Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc. |
APTNSW has submitted:
Action for Public Transport (NSW) Inc. ("APTNSW") is a transport advocacy group active in Sydney since 1974. We promote the interests of beneficiaries of public transport; both passengers, and the wider community.APTNSW has long been concerned about the systematic bias against public transport investment embedded in some analysis and appraisal techniques. It is very easy to be misled by decision-making models that presuppose the solution to a problem, address the wrong problem, or cannot cope with the important things that add up to quality of life: access to employment and education, social equity and inclusion, and a healthy environment. The National Guidelines for Transport System Management have a big role to play, either as part of the problem, or part of the solution.
We are pleased to see that the material issued for the purposes of stakeholder consultation recognises two of the key issues that have long concerned us: the question of wider economic benefits, and the question of the city-shaping power of transport changes.
In particular we are pleased to note that the paper on Integrated Transport and Land Use Planning challenges the conventional approach of starting with land use, and making assumptions about the effect of land use on transportation choices. We agree entirely that this approach does not recognise the operation of the dynamic in the other direction - transport provision shapes land use patterns, and transport facilities are indeed land uses in their own right.
The call for integrated land use and transport planning has been made for many years, but APTNSW suggests that Jim Betts, CEO of Infrastructure NSW and former Secretary of the Department of Transport in Victoria, may be even closer to the mark. At an ADC Forum on Infrastructure in Sydney (March 2014) he reportedly said: "Transport planning is land use planning".
Please accept these comments as our submission in the current stakeholder consultation process, in conjunction with relevant submissions we have made to other bodies in recent times:
We would be very happy to participate in this important review process as opportunities arise.
- Action for Public Transport's submission to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities inquiry into the role of transport connectivity in stimulating development and economic activity http://aptnsw.org.au/documents/connectivity.html.
- Action for Public Transport's submission to the Environmental Impact Statement for the New M5 part of WestConnex http://www.aptnsw.org.au/documents/new_m5_eis.html.
- Action for Public Transport's submission to the draft Parramatta Rd strategy dated September 2015 http://www.aptnsw.org.au/documents/parra_rd_URS.html.
- Action for Public Transport's two submissions to NSW Independent Pricing and Review Tribunal review of external benefits of public transport issues paper http://www.aptnsw.org.au/documents/ipart_ext_benefits.html and draft report http://www.aptnsw.org.au/documents/ipart_ext_benefits_2.html.
- Action for Public Transport's submission to Department of Planning & