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Update November 2012: See our scorecard for the Baillieu government’s first two years
Summary
Updated 24-Nov-2010
Greens | Labor | Liberal/National |
A |
C |
B |
Aust Sex Party | Democrats | DLP | Family First | Socialist Alliance |
D |
D |
TBA |
F |
B+ |
- Click here for the latest election news
- Press release for this scorecard
- PTUA priorities for 2010-2014
Detailed policy comparison
What’s already funded and happening as part of the Victorian Transport Plan (so will happen regardless of the election result, unless specifically rolled-back)? |
PTUA position (Priorities for 2010-2014), and broader policy | Greens | Labor | Liberal/National coalition |
Management and planning – |
Set up an independent Public Transport Authority to more effectively plan, manage and co-ordinate public transport
Geelong: Armstrong Creek study into public transport needs (pilot for future studies in new suburbs) |
Establish combined ministry for planning and transport
Improve modal integration Public Transport Authority for planning and co-ordination |
Independent Public Transport Authority
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Victorian Transport Plan | PTUA position | Greens | Labor | Liberal/National coalition |
Rail services/fleet 38 new trains and additional stabling being rolled-out |
Services at least every 10 minutes, 7 days-a-week until midnight (less frequent where duplication is required first) | Train Task Force to extract maximum capacity from existing infrastructure
All suburbs to have a service at least every 10 mins (peak), 20 mins (off-peak) More express trains |
40 additional trains ($1.4b) – only 7 during 2010-2014 | |
Railway extensions, new stations, infrastructure upgrades Regional Rail Link? Metro tunnel feasibility? South Morang extension and Clifton Hill group upgrade Sunbury electrification New stations at Cardinia Road, Caroline Springs, Lyndhurst, Williams Landing Westall upgrade Improved maintenance, sleeper replacement |
New stations on existing lines, including Southland
Duplicate rail lines within the Urban Growth Boundary, including: Dandenong to Cranbourne, Gowrie to Upfield, Deer Park (West) to Melton, Cave Hill Station (Lilydale line) Signalling upgrades to improve rail capacity at bottlenecks. Electrification to Melton, Baxter Rail extensions to Mernda, Rowville, Doncaster, Melbourne Airport, Clyde (Cranbourne East), Mornington. |
Rail link to airport
Extend Epping line to South Morang and Mernda Melton duplication and electrification Duplicate single track sections in metro area Feasibility into Rowville and Doncaster rail via a North Fitzroy rail tunnel? Upgrade tracks, signals, eliminate network bottlenecks Accelerate restoration of services to regional Victoria |
Southland station and bus interchange ($45m) | Fund Rowville Rail full feasibility study Eltham North station feasibility study Extend rail to Mernda by 2020.? Doncaster rail feasibility study Airport rail feasibility study? Southland station ($13m) Grovedale station ($25m) Avalon airport rail study and preliminary works ($50m)?– given an anticipated full cost of some $250m, this should be well down the priority list. |
Railway station upgrades
1700 car spaces at stations, costing $60m |
Avoid station car park expansion as it wastes land suited to more valuable uses and diverts resources from feeder buses | Upgrade Ringwood station
Purchase new trains with longer carriages? |
Station upgrades: Balaclava, Blackburn, Fairfield
More bike cages ($800,000) $56m for 2060 park and ride spaces (including $24.5m for 360 spaces at Glen Waverley) – at more than $27,000 per space, this is not good value for money. Better spent on better connecting services. |
Upgrade Ringwood station ($60m) – but after 2014 |
Victorian Transport Plan | PTUA position | Greens | Labor | Liberal/National coalition |
Tram services
50 new low-floor trams to be purchased. |
Upgrade to run at least every 10 minutes, 7 days-a-week until midnight | All suburbs to have a service at least every 10 mins (peak), 20 mins (off-peak) | Restoration of W-class trams, running more services on City Circle and route 30 ($6.3m) |
Put more W-class trams back into regular service, on selected routes outside peak hour ($8m)? |
Tram infrastructure
New tram depot and maintenance facility at Preston |
Tram extensions to major shopping centres: 48 to Doncaster, 75 to Knox City, 3 to Chadstone
Short extensions to more logical interchanges to enable greater range of journeys to be made by public transport, including: 6 to Glen Iris, 67 to Carnegie, 8 to Hartwell, 5 to Darling, St Kilda Road to Park Street |
Tram Task Force to review priority measures to unlock greater capacity
Improve disability access Extend tram 3 to East Malvern station; 5 to Darling stn; 6 to Ashburton stn; 8 to Alamein line; 19 to Fawkner; 48 to Doncaster; 55 to Glenroy stn; 67 to Carnegie stn; 75 to Knox City; 86 to Mill Park; 96 to Elsternwick stn; 112 to Reservoir stn; St Kilda Rd to Park St; Victoria Pde to Nth Melb stn. |
