PP 282 FINAL REPORT PUBLIC TRANSPORT SIXTY - FIFTH REPORT OF THE ENVIRONMENT, RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE Tabled in the House of Assembly and ordered to be published, 1 December 2009 Third Session, Fifty-first Parliament - ii - Committee’s Foreword The Environment, Resources and Development Committee commenced its inquiry into Public Transport on 2 April 2008. As part of the inquiry, 42 submissions were received and 11 witnesses were heard. Submissions and witnesses included key players from state and local government, industry, academics, non-government organisations and community groups, providing a cross-section of views and ideas on Public Transport in South Australia. The Committee extends its thanks for the effort made by those involved in preparing and presenting evidence to the Committee. It provided the Committee members with a better understanding of Public Transport in South Australia, and highlighted some of the key issues facing our state. The Committee thanks the research team; Professor Michael A P Taylor, Professor Derek Scrafton and Dr Nicholas Holyoak, Institute for Sustainable Systems and Technologies, University of South Australia whose work, research and collation of information ensures that the report will be of great value to individuals and organisations concerned with transport in SA. Ms Lyn Breuer, MP Presiding Member 1 December 2009 Parliament of South Australia. Environment, Resources and Development Committee - iii - Committee Summary of Findings In an ideal world public transport would be available, affordable, safe and clean - in the carbon neutral sense. Somehow the domination of the car would not have it placed in catch up mode and being ill prepared to face the challenges raised by climate change and peak oil. In a comparison with other states and similar cities worldwide South Australia has some admirable aspects and some faults. A one sentence summary of where SA is at the moment is: SA was lagging but the planned infrastructure spending will bring us in line with other states but this will not be enough to carry the State into the future scenarios influenced by peak oil and climate change. The reality is that in Adelaide less than 10% of people used public transport to journey to work. The private car dominates. Arguably Adelaide is the most car- dominated city in Australia, but the statistics show that Perth and Canberra are about the same. This should not be surprising; the car has been an easy, relatively inexpensive, fast way to get to where you want to be. An extensive road network is provided for car users. Public transport is used by two groups; those going to the CBD (about 43% of all public transport trips are CBD bound journeys) and the 50% of the population who do not have access to a private vehicle. These are people who are old or young or can not afford to run a car. Public transport for many historic reasons has provided services that radiate out from Adelaide. This does not effectively serve traveller’s needs and a chicken and egg situation arises. Suburban centres that are designed to accommodate cars arise and these are difficult to serve by public transport. It is recognised that there must be a shift to public transport as the current use of private cars is unsustainable. The environmental and economic consequences are well known. Recent history shows successive state and local governments making considerable progress in improving Adelaide’s public transport. Integrating the fare and ticketing systems, the O-Bahn to the north-east suburbs, extending rail to Noarlunga, providing an interchange and creating community bus networks to name a few. The integration of state and private services through the establishment of the State Transport Authority, now Passenger Transport Board and Public Transport Division has been very positive. Compared to other states funding for capital works for public transport was low. The Committee’s visit to Perth, a city comparable in size etc to Adelaide demonstrated the vast improvements that capital funding provide. This situation has now changed for the better: the current State Government now has a program of works to improve major elements of Adelaide’s public transport system, including the following rail infrastructure projects: Re-sleepering the Noarlunga and Belair lines; Constructing a tramline overpass at South Road; Electrifying the Noarlunga and Outer Harbor lines; Extending the tramline to the Entertainment centre; Extending the Noarlunga line to Seaford. For these and other projects, including replacement buses and improved access for O-Bahn buses into the city, the State Government expects to invest some $2 billion Parliament of South Australia. Environment, Resources and Development Committee - iv - over the period 2008-2018, with some financial assistance from federal government programs. The initial thrust is on rebuilding the rail and tram infrastructure, but improvements to other services are expected to take place concurrently. A key recommendation of the Committee is that the government produce a Strategic Transport Plan. This would set the new program of public transport improvements, the costs involved and the budgets required, into a strategic framework, provide a guideline for the medium-term future, and form a platform on which longer-term plans can be developed. It would demonstrate that South Australia was ‘adopting an integrated, inter-modal, best-practice approach to transport planning and management’ and ‘planning for long-term change’. These were the findings of the recently published report from the Senate Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport and echoed by many others. A new Draft Plan could be prepared quickly and released for public consultation by updating the 2003 Draft Transport Plan for South Australia. If existing resources cannot be spared to prepare such a plan, consideration could be given to a future ‘Thinker-in-Residence’ being invited from interstate or overseas to complete the task. Current plans have targets for increasing public transport patronage that are set too low. The current SA Strategic Plan target to improve Adelaide’s public transport patronage to 10% of passenger kilometres by 2018 should be increased to a more aspirational 25%. The targets for public transport travel into the Adelaide CBD should be raised to 50% of trips by 2018. The Committee realises improved public transport is only one element of reducing private car use and moving towards a sustainable future. Planning such as Transit Orientated Development (TODs), taxes on car use, encouraging cycling and walking, and education campaigns should all be part of the approach. It is important to raise the general standard of services in all of the following areas if public transport is to be an attractive alternative to the private car: Frequent services; Reliable services; Bus priority measures; Realistic operating timetables; Accurate and comprehensive public timetables; Convenient and pleasant interchanges; Convenient access to vehicles, stops, interchanges and platforms; Maintaining low fare levels; Smartcard integrated ticketing; Overall comfort and security; and Capacity for shopping, schoolbags and luggage. The Smart Stop real time information system needs improvement and then should be rolled out to all major bus, tram and rail stops. The Crouzet ticketing system should be replaced with a Smartcard system with a high priority. Another key recommendation centres on funding. The Committee identified the greatest impediment to maintaining such a program of improvements as the availability of finance. The capital budget has been increased greatly in recent years, but there has not been a corresponding increase in the operating budget to cover the contracts between the State Government, its rail and tram operating agency (TransAdelaide) and the private contractors providing bus services. To the contrary, the main effort in the last decade or more has been to maintain the operating budget Parliament of South Australia. Environment, Resources and Development Committee - v - or make savings. Given the expansion of the rail and tram systems, additional funds will be required to cover increased operating costs. If the overall budget for service contracts is limited to current levels, then savings will have to made elsewhere in the present system, which will negate the effectiveness of the capital works program. It would be folly to cut bus services to fund increased rail operating costs as the improvements to the total network are as important as action on particular corridors. Such cross-subsidisation would also be economically inefficient as the cost recovery on rail services from fares is much lower than that on the bus network, and buses carry far more travellers than the rail system. The Terms of Reference included the consideration of restoring certain rail passenger services. The Committee is firmly of the view that the future as impacted by peak oil and climate change will include public transport to the areas reviewed. The Committee’s research concludes that restoration of passenger train services to near-metropolitan areas is unlikely to occur in the immediate future, for a number of reasons. The Committee therefore recommends: Continued reservation of rail rights-of-way that are currently unused by rail services. A short eastward extension of the Gawler line rail service to the planned Concordia/Buckland Park development and construction of a secure park & ride facility