On the public record
I think I might have out-done myself this time.
Last month I represented the PTUA at a senate hearing into Commonwealth investment in public transport.
During questions, the topic of public transport for special events came up, and as I had the night before been to such an event, I drew on that personal experience in one of my answers, all of which naturally has gone into the hearing record*.
CHAIR [Senator Glenn Sterle] — I find it absolutely amazing — in fact, I find it gobsmacking — that you can exit the MCG with 100,000 people and within an hour it is a ghost town.
…Mr Bowen — That is right. The money has been put into public transport to make it work extremely well for special events — big sporting events, concerts and all those sorts of things that Melbourne does really well. To give an example, I went to a concert after the grand prix last night at Albert Park. That was a huge crowd.
CHAIR — How were The Who?
Mr Bowen — I do like The Who. I am not so keen on the racing cars but I like the music, so I went for that. The crowd all, after the concert, swarmed out of Albert Park. They were cleared very quickly out from the tram stops surrounding Albert Park. A tram, again, can carry up to 200 people. That moves crowds not quite as well as heavy rail but certainly very quickly. You can just imagine the nightmare if they allowed parking there — the space it would take up and the time it would take to get those people out. Those special tram services moved people away from Albert Park very quickly, but they quickly broke down, so to speak, a few kilometres out. The special services provided were really good, but for people going a bit beyond where the special services go — out to the suburbs, and in my own case I was heading back out to Malvern to catch a train home — there were no special services at all. The big crowds were certainly taken away from Albert Park but they did not get all the way home, and they had long waits ahead of them, in some cases, to get all the way home. Melbourne public transport does clear crowds very well but, again, the lack of a complete cohesive network running at all times of day means that it does fail in some cases.
It’s like blogging… via Hansard.
- *The transcript, just released, is still in draft form, and contains some minor errors.
- Channel 7 story from the day of the hearing.
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You dirty swine
Just days ago I was watching an interview with a guy on The Daily Show, who, like most of their guests, was flogging a book. His was called “Dread: How Fear and Fantasy have Fueled Epidemics from the Black Death to the Avian Flu“:
Even at our most level-headed, the thought of an epidemic can inspire terror. As Philip Alcabes persuasively argues in Dread, our anxieties about epidemics are created not so much by the germ or microbe in question—or the actual risks of contagion—but by the unknown, the undesirable, and the misunderstood.
I’m amazed at how timely it seems, given in the few days since, the swine flu has appeared.
So far in this part of the world, only the 10 NZ students have confirmed cases, with most of them already recovered. Their samples were processed at the Melbourne lab of the World Health Organisation, I wouldn’t be surprised if (for once) the media were staked out at a bio lab somewhere.
Let’s not panic unduly, people.
Oh, and can I point out that I’ve had this cough for weeks, and I’ve never been to Mexico.
- One Israeli health official called for the swine flu to be renamed Mexican flu (via Pratap)
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Advice ignored
“Particularly during peak period where we know it has been a difficult period, but we’ve had patronage growth in such a short period that no other jurisdiction around Australia has experienced,” [Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky] said.
“Indeed, I’m not aware of any other location around the world that has had the levels of patronage growth that we’ve had in such a short space of time.” — ABC Online
It’s said that rail patronage has jumped about 40% in three years.
Is it the fastest growth in the world? I’m not sure. I do know that a lot of other public transport networks are getting heavy growth. In Perth, rail patronage has gone up about 300% in the last fifteen years, in no small part due to a rapid expansion of their rail network and fleet.
Last year I spoke to a group of visiting North American PT senior managers, who said not only are they getting big growth, but in some cities they’re suffering from a loss of funding due to the financial crisis, particularly where funding is linked directly to taxation.
Here of course, so far there’s been plenty of transport money to go around, if the government chooses. $1.6 billion on the M1 widening, for a start — a project which is expected to provide less than ten years of relief.
Whether or not we’ve had the most growth is irrelevant. Because the government was warned that this would happen.
Melbourne 2030, introduced in 2002, set a target of 20% of trips on public transport by 2020, which required them to virtually double patronage between 2001 and 2020.
