The budget appears set to transfer $1.5 billion of public funds from one big road with no political mandate or business case to another (“East West Link replacement likely …”, 11/5).
If the government had any consideration for the Victorian public, this money would revert to its original 2013 purpose, helping fund the project that actually delivers the equivalent of three West Gate Bridge alternatives for the cost of one motorway. That, of course, is the Metro rail tunnel, which voters preferred hands down in every survey that gave that and the East West Link as alternatives.
Public transport expansion helps motorists and trucking operators as much as train and bus passengers. The more we give people an alternative to driving, the more precious space we make for essential car and truck travel.
Tony Morton, Public Transport Users Association — published in The Age 12/5/2015