Author: PTUA
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Community Forum: The 2013 Federal Election and Public Transport in Melbourne’s West
The PTUA is hosting a community forum looking at public transport issues in Melbourne’s Western Suburbs. With a federal election imminent, residents are concerned about how transport policy will impact on access to jobs, education and services, as well as local neighbourhood amenity. This community forum is an opportunity to hear from transport planning experts,…
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Signalling could boost rail capacity by 50%
Installation of high capacity signalling across Melbourne’s rail network would improve the capacity of the network by 50%, the Public Transport Users Association says. Speaking at the 5th Annual Victorian Transport Infrastructure Conference, PTUA President Dr Tony Morton outlined how an upgrade to Melbourne’s network would increase the capacity of lines into the city, accommodating…
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Paul Mees
Word has reached us tonight of the passing of Paul Mees, PTUA Secretary from 1987 to 1991, and President from late 1992 to 2001. A big loss. Here’s Paul’s video from the Trains Not Tollroads public meeting last week. And here’s a video from the 1995 launch of the PTUA document Wrong Way, Go Back,…
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Trains not toll roads – public meeting this Thursday 13th June
YOU’RE INVITED TO THE PUBLIC LAUNCH OF THE TRAINS NOT TOLL ROADS CAMPAIGN Thursday 13 June, 6.30pm–8.30pm Fitzroy Town Hall – Main Hall (201 Napier Street, Fitzroy) Special Guest Speaker: Alannah MacTiernan, Former Minister for Planning and Infrastructure in Western Australia Success in the West: How they got the 70-kilometre Mandurah Rail Line from the…
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Gridlock is to be our lot
It may have escaped our road-obsessed Premier’s attention but Friday’s horrific B-double crash occurred on exactly that part of CityLink that his east-west link road would connect to. With the link in place, that incident would have jammed east-west link traffic as well, just as Monash Freeway troubles jam up CityLink traffic today. The idea…
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Three cheers for $3 billion on Melbourne rail – but be flexible and take advice
Uncertainty still shrouds Melbourne’s transport future, says user group The Public Transport User Association has backed a $3 billion commitment in the Federal budget to the Melbourne Metro rail project. But with another $6 billion needed from the State Government and the private sector, concerns abound still about the likelihood of the project proceeding, including…
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Transport group slams government ‘obsession’ with east west toll road
Government has one chance to redeem itself on public transport, says PTUA The state government has “abandoned reason for madness” in committing to a $15 billion road project in the face of falling GST revenue, declining car use per capita and mounting private sector toll-road failures, the Public Transport Users Association said today. Meanwhile there…
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Motorways: Salami tactics
It almost defies reason that, with our train system virtually falling apart and car use per capita in decline, this government is hell-bent on committing public money to a road project with 50¢ of benefit for every $1 of costs (The Age: “Western end of project could win priority“, 3/5) When the Bolte Bridge was…
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Funding Rail is Vital but Avoid Hasty Promises, urges PTUA
The Public Transport Users Association today released a list of urgently needed Victorian rail projects they say should take priority over the Melbourne Metro rail tunnel and East West tollroad for Federal funding. “We are encouraged by the Gillard Government’s strong stand in favour of Federal funding for urban rail in Australia,” said PTUA President…
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Axe Myki and use e-Tag instead, says PTUA
Following the Napthine government’s announcement that single-use public transport tickets will no longer be available from this month[1], the Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) has urged the government to abandon the trouble-plagued Myki card and instead rollout e-Tag on the public transport network. Most regular users of CityLink and EastLink have an e-Tag, while many…
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Another Myki mess – Government scraps our most popular ticket
The Public Transport Users Association (PTUA) revealed today the Victorian Government will scrap the use of short-term tickets on Geelong buses in the middle of next month. PTUA Geelong Branch Convenor Paul Westcott said that move was the worst decision since the introduction of Myki itself, and would cause huge problems for bus users in…
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Plan will sit on shelf unless priorities change, says PTUA
Welcome news on high capacity signalling, but must be fast-tracked Public Transport Victoria’s new Rail Network Development Plan risks joining previous attempts and gathering dust on a shelf, due to its reliance on expensive, unfunded and premature tunnels, the Public Transport Users Association said today. “This plan has all the right individual elements in it,”…