To do this, the then Department of Infrastructure prepared reports in 2003 report imaginatively called Train Plan, Bus Plan and Tram Plan. Train Plan specifically forecast strong growth on the rail network, which has so far basically come true.
To meet the demand, Train Plan urged the purchase of 10 extra trains from 2003-2007, rather than wait until 2008 to place the next order. If we waited, it warned:
…it is likely that the rollingstock will not be on track until 2010, leaving a substantial amount of unsatisfied growth demand in the years leading up to that time…
– Train Plan, page 76
The government didn’t order the extra 10, and instead waited (though it did buy back some Hitachis). The first new train will arrive in December 2009, with more to follow in 2010. And just as Train Plan had flagged (at least in bureaucratese) the trains are packed.
Train Plan recommended this next order be 64 new trains — of which the government is ordering 38. Bearing in mind that 7 Hitachi trains were kept/bought back, this means by 2012 we will still be 29 trains short of what Train Plan said we should have.
Train Plan was scrapped, and never implemented. Ditto Tram Plan and Bus Plan.
So, when the government claims they were caught out by the patronage growth, the real truth is that they took no notice of their own internal report, and chose instead to keep on pouring money into freeways — around a billion dollars between 2003 and 2007 alone.
Of course, the other point here is that the government had absolutely no intention of achieving its own “20% of trips on PT on 2020″ goal, and refused to put the resources in to achieve it — hence Minister Kosky describing it in 2007 as “always aspirational”.
Oh, and before you respond and say “Fine, let’s vote them out in 2010″, take a good look at the opposition, and what their policies are… because so far, they haven’t really said what they’d be doing differently if they were in power.
- Herald Sun 5/9/2008 Government warned of train crisis five years ago
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A moron in Bourke Street
“No entry” signs? Lots of them? IT DOESN’T APPLY TO ME.
Congratulations NOH-500, you are moron of the week.
(Last Thursday, lunchtime)
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Server admin again
Fiddling with the server.
Hold your thoughts until I’m done and I re-open comments.
3pm. Move done, re-delegating. (When you see this, it’s reached you.)
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Eric Ray Smith
This is Private Eric Smith.
According to the Australian War Memorial listing, Eric, of Bentleigh, enlisted on 12 March 1915. This photo was taken in May. He sailed to war aboard HMAT Wandilla on 17 June 1915. He died of illness on 22 August 1915, aged 27. He was buried at sea.
The listing says that his death is commemorated at the Lone Pine memorial at Gallipoli.
He’s also listed among the other “Bentleigh Boys” who didn’t return from World War I, on the cenotaph.
This pic taken last Sunday. They seem to do the ceremony each year on the Sunday before ANZAC Day, I assume so those attending can also go to the Shrine on ANZAC Day itself.
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The train with less seats
OK, so I’ve finally seen the modified test train in the flesh. Here’s a short video explaining the changes.
Both the video and a Flickr slideshow are over on the PTUA web site.
I think it’s okay. In an age where people struggle just to squeeze on board the train, this design encourages people to move-in from the doorways and make more space, at the expense of some seats. And more importantly, the design around the doorways should improve dwell times and allow more trains to run on the tracks when the new ones are delivered.
But they’ve tried to allocate a space to keep clear behind the driver’s exit door, which I think was a mistake; it just clutters up the carriage, and people are unlikely to stand clear of it when the train is crowded.
PS. That’s something else the London underground and other metro systems have: fast-loading trains with fewer seats…
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Daniel’s roo chilli
This is my fairly quick chilli recipe, adapted from a recipe in 4 Ingredients by Kim McCosker and Rachael Bermingham.
Dice onion and cook in a little canola or olive oil in a saucepan until brown.
Add about 500 grams of kangaroo mince, cook until brown.
Chuck in a sachet of Taco mix or your preferred other type of lazy supermarket prefab spicy mix.
Add a can of diced tomatoes, a can of red kidney beans, and half a cup of water. Stir.
Grated in a carrot and a zucchini and keep on stirring.
Cover, simmer for 15 minutes or as long as you like until it’s all cooked up, stirring regularly.
This serves about three. Serve with light sour cream. My kids also like it with grated cheese.
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