Time to rethink transport

Our roads are just as busy as ever.

However, living near the city’s railway station, the competition for car parks in the area has noticeably increased.

The offer of free public transport has nudged people into leaving their cars at home, well, parked at the station, and using the train for the journey to all points south, and ultimately, Melbourne.

Interestingly, this is the moment those eager to see a switch to sustainable transport have hoped for.

Yes, this is “the moment”, but sadly, because most of us are still trapped in 20th-century thinking, or at least trapped in social processes and economies arising from that thinking, this is “not the moment”.

Enthusiasts of sustainable transport have argued that two things need to happen in concert: purposeful spending on the upgrade of sophisticated, frequent and sweeping public transport, met by an equal reduction in the maintenance and expansion of the nation’s road network.

The deteriorating road network, which is presently weather-induced and happening, is what is needed, but the nation’s public transport system limps along, unable to even find a fiddle, let alone be playing second fiddle.

And now, it could be argued, a “black swan” event, the US/Israel/Iran war, has been tossed into this stew, emphasising the need for an electrified public transit system.

This is not about privately owned electric cars as they are little more than a distraction and simply an effort by the corporate world to maintain its stranglehold on the movement of people.

Here in the Goulburn Valley, it seems the way to the future is through a return to the past.

This part of the world, as was the case in most of Australia’s populated regions, was, for most of the last century, well serviced by trains.

With robust, adventurous and athletic thinking, we can return to what was, but with a modern twist and, of course, significant upgrades as we link all our communities with an electrified railway system.

“Impossible” I hear the doubters shout, but so was putting a man on the moon; living with an inside toilet; ever needing more than a handful of computers in the world (in the forties, the then chairman of IBM, Thomas Watson, predicted the world would need “maybe five computers”); an end to the slave trade; a sub-two hour marathon; and the cracking of 10 seconds for a quarter mile drag racing — top fuel dragsters are now getting close to four seconds, although the previous standard of 1320 feet has been reduced to 1000 feet for safety reasons.

All those things were achieved because of human imagination, endeavour, public boldness and courage, need and application.

A sophisticated, electrified public transport system is equally possible with the unfolding circumstances, deeming the need as real and urgent.

And, of course, there is another critical and substantial reason why we should be moving toward public transit as opposed to privately owned transport — it’s vastly more carbon emissions friendly.

Data scientist and the woman behind Our World in Data, Dr Hannah Ritchie, says road travel accounts for three-quarters of transport emissions.

Most of this comes from passenger vehicles — cars and buses — contributing 45.1 per cent.

The other 29.4 per cent comes from trucks carrying freight.

She said: “Since the entire transport sector accounts for 21 per cent of total emissions, and road transport accounts for three-quarters of transport emissions, it follows that road transport accounts for 15 per cent of total CO2 emissions”.

Understanding that, let’s apply ourselves to creating a sophisticated, electrified public transport system.