australia has progressed in recent years and from scratch till now the city has been seen as a progressive country and the few problems discussed above if tackled, the country will reach heights of success. The most important strategy is that whatever is done by the authorities should be done for the welfare of the people and their safety. The laws should not be archaic and should be regularly amended to meet the changing demands of the society and whatever done by the authorities should be beneficial to the people. The government needs to support the various modes of the transportation and their infrastructure.

There are number of transports like rail, trams, pipelines, boats where the government need to focus and invest money to improve the infrastructure of these systems.  This is the world of globalization and more efforts should be made to invite foreign investors and expertise. The government vision is to build a sustainable Victoria, where everyone is able to access the jobs, education as well as the services by the year of 2046.  

The objectives of the strategy are not only subject to have the best infrastructure in the Victoria but to get the best results with regard to the social, economic and environmental. The safe and the healthy community is highly influenced by the design and quality of the infrastructure and services. It has been observed that the main motive of this essay is to set up the pipeline of initiatives to be delivered in the next 30 years. This assessment of the needs of the people is very important with the changing in the behavior and the demands.

References

Commonwealth of Australia, 2014. Trends Infrastructure and Transport to 2030, Available at: https://infrastructure.gov.au/infrastructure/publications/files/Trends_Infrastructure_and_Transport_to_2030.pdf

Currie, G., 2017. Public Transport Issues in Melbourne: Why Melbourne Metro and Grade Crossings are not the only concerns for Melbourne, Available at: http://publictransportresearchgroup.info/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/PRESENTATION-2016-ALP-Public-Transport-Issues-in-Melbourne.pdf

Dovey, K. & Woodcock, I., 2014. Transit-Oriented Urban Design for Resilient Urban Futures, Available at: https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/Intensifying%20Melbourne%202014_180dpi.pdf

Eddington, R., 2014. Investing in transport: East West Link Needs Assessment, Available at: http://www.ycat.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/EWLNA_2008/Main%20Report/Investing%20in%20Transport%20East%20West.pdf

Global Agenda Council, 2015. Top Ten Urban Innovations: Global Agenda, Available at: http://www3.weforum.org/docs/Top_10_Emerging_Urban_Innovations_report_2010_20.10.pdf

Infrastructure Victoria, 2016. The road ahead: How an efficient, fair and sustainable pricing regime can help tackle congestion, Available at: http://www.infrastructurevictoria.com.au/sites/default/files/images/The%20road%20ahead%20final%20web.pdf

JSS, 2016. Submission to Victoria's draft 30-year infrastructure strategy, Available at: http://jss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/SUB-161010-Infrastructure-Victoria-FINAL.pdf

Maroondah City Council, 2013. Maroondah 2040 Research Report, Available at: http://www.maroondah.vic.gov.au/common/files/PlanningSustainability/Maroondah_2040_Research_Report_FINAL_130612.pdf

Public Transport Victoria, 2016. Public Transport Victoria Annual Report 2015–16, Available at: http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/file_uploads/Public_Transport_Victoria_3qcCmdKG.pdf

Snow, J. & Kuhn, J., 2016. Global cities- The 2016 report, Available at: http://www.knightfrank.com/resources/global-cities/2016/all/global-cities-the-2016-report.pdf

Victoria Government, 2016. Victoria's 30--year infrastructure strategy,  Available at: http://www.infrastructurevictoria.com.au/sites/default/files/images/IV%2030%20Year%20Strategy%20WEB%20V2.PDF

Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 2016. Infrastructure Victoria: Draft 30-Year Infrastructure Strategy, Available at: https://www.victorianchamber.com.au/sites/default/files/page/documents/victorian_chamber_submission_to_infrastructure_victoria_draft_30_year_infrastructure_strategy.pdf

Whitelaw, A., 2016. Draft 30-year infrastructure strategy’s public transport pipeline, Available at: http://www.infrastructurevictoria.com.au/node/77