Category: Letters to the editor
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Full link not viable
THE RACV wants us to believe that while WestLink may not be economically viable on its own, the full east-west freeway link would be (”Freeway not worth the cost: report”, The Age, 21/5). But it is not so: the Eddington study in 2008 found that the full East-West freeway had a benefit-cost ratio of just…
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Influencing travel habits
Our letter as published in today’s Age was edited, which has subtly changed the intent. Below is the original letter as submitted: Peter Fisher and Len Puglisi (Opinion, 18/3) are correct that density is not a panacea for car dependence. Los Angeles is a denser city than Melbourne but hardly rates on the sustainable transport…
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Limit to peak hour commuter numbers
Despite the understandable concerns of peak hour train commuters, Metro Trains should be commended for wanting to double train patronage by 2020. It shows there is more capacity to be squeezed out of the network, and smarter timetabling can get more trains on to the tracks. But there will be no doubling of peak hour…
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Swanston St: Solution is Simple
Mayor Robert Doyle’s ”Damascus” conversion on Swanston Street has led to a good plan. But on design and location of tram stops, it lets the city down badly.
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Some ’50s service would fix the trains
As the annual patronage on Melbourne’s trains climbs through 180 million, it may only be a year or two before we reach the record of 201 million set in 1951. And yet our Government seems to be approaching this milestone not so much with delight as with fear and trepidation (The Age, 7/9). How can…
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Too much empty track
WITH membership reading like a who’s who of Australia’s toll road financing and construction industry, the Transport and Tourism Forum’s focus on trying to build our way out of congestion is unsurprising (“Brumby hits the road on crisis”, August 17). Vague references to “key infrastructure projects, such as the proposed east-west tunnel” is code for…
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Melbourne set to grind to a halt
Make no mistake: our public transport system is in crisis, and if safety concerns force the removal of the remaining Siemens trains from the network, the city is in danger of grinding to a halt. But it is the height of negligence for the Bracks Government to try and wash its hands of the matter…
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Eastlink study flawed
The study commissioned by the State Government that concludes the EastLink tollway will bring $15 billion of benefits (The Age, 5/10) is flawed. On page 11, the report makes the astounding assumption that the tollway will not create new vehicle trips.
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Right train of thought
MALCOLM Turnbull’s call for a major investment in public transport, particularly rail, is right on the money (“Try rail, says Liberal”, Herald Sun, July 14). An increasingly energy hungry world competing for dwindling oil supplies can only send petrol prices upwards, particularly hurting families without decent transport alternatives.
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Back to the ’60s
WITH talk of another road bridge across the Yarra, it becomes clear that our planners, State Government and Opposition still have their transport thinking stuck in the 1960s. How many times does it have to be spelt out: Building another road just results in more traffic. It’s been the case with every freeway so far,…
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Tram priority: we’re on the same track
IT’S certainly true that the Public Transport Users Association has not always seen eye to eye with outgoing Yarra Trams boss Hubert Guyot on every issue (The Age, 6/9). But we agree on a number of topics – none more so than the need for tram priority on our roads.