SESSION 9.1 –
FACETS OF COMMUNITY:
TRANSPORT & ADVOCACY
Copyright 2011 Tristan Peach
Urban Transport & Advocacy
- Outline
• Brief outline of environmental and economic issues
• Examine and discuss social / community issues and solutions
• Planning and policy issues
• Community advocacy groups in urban transport
Mode Share
• Mode = walk, cycle, car (single occupant), car (as
passenger), train, ferry etc.
• Trip to a destination (work, recreation, shopping, education)
• Percentage of trips undertaken by each (or a combination of)
modes
Mode Share
(Kenworthy, Murray-Leach and Townsend 2005)
Transport and Land Use
1. Car dependent cities generally lower density
2. Sprawling cities developed around road infrastructure with
the assumption of car dependence
3. Choices on land use (location, mix and density) essential
to addressing car dependence
4. Even if Brisbane remains low density we can do a lot
better with public and active (walking, cycling etc.)
transport
A Very Public Solution: Transport in the Dispersed City by Paul Mees
Car Dependent Cities
ABS, 2006 Basic Community Profiles
Car Dependence
• Car dependence the underlying cause of many urban transport
problems
• Sustainable transport movement aims to moderate, not
eliminate, car use and create more balanced mode share
Energy Use
• Car dependent cities use more transport energy per capita than
cities with a balanced transport system
(Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch University 2007)
Greenhouse Emissions
• Passenger car emissions are primarily related to vehicle
kilometres travelled [VKT] (AGO 2006, 20)
• Based on current plans for Brisbane VKT in cars will increase to
55 million on an average weekday in 2012, 66 million in 2022 and
71 million in 2026 (BCC 2006a, table 9-8).
The Myth of Free Flowing Traffic
• ‘Congested traffic produces more emissions than free flowing traffic,
affecting air quality’. (BCC 2006c, 2.16)
• Only true with these assumptions:
1. no potential to shift mode
2. no increase in vehicle kilometres travelled
3. improvements in engine technology are adopted
Newman & Kenworthy 1999, 3.2 (p.70-71), 3.9 (p.82-83) & 3.10 (p.85)
Economic Issues
• Reducing car dependence reduces total operating cost of
passenger transport
• Huge private and public costs of car dependence
Economic Issues
• Need for Federal tax reform e.g. Fringe Benefits Tax for
corporate vehicle fleets $1 billion annual subsidy
• Bigger tax breaks for more kilometres travelled
Refer Public Transport Users
Association of Victoria submission
to Henry Tax
Economic Issues
• Car dependent cities more vulnerable to volatile oil prices
• Modelling for Australian cities suggests outer suburbs will be most
vulnerable
(Association for the Study of Peak Oil)
Sipe and Dodson (2005, 19)
‘Oil vulnerability in the Australian City’
Economic Issues
1. Access to public transport means access to jobs and
education for low income unemployed people without a car
2. Lack of access increases likelihood of anti-social behaviour
as young people feel trapped
3. Research in Goodna/Gailes area found that many
unemployed people cannot access work due to lack of public
transport to surrounding factories
Big roads, no transport: a report of the
Goodna and Gailes community mapping for
transport improvements study
(Griffith Urban Research Program, 2004)
From Currie (2006) Perspectives on Transport
and Access Issues and Young People Conference on Transport, social disadvantage
and well-being
Public Transport Economic Benefits
•Move people more efficiently = less infrastructure
• Reduced road crashes (insurance, rescue, medical and repair costs)
• Reduced air pollution (health costs)
• Reduced road spending (reduce government costs)
• Reduced private spending (insurance, fuel, registration, capital and
maintenance)
• Reduced carbon costs
Public Transport Job Creation
• Customer service
• Network engineers and planners
• Drivers, guards and control room
• Infrastructure engineers
• Vehicle design, manufacture and maintenance
• Infrastructure planning, design, construction and maintenance
• Research and development
Car Sharing
• For public transport / active transport people who need
occasional access to car
• Reduce individual costs of car ownership
• Gives access to people who normally couldn’t afford it
• Less parking spaces required in new developments
Online booking system
for car share company
in Sydney
Community Issues
• Where are the people walking in our communities?
