Straitjacket fits

Transport lobby shows roads rage
Railway lines to Doncaster and Rowville and an extension of tram lines to Knox and Doncaster would ease the city's growing traffic congestion more than huge road projects, public transport advocates said yesterday.

Yesterdays poll results:
Melbourne transport : What's the best solution for Melbourne's transport network?
1. Completion of the Mitcham-Frankston freeway - 4%
2. Eastern Freeway-Tullamarine freeway tunnel - 10%
3 .Better outer-suburban bus services - 9%
4. Better tram and train services - 77%

Total Votes: 938 Poll date: 01/06/05
Related: Plan to overhaul city's transport network

Melbourne residents illustrating yet again, we don't require more colossal road infrastructure - we need sustainable transport initiatives.

sigh

Sydney: Uphill ride for pushers of pedal power
The Roads and Traffic Authority has slashed its cycle funding by as much as two-thirds to $5.6 million - equal to just 0.17 per cent of its budget to build roads. The move counters the State Government's promise it was "committed to improving facilities for cyclists and making it safer to cycle", made by the former roads minister, Carl Scully, in 1999. His replacement, Michael Costa, has cut bicycle funding and axed his most senior bicycle official, scrapping the authority's position of general manager, bicycles and pedestrians. Mr Costa's office yesterday referred questions to the authority, which declined to comment specifically on allegations from bicycle groups that funding was cut from $15 million.

another sigh

Idle chatter on aus.bicycle: Money for bikes and Farkin: Sydney doesn't want cyclists?

Sydney: Commuters voting with feet on accelerator pedal
The shift by commuters away from Sydney trains and into cars is worsening. New government figures show 9 million fewer trips were made on CityRail this year than in 2001-02. As Sydney's train services are shunned after years of cancelled, late and slow services, traffic on the toll roads keeps rising. The biggest increases are on the M4 and the M5.

Meanwhile down here

Yet another product of straitjacket thinking... The Age: Editorial
The Committee for Melbourne's call for urgent action on transport is timely and should be heeded. Ever since the Bracks Government set itself the bold target of having 20 per cent of all trips in Melbourne taken on public transport by 2020, it has been attacked for not doing enough to achieve it. The Committee for Melbourne's call for urgent action on transport is timely and should be heeded. Ever since the Bracks Government set itself the bold target of having 20 per cent of all trips in Melbourne taken on public transport by 2020, it has been attacked for not doing enough to achieve it.

urbanbicyclist comments upon this wondrous convergence of business interests. I was going to conclude this blog entry with a pithy summarisation of the prevailing straitjacket mentality. Bugger it, instead, lets link to Ken Avidor's Bicyclopolis. Now envisage an Australiasian version.