Page 1947 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2016
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It is a relief to see the government has committed to trialling electric buses. There is considerable work to do on this issue and we need to get moving. Electric buses tend to be used on shorter trips so that they can recharge. The new free city loop may actually be a great candidate for such an electric bus.
As part of our transition away from fossil fuels, the Greens want to see a plan for transitioning our ACTION fleet to clean fuels. On this note, I think that the government should also be trialling hybrid electric buses and biodiesel fuelled buses. The contract for 10 new buses should allow for the purchase of buses other than diesel buses. That is the approach the Greens want to see for the future.
Finally on transport, I am not satisfied with the level of investment in active transport, that is, walking and cycling. I appreciate the government has acknowledged its importance but without the accompanying investment it risks becoming just rhetoric. We all know and acknowledge that we need to focus on building active transport to help break car dependency, to help improve health outcomes and to ensure we have vibrant and livable suburbs and centres. But this budget has not delivered enough on active transport, and without it we are not really building the sustainable city that is promised.
Instead, there is a typical focus on roads, especially as the Canberra Liberals and the Labor Party start on their election year roads race. This budget invests over $117 million in 2016-17 in roads projects alone and $256 million over four years in roads projects. In contrast, only a little over $3 million in new capital specifically for active travel infrastructure over the next four years is clearly marked in the budget. The $256 million for roads and $3 million for active travel means the active travel investment is around one per cent of the roads investment. The Greens raise this enormous budget discrepancy every year and I wonder which year we will finally begin to truly change it.
There is always a strong case made for each of these roads to be built but I read a paper recently that said that for the cost of one kilometre of urban freeway you can build about 150 kilometres of quality, separated bicycle paths, 10,000 kilometres of cycle lanes or 100 well-designed 30-kilometre an hour zones. That really puts the enormous roads spend in perspective. Delaying even just one of these projects could fund enormous and quality investment in active travel infrastructure.
We have real and pressing challenges in Canberra and, as we evolve into a bigger and more modern city, transport is at the core of how we plan and develop to meet these challenges. It is time we made sustainable infrastructure a genuine priority.
On transport policy, the Liberal Party are a total write-off, as they have proven over and over that they have no interest in our long-term sustainability challenges. The Labor Party, I think, can be proud of some of its efforts but has more work to do.
The Greens’ objective is to actually see the genuine investment that will deliver the better outcomes we need to achieve for our city’s future. The evidence is there. Over the longer term this kind of investment will pay for itself many times over by avoiding the problems associated with high car usage and by delivering improved livability and health.
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