• Safety, social capital and health benefits of increasing walking in
our community
(Frank & Engelke)
Transport & Obesity
Research from China (Bell et al 2002) as communities
start to get access to motor vehicles
• Men from households that acquired a
motorised vehicle during the 8 year study
experienced an 18% increase in obesity
prevalence
• Household ownership of a motorised vehicle
was associated with greater odds of obesity in
men and women
• Odds of being obese were 70% greater in men
and 85% greater in women compared with those
who did not own a vehicle
(Bell, Ge and Popkin 2002, Figure 1)
Public Spending on Health
Preventative health
Reduce the $10.6 billion health
budget by improving public
transport, walking and cycling
infrastructure
Local walking & cycling barriers
Where are we walking to
– “the death of the corner
store”
Imagine the uproar if
people blocked the road
with their cars and bins!
Stop and start footpaths
Urban Assault Vehicles
What turns ordinary people into
psychopaths behind the wheel of a
car?
-Trend toward larger vehicles
-Speeding vehicles even hitting
people on beach at Fraser Island
- Everyone in more danger because
of this trend
In the past 5 years 196
children under 15 have
been run over in
driveways with 19 dying
(Bronwyn Griffin, Queensland
Children’s Medical Research
Institute)
Sharing the Street - Woonerf
• An area, usually residential,
where motorists and other
users share the street without
boundaries like lanes and
curbs
• Street is shared public space
Brisbane author David Engwicht Street
reclaiming: creating liveable and
vibrant communities
Brisbane Park(ing) Day
• Large amount of urban public space is parking
• Reclaiming parking space as parks
• Friday 18 September
• QUT School of Design Students involved
• AmyS@yurrah.com.au
Children & Transport
The BUBBLE WRAP GENERATION: children growing up in walled gardens
(Karen Malone 2007)
More children being driven to
school
More traffic and risk of
pedestrian/cyclist injury
around schools
Parents fear for safety of
children and decide to drive
their kids to school
(Queensland Transport Smart Travel
Choices for SEQ)
Even more congestion and
danger
The Walking School Bus
• Implemented across Brisbane
and Australia
• Low cost
• QUT students recruited as
participants
Refer to the Brisbane City Council review of Brisbane Programs
Improving Local Accessibility
A Typical Main Road Intersection
• Four crossings
• Two sets of traffic lights
• Shorter green signals
• Wait longer than road users
• Aggressive drivers
Community Attitudes
• Are we really “in love with our cars”
• Or just in need of better alternatives?
Our “loving relationship” with the car
• Often stressful
• Makes us angry (road rage)
• Makes us lazy
• It’s an expensive relationship
• Our “lover” is killing and injuring us!
• Can’t break up with it because for some of us there’s no other
option
People Looking For Alternatives
Type
%
Attributes
Passionate car
drivers
6.3
Loves and cares for their car, uses it exclusively and would only
cycle for exercise, has always driven and has no intention of
stopping, could not live without it, doesn’t get stressed while
driving, car symbolises freedom, more likely male
Daily life car
drivers
33
Uses car to commute to and from work because it is easy and
quick and may be only option, car gives independence and it
would be boring and hard to live without one, may consider PT
(public transport) as an alternative to commuting but would keep
car for leisure
Leisure time car
drivers
36.4 Uses car for leisure (including shopping), frequently a woman, car
is comfortable but expensive, driving often stressful, not strongly
linked to personality, would like to get rid of car if PT was better
Reasons for Not Taking Public Transport
Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006b) Environmental Issues: people’s views and
practices 4602.0 March 2006
What will encourage us to change?
Kelly employment services (2007) Kelly services global workforce index: public transport in
Australia. Refer Appendix E
Government Funding
Accessibility versus Mode Planning
• Funding at all levels biased toward roads
• Brisbane Council and Federal government often claim they are not
responsible for funding urban public transport
• But their transport objectives are to “improve accessibility” and “reduce
congestion”
• They also claim to be interested in reducing greenhouse gas emissions
• These objectives can be better achieved through investment in public
and active transport
• Public opinion also in favour of increased spending on public and active
transport
Accessibility Analysis
1. Travelling from a suburb 10km from Brisbane CBD
2. Short walk to one high frequency bus to the city
3. How long will it take to get to a range of locations
4. during weekdays, weeknights and afternoons?
5. Public transport and walking versus car
The Verdict
• Car travel generally offers superior travel times – sometimes 3 times faster
• Only 2/9 destinations offer comparable times
• Lack of cross town connectivity
• Many local destinations
inconvenient to access
• Inconvenient access to
airport despite close
physical proximity
Buz Services
• High frequency radial
• Use surface roads and dedicated
busway
• Hugely popular
• Well marketed
• Caught in traffic congestion due to
regressive transit lane policy
• Need for cross-city Buz
Busway Network
• Dedicated bus only corridors
• Services universities, hospitals and
other major destinations
• Cross-city “Green Bridge”
• Iconic stations and legible network
• TOD potential under developed
• Feeder services under developed
Rail Network
• Extensive network
• Suffering from under investment
• Lower frequency than Buz and Busways
• TOD opportunities under
developed
• Under developed feeder
services
• Privatised Air Train
Nightlink Services
• Necessitated by violence in
night club precincts
• Marketed well
• Linked with mobile phone
technology
• Need increased frequency
• Extend to Thursday nights?
Gold Coast Light Rail
• Iconic system to service high
density coastal strip
• Integrated with heavy rail and
improved east-west bus
connections
• To occupy existing road space in
some sections
• Attractive for residents and
tourists
• Plans to service Sunshine Coast
strip with heavy rail
Advocacy & Policy Review :
Community Transport Groups
CBD
Bicycle
Users
Group
User support e.g. Bike Buddy Kalinga
Advocacy
Community
Input into projects
Group
Working relationship with BCC
active transport and Main
Roads
NIMBY Group
Supportive of road expansions
Move problem away from them
West End
Community
Association
Interested in various issues
E.g. over development
Stop the Hale Street Bridge
Campaign
Progressive and professional
membership
Bicycle
Large community organisation
Queensland Cycling events
Cautious but successful
advocacy
Independent campaigns
Car Share
Commercial organisation
Roots in community action
Partnerships with community
Council refused to support
Rail Back
on Track
Web-based group
Major media presence
Allied with train drivers
Working relationship with QR
Community Lobby Groups
1. Community groups are ephemeral - they can disperse and
disintegrate without direction
2. Must ensure they continue to achieve outcomes linked directly
to the goals of their campaign
3. Once a lobby group has agreed on their policies they must
create strategies for how to achieve them
4. Working and achieving these outcomes is the best thing the
group can do to grow and maintain positive relationships
Campaign Selection
- Advisable for small groups to focus on one or two campaigns
and achieve them rather than constantly responding to range
of campaigns and spreading resources too thinly
• Focus on results, not what campaign is the best in theory or principal
to pursue
• What campaigns can your group realistically expect to win based on
your level of influence?
• How many hours is your group prepared to put into the campaign?
• Who will be your potential allies?
• Can winning the campaign deliver measurable benefits to your
members?
• Does the campaign have the potential to elicit public sympathy?
• Potential for some victories within a realistic time frame
Example – Samford Transport Group
Proposed
Outcomes
Peak hour bus service connecting Samford Valley with Ferny
Grove
Railway Station
Potential Allies
- Local newspaper - State MP (formed group, but initially
sceptical)
- Bus operator - Progress Association - State School
- Influential locals - Academic/planner
Sympathy/support
from public
• Parents annoyed at being “mum’s taxi”
• Young people
• Seniors and retirement village manager
Hours required
18 month project
• Monthly meetings
• Develop, deliver and analyse community travel habits survey
• Public meeting
• Negotiate with TransLink
• QUT student project
Money required
Minimal
Strategy Selection
Can’t assume government will listen to and act on sensible /
rational arguments!
