2016-07-29
The Western Australian public should have little trust in the Barnett Government's public transport plan released today, given the Government's failure to deliver on past election promises, said Greens spokesperson for sustainable cities, WA Senator Scott Ludlam.
"With the state election on the horizon, the Barnett Government is finally panicking at the reality of eight years of failure to deal with Perth's desperate need for public transport," he said.
"Today's plan comes without any costings or any sense of urgency, and continues the Barnett Government's peculiar obsession with tunnels at the expense of service delivery.
"The Government continues to talk about light rail without any clear plan to deliver it, and this must feel like Groundhog Day for residents of Ellenbrook."
The Green's recently released Transit City plan details a network of public transport options including:
- 71 km of heavy rail
- 65km of Light Rail
- 283km Bus Priority Transit
- 811km High Frequency Buses
The capital cost to deliver Transit City would be approximately $9.65billion and would be implemented within 15 years, not 35 as vaguely suggested in the Government's plan.
QUICK FACTS
- Perth commuters could save up to $1,500 a year, or $30 per week if they use public transport rather than drive a medium sized car.
- About 30% of Australians do not own or use a car
- Only about 85% of Perth homes currently have easy access to public transport, even then the services are not frequent enough to be convenient
- Over the past 10 years patronage on our rail network increased by 67% - three times the rate of population growth.
- People say the only way to make public transport viable is through density, but a Dispersed Network system means even a sprawling city like Perth can be a transit city.
Read the Green's Transit City plan here: http://greens.org.au/wa/wa2.0/transit-city