Infrastructure Australia states the bloody obvious: outer suburban public transport is useless

[Thoglette]

From the "Great Ders of History" files*
Infrastructure Australia discovers that our public transport system is so poor most people in outer suburbs have no choice but to drive.

Over four million people who live in the outer suburbs of Australia’s capital cities lack adequate access to public transport services, according to a new report by the nation’s independent infrastructure advisory body, Infrastructure Australia (IA).

Peter Colacino, IA’s executive director of policy research, said ....

“In the past, it has been very costly to deliver public transport in lower density, outer suburban areas where houses and employment centres are typically spread over large distances. As a result, people prefer to take the most direct route by driving, rather than taking a train or bus – adding to congestion in our growing cities.”

Whereas the freeways we've built and the resulting congestion & health costs are "free", just like the parking. Or something like that.

Watch now for a scrabble for PPPs and raft of unsolicited BOO proposals from "investors" for massively expensive infrastructure projects. Which are only massively expensive because no-one planned for them, so the land wasn't put aside (by the developers) and will need to be bought back at market rates. Or we'll crack out the TBMs and tunnel our way out of this one.



*cudos to Full Frontal

[g-boaf]

Rail was okay, until someone messed with the timetable and made "limited stops" trains only a couple of stops short of "all stops".

I don't use trains any more - I ride to and from work every day.

The thing is, Sydney in particular isn't that hilly - it's quite flat. If you had enough cycleways linked together, or better road conditions for riders (aka better driver behaviour), it would be no great drama for people to ride everywhere.