1.Suitability for type of campaign
2.Effectiveness
3.Enjoyment
4.Skills
5.Number of people required
6.Funding required
7.Weaknesses
Strategy Examples
• Meet with local Councillor
• Petitions (online and paper)
• Media releases and letters to editor e.g. RBOT intensive Go Card campaign
• Education
• Encourage all members to make regular requests for upgrades
• Independent studies
• Rallies
• Submissions on government policies and projects e.g. CATT submission on AL
not considered. Meeting with director HSL project re: submission on IAS
• Scare shareholders and potential investors away from investing
• Political campaigning
• Guerilla action e.g. painting on bike lanes
• Economic sabotage e.g. tree sitting, destroying research labs
Communities Against the Tunnels
(CATT) Actions
Public meetings and protests
• Airport Link information days August 06
• Airport Link public meetings Nov 07
• Attempted sit-in of RiverCity Motorway offices mid 2006
• Protest outside NSBT visitor centre
• Sane Transport for Brisbane forum
Submissions on EISs (and their TOR)
• Main problem is that EIS compares costs/benefits of tunnel versus
a do nothing scenario
• Our submission was more useful in informing media releases,
presentations etc.
CATT Actions
• Petitions on AL and NSBT
• Letterboxing and door knocking
• Stalls outside of BCC information days
• Speaking out at public meetings
• Speech to Brisbane Councillors
• In-person lobbying of Mayor and Deputy Mayor
• Public “tour” of parkland to be destroyed by Airport Link Car
Tunnel
• Attempted sit-in of Rivercity Motorway offices
CATT Actions
Extensive media work
• Constant stream of media releases
• Print, TV, radio news, talk back, e-news
• Letters to the editor, online blogs
• Commercial media outlets make substantial amounts of money
from car dependence - must keep the right people happy
The $1.5 billion Airport Link… is an inevitable response to the pressures of a
fast growing, dynamic and modern city.
The promise of a 6 minute travel time from the central city to Airport Drive… is
irresistible.
The resulting disruption to people whose homes must be resumed… is
regrettable but inevitable.
The issue is one of the greater good (CM editorial 14/3/06)
Media continued
• Banned from City Hall
• Journalists with no background knowledge – stories created in
hours
• Conversation with CM journalist prior to sit-in
• Seeking conflict between stakeholders
• Seeking “sound bites”
- Editing room
- E.g. Phil at Stop the HSL meeting
- E.g. Recent TV media on NSBT
CATT Lessons on Government
Consultation
1. Terms of reference for EIS exclude the key issues e.g.
consideration of alternatives, future oil prices
2. Public consultation material withheld information e.g. location of
exhaust stacks
3. CATT excluded from Community Reference Group - put in Industry
Group to argue with RACQ and Truck Drivers Association
4. No public scrutiny of contract agreement between Council and
RCM - major issue with new Public-Private-Partnership style of
infrastructure delivery
5. E.g. compensation clauses if government tightens its air quality
laws
Community Attitudes to Public
Consultation
• Project a foregone conclusion
• Concerned if they opposed project this would put them offside with Council in their negotiations over resumption
compensation and construction arrangements
• “Divide and Conquer” consultation where two different tunnel
routes were proposed as options
CATT Alternative
• Often accused of just being an “anti” group,
but those who accused were not interested
when we presented alternatives
• Have ALWAYS promoted superior
alternatives to TransApex e.g. for AL
- Improve AirTrain
- Reducing parking at Airport
- Better cross-city bus services
-Transit-lanes or light rail on
Lutwyche/Gympie Road
A truly balanced approach to transport
would mean TransApex is not necessary
The Road Building Agenda for
West Brisbane
Entrenches car dependence in
outer-west
More road freight
Toowong construction disaster
zone
Plans to feed more and more
traffic into the inner-west
Flow on impacts of all these
individual Projects
Each project creates the
congestion to justify the next
project
Individual communities forced to
react to each proposal in
isolation from other groups
South-West Access Plan
Community Action for Sustainable Transport Inc.
A vision of where the money on roads could be spent
Improving Integration & Cross-city
Connections
Walking, Cycling and City Cat
Connections
Work and health slides still to be developed