Infrastructure Victoria’s research program on Transport Network Pricing is exploring opportunities to change the way we pay for transport across Victoria – on our roads, public transport and through parking.
The program is building 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.
We think a type of scheme where users pay different amounts based on how, when and where they travel could deliver profound social and economic benefits for Victoria. These benefits include reduced road congestion, improved health and environmental outcomes, fairer costs for users and a more sustainable revenue stream for government.
Infrastructure Victoria is continuing to progress the research program in 2019 through transport modelling, stakeholder engagement and further research into best-practice and international experience with transport pricing reform.
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:
