Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

In his inaugural public lecture in Australia, Sydney University's visiting Professor John Pucher revealed some stark comparisons in car and transit use in Europe, America, and Australia.

In a joyous display of enthusiasm for the high quality public transport services available in Western Europe, Professor Pucher showed a packed theatre at Sydney University on 13 October, just how much bureaucratic thinking, as well as the public psyche, has to change in Sydney, before public transport becomes attractive enough to lure people out of private cars.

Some of his revelations-

• The growth of transit use in the European Union (EU) has been impressive, in spite of parallel growth in car ownership. In some EU countries, transit use has more than doubled in the past few decades, and in some cities transit’s share of total travel has risen as well.
• 17% of all ground travel in the EU is by transit, compared with only 8% in Canada, 4% in Australia, and 3% in the USA. About half of surface travel in the EU is by some combination of transit, walking and cycling, the three “green” modes of transport. Only about 12% of all travel in Australia is by these modes, slightly more than the 9% in the USA but only half of Canada’s 20% share for the green modes.
• US cities have very high operating subsidies, but in the EU, subsidies are lower as a percentage of total costs because trains, trams and buses have higher passenger loadings. Enlightened fare policies in the EU encourage use by regular riders by providing high discounts for monthly tickets, which have more than paid for themselves with the dramatically higher ridership they have induced.

1. Transit network expansion; new, modern vehicles; super-attractive fares and tickets; integration of information, timetables and fares between modes.
2. Much more intense priority for transit at intersections.
3. Improve pedestrian and cycling facilities and integrate them with the transit system. Attractive walking and cycling trips are crucial to accessing transit. The public health benefits of walking and cycling also have quantifiable economic benefits.
4. Parking restriction in the CBD.
5. Much higher operating costs for cars in urban areas. In most Western European it costs between $2000 and $3,000 for a driver's license, and in Denmark, new car sales tax is 180%! Petrol prices are roughly three times higher in Europe than in Australia, due to much higher fuel taxes. Despite the recent mock-shock of increasing petrol prices in Sydney, the price of fuel in Australia is amongst the cheapest in the world.
6. Land-use policies to discourage sprawl. More compact, mixed-use development shortens trip distances, making walking and cycling more feasible.

John Pucher is a professor in the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, New Jersey). Since earning a MIT PhD in 1978, he has conducted research on a wide range of topics in transport economics and finance, including numerous projects for the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Canadian government, and various European ministries of transport.

In 2005/6 Prof. Pucher will be a visiting professor at the University of Sydney's Institute of Transport Studies directing a research project that examines differences between Canada, Australia, and the USA in their travel behavior, transport systems and policies, and the impacts of transport on public health.

His webpage is http://policy.rutgers.edu/faculty/pucher.html.