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Infrastructure Victoria has released Good Move: Fixing Transport Congestion. This new research shows that paying differently for roads, public transport and parking can reduce road congestion and public transport crowding, offer Victorians more choice in how they travel and help get the most out of our transport network.
A comprehensive change to the pricing of our transport system is the key to motivating people to change their time and mode of travel, resulting in a more efficient and fairer system for all Victorians.
Our own modelling and international experience demonstrate that transport network pricing can:
- Reduce congestion and crowding as travellers are encouraged and incentivised to shift their travel to other modes or times of day, freeing up the system during peak periods
- Improve average speeds of up by about 25 per cent in inner Melbourne during the morning peak
- Help get the most out of our existing infrastructure.
Our latest research builds on the work undertaken for Victoria’s 30-year infrastructure strategy, which included a recommendation for transport network pricing to be implemented in 5-15 years, and the discussion paper The Road Ahead.
This work is an important part of our research that will form the evidence base and recommendations for our draft 30-year infrastructure strategy which will be released in the second half of 2020. The final strategy will be delivered to Parliament in 2021.
Research
In 2018, we also undertook research to identify key problem areas now and in the future on Melbourne’s transport network and examine what can be done over the next five years ahead of transport network pricing being implemented to improve travel time and reliability. The paper Five Year Focus includes our recommendations to government which are practical, low cost, could be delivered quickly and build on existing measures that have proven effective.
Community engagement
In February and March 2019, Infrastructure Victoria convened a community panel to consider changing the way Victorians pay for the transport network. The panel of 38 Victorians worked together over four weeks to consider the question: Under what conditions, if any, would the community accept a change in the way Victorians pay for roads and public transport?
The community panel delivered a report detailing eight conditions under which they would accept a change to the way they paid for roads and public transport. We have reviewed and assessed all of the recommendations and our response document outlines the research we will now undertake to examine the implications of all eight recommendations.
Watch this short video which summarises the community panel process:
