Many operators have lost almost all their fare revenue. Even those who operate on contract terms that reduce the impact of falling patronage must bear the costs of disinfection and other precautions.
On-demand public transport has now provided over 1 million rides in 36 trials in various Australian cities. Is the problem of poor suburban public transport on the way to being solved?
The continued upward trend in our second-biggest source of emissions is a result of government inaction on a transport mix dominated by trucks and cars and a lack of fuel-efficiency standards.
Only the inner suburbs of Melbourne and other capital cities meet the 20-minute neighbourhood test. But we could transform the other suburbs for much less than the cost of current transport projects.
States across Australia are increasingly using market-led proposals to build infrastructure. The emerging problems reflect the inherent risks of projects that bypass proper public planning processes.
E-scooters are increasingly used for urban transport, but the road rules treat them as recreational devices and their users as pedestrians.
haireena/Shutterstock
Are debates about e-scooters too narrow? Perhaps it is time to focus more on revitalising urban spaces and retrofitting road infrastructure.
Demonstrations against freeway construction in Melbourne included a street barricade erected in protest at the F19 extension of the Eastern Freeway.
Barricade! – the resident fight against the F19
Public protests eventually forced the scrapping of some proposed freeways in 1973. Today, we have another round of projects and people are protesting again, with good reason. Government should listen.
When politicians use selected modelling results to justify their decisions on contentious projects like Melbourne’s North East Link, the credibility of transport models suffers by association.
Vic Govt/AAP
Transport modelling has been tarnished by its use to justify the predetermined projects politicians favour. But, if used more transparently, it’s a valuable tool for planning our future cities.
The Melbourne Transportation Plan included every freeway and major arterial road built in the city since 1969.
Shuang Li/Shutterstock
While called a transportation plan,
it was heavily skewed towards roads. We need the type of city-shaping thinking that underpinned the plan, but today’s plans must match 21st-century priorities.
Autonomous vehicles can only travel at speed at close quarters in the absence of human drivers, cyclists and pedestrians.
posteriori/Shutterstock
Self-driving vehicles that constantly roam the streets looking for passengers could overwhelm cities. But, if kept in check, these vehicles could be useful for improving urban transport.
Smart transport solutions make better use of existing infrastructure and reduce the need to build expensive new roads.
AdobeStock
Faced with the eye-watering costs of building infrastructure, it makes sense to turn to much more cost-effective smart technology to get traffic flowing.
Car owners’ attachment to driving and the willingness of others to switch from public transport could confound rosy predictions for autonomous vehicles.
Steven Giles/Shutterstock
Scenarios based on a survey of Adelaide commuters and analyses of traffic flows show it’s possible the congestion could get worse in the transition to driverless vehicles.
The school run for private school students is typically much longer than for government school students.
kryzhov/Shutterstock
An analysis of trips to school has found the extra time and distance private secondary school students travel is a significant contributor to morning peak-hour congestion.
Yibin is the latest Chinese city to get the Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit (ART) system, or trackless trams.
来斤小仓鼠吧/Wikimedia
Installing light rail is costly, as Sydney has found, but it’s the gold standard for public transport along road corridors. What trackless trams can do is rapidly expand such services at low cost.
In cities like Copenhagen that have good infrastructure for cycling it’s an established commuting option alongside road and rail.
Heb/Wikimedia Commons
A breakdown in the road or rail systems often causes commuter chaos in Australia. Some overseas cities are more resilient because they have other options – and our bicycle network could give us that.
Peak-time drivers to the CBDs of Sydney and Melbourne typically earn much more than the average worker.
Taras Vyshnya/Shutterstock
Commuters who drive to and from the CBD typically earn much more than most. Concerns about the fairness of charging drivers who use these busy roads at peak times are overblown.
Parcel delivery vehicles makeup a small fraction of commercial traffic in our cities.
Flickr/Andrew Dallos
David M. Herold, Vienna University of Economics and Business
Parcel and courier delivery vehicles are often blamed for traffic congestion in our cities. But they’re only a fraction of the traffic caused by tradespeople and other services.
Runing Ye, The University of Melbourne and Liang Ma, RMIT University
Average commuting times for Australians have increased by 23% in 15 years. And those with long commutes are less satisfied with their work, working hours, work-life balance and even pay.
Car parking occupies a large proportion of urban areas, and cities cannot keep sacrificing so much space to meet demand.
Neil Sipe
The global trend is to free up valuable city space by reducing parking and promoting other forms of transport that don’t clog roads and pollute the air. Australian cities are still putting cars first.