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Victorian Transport Plan |
PTUA position | Greens | Labor | Liberal/National coalition |
Smartbus services
No further routes planned – Despite their success at getting people on board, there are no further Smartbus routes planned in the VTP. |
Upgrade to run at least every 15 minutes until midnight, 7 days-a-week. Initiate bus purchases to upgrade further to every 10 minutes
Complete 902 Green Orbital route to Werribee Implement the Blue Orbital inner-suburban route Upgrade frequent, non-Smartbus routes to Smartbus status |
All suburbs to have a service at least every 10 mins (peak), 20 mins (off-peak) |
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Other bus issues
Mernda Busway (instead of rail) – insufficient capacity long-term, and makes passengers change services at South Morang |
Implement all of the Bus Service Review recommendations
Epping/South Morang to Mernda TrainLink bus pending rail extension Huntingdale to Monash University Clayton TrainLink shuttle bus Upgrade local routes to every half-hour, 7 days-a-week until midnight |
Bus Task Force to restructure network to provide fast, frequent, direct, efficient routes linking with rail services
Improve disability access |
New Huntingdale bus interchange, and Huntingdale to Monash shuttlebus running every 3-4 minutes
Local bus services: more frequent services and longer hours (unspecified) |
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Victorian Transport Plan |
PTUA position | Greens | Labor | Liberal/National coalition |
Regional services | Upgrade V/Line short distance services to every 30 minutes 7am-9pm, 7 days-a-week
Pilot Smartbus routes for Geelong and Ballarat. Integrated bus/rail timetabling to ensure quick connections right across the state. |
Feasibility into opening rural school bus services to the public
Better train/bus connections across regional Victoria |
20 new V/Locity carriages ($130m)
Melbourne to Geelong trains every 20 mins weekday interpeak ($39.8m) Better regional bus services (unspecified) Transport Connections program expanded |
Investigate Geelong to Ballarat to Bendigo direct rail services |
Regional infrastructure Clunes station to re-open |
Commence rail gauge standardisation, beginning with the Shepparton line | Track duplications, electrification and standardisation to allow for additional services
Reopening key closed rail lines, starting with Mildura Feasibility study into Melbourne to Sydney high speed rail |
Boom barriers at up to 75 level crossings ($33m) | |
Victorian Transport Plan |
PTUA position | Greens | Labor | Liberal/National coalition |
Personal safety
20 more Premium stations; 22 more Host stations. |
Staff all Metro stations from first to last train. Provide a police presence at hotspot stations
Ensure staff are able to get rapid response from emergency services More railway station CCTV feeds to police stations “Tram cams”, motorist education and enforcement to improve passenger safety |
Staff all train stations from first to last train | 100 additional transit police
180 additional Metro staff, providing a staff presence on all Metro electrified stations (hours not clear) Metrol safety control centre with 20 staff for CCTV monitoring |
Two armed Protective Service Officers on all metro and some V/Line stations from 6pm to last train, seven days-a-week.? |
Fares
Fares to increase by 5% above CPI in 2012, and again in 2013. – will make public transport fares less competitive with driving, all to fund “mega-projects” which don’t solve basic problems |
Integrate Skybus into Met (zone 1+2) fares | |||
Ticketing
Myki to be rolled-out, expected in 2011. Metcard and current V/Line ticketing to be phased-out. |
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Victorian Transport Plan | PTUA position | Greens | Labor | Liberal/National coalition |
Roads
Western Ring Road widening PeninsulaLink – Expensive and environmentally damaging, and meanwhile there are no frequent public transport services at all south of Mornington. Dingley Arterial (pseudo-Freeway) – Another freeway in the south east, despite mostly 30-60 minute bus services in the area |
Scrap Westlink; use funds for level crossing eliminations across Melbourne
Tram and bus priority to reduce delays |
Greater on-road priority for public transport
Accelerate construction of Principal Bicycle Network, and increase road space for cyclists Evaluate road expansion proposals for social and environmental benefits vs PT options |
Main Road, St Albans grade separation ($82m; asking for Commonwealth funding)
Regional road upgrades ($163m) Metropolitan road upgrades ($129m) Northeast link planning — More freeways do not provide longterm solutions to traffic congestion, and have a huge local environmental impact |
Level crossing eliminations: Rooks & Mitcham Roads, Mitcham ($180m), Springvale Road, Springvale ($140m).
Planning for removal of level crossings at Bayswater, Ormond, Blackburn, St Albans, Glen Iris, Murrumbeena. Kilmore-Wallan Bypass, Dingley arterial |
Other | Publish a multi-modal public transport system map for Melbourne | Legislate that all private-use vehicles sold in Victoria from 2015 must meet standard of 6.8 litres per 100km. | $1 million competition for plans to renovate/restore Flinders Street Station. | |
In conclusion | As would be expected, the Greens have an aggressive agenda to upgrade public transport, with a Public Transport Authority being central to better managing and planning the network.
The vision of frequent public transport across Melbourne is welcome, and would provide more residents with a genuine alternative to car travel. |
A number of relatively small-scale worthwhile initiatives, but no overall vision for a fast, frequent, connected network across Melbourne and Victoria.
Despite deservedly trumpeting Smartbus as a success story, pledging no new Smartbus routes at all (not even those previously announced and then cut back). |
A number of positive policies, underpinned by a pledge to buy 40 additional trains, and introduce a Public Transport Development Authority to provide central management and planning.
While we have concerns about the plan for armed guards on stations at night, feasibility studies for rail to Doncaster, the Airport and Rowville, as well as level crossing eliminations are very welcome. |
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Overall score |
A |
C |
B |
Minor party policies
Australian Sex Party
- Pressure on government to invest further in public transport
- Metro rail tunnel stages 1 and 2 to be delivered simultaneously? — incredibly expensive, and likely to divert all available funds, leaving middle/outer suburbs without desperately needed upgrades
- Separation of regional, metropolitan and regional rail lines to increase services? — little detail. Potentially very expensive
- Upgrades to rail signalling and other equipment
- Tighter controls around information held by Myki
- 24-hour train services, with security
- Overall score: D – Some positives, but very vague.
Democrats
- Support magnetic levitation (maglev) trains – overly expensive, and incompatible with existing infrastructure and rolling stock
- More frequent train/tram services, 7 days-a-week
- Simplification of train timetables
- Rail extensions to Doncaster, Rowville, Mernda, Mornington
- Grade separation
- Priority for trams and buses
- Pre-pay only on buses, to speed up loading?
- More W-class trams back into service
- Tram extensions to Chadstone, Doncaster, Knox
- Overall score: D – Some good policies, but compromised by a pie-in-the-sky call for hugely expensive and unnecessary maglev trains
DLP
- No policies available at time of writing, however Sunday Herald Sun reports:
- Free metropolitan public transport — revenue is around $600m per year. Even accounting for the huge cost of Myki, this would suck at least $465 million per year out of the system which is better spent on improved services
- Overall score: TBA
- Support inner-city road tunnel – More freeways do not provide longterm solutions to traffic congestion
- Abolish zone 2 – means higher fares for zone 2-only local trips, loss of revenue better spent on improved services
- Railway crossing improvements? – unclear if this means grade-separation, and no details as to the number of crossings involved
- Guards back on trains? – unclear what this means, or what benefit it would have
- Conductors back on trams
- Cut petrol taxes – would encourage more traffic
- Overall score: F – largely counterproductive policies which would lead to more car dependence and undermine public transport
- Elected regional boards to run public transport, with representation from workers, commuters and residents
- Integrate public transport and land-use planning by making all urban development dependent on public transport provision
- Expand bus priority, and upgrade facilities at railway stations
- Moratorium on motorway building
- End the privatisation of public transport and rail freight by restoring to public ownership?
- Overhaul and extend passenger rail systems. Reopen closed rural rail lines
- Upgrade high-density urban bus routes to light rail?
- Full staffing, including a guard/conductor on every train and tram? – positive, but needs clarification. Train guards in the traditional sense have little benefit for passengers.
- Move freight from road to rail
- Make public transport free — revenue is around $600m per year. Even accounting for the huge cost of Myki, this would suck at least $465 million per year out of the system which is better spent on improved services
- Impose levies on CBD employers and developers of land with prime public transport access?
- Overall score: B+
We will continue to update this scorecard as further policy announcements are made by the parties.
Updated 24-Nov-2010