Transport solution aims to ease traffic gridlock
A new program is working with local government to find ways of dealing with Melbourne's traffic nightmare, and hoping many people might find a way out of the expense and hassle of owning a car.
By LEAH BALBIN
Sustainability association ICLEI Oceania has developed a mobility choices program that it hopes will promote cost-effective alternatives to cars.
The Mobility Choices program works with local governments to help improve mobility and reduce car dependency.
ICLEI program development director Harry Barber said Melbourne was congested with motor vehicles.
“The idea of the program is it helps people strengthen their use of all of the alternatives to the car, so then they might even consider not owning a car,” Mr Barber said.
Mr Barber hopes residents will benefit from “a very big pay rise” by not owning a car.
“If you can have all your mobility needs met you can avoid having a car and you have extra money which can circulate in your local economy," Mr Barber said.
The program aims to help local councils create effective pathways to help boost residents' transport choices.
Mr Barber has already begun helping the cities of Yarra, Moreland, Melville and Port Phillip.
Yarra's Nicholls Ward councillor Jackie Fristacky said she was worried the program would ignore the lack of mobility choices available in rural and regional areas.
“While the City of Yarra has good mobility choices usually, it's residents in 70 per cent of Melbourne who don’t," Cr Fristacky said. "So they are forced into cars.”
Suburbs such as Casey, Cardinia and Doncaster are Melbourne areas where people have on average three cars per family, instead of one or none, Cr Fristacky says.
She said she was concerned the people who would most benefit financially from using public transport were forced to live in rural areas where housing was cheaper.
“There is a huge social inequity and a huge economic penalty for those people who can least afford it being forced to run a large number of motor vehicles,” Cr Fristacky said.
“Transport costs in Australia are the highest in the world, partially because people are forced to run a car … we don’t have the mobility choices."
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, not being able to access public transport is one of the main reasons for people to use passenger vehicles to get to work or study.
The Mobility Choices program aims to find practical ways to deal with everyday transport problems.
This includes how to get to popular events, like farmers markets or festivals, popular dining and entertainment precincts, and important destinations such as a tertiary institution or hospital.
In other areas, the issues relate to demand, like overcrowding on public transport and overflowing car parks at a railway station, or supply, like the limited number of resident parking permit spaces or staff parking in busy shopping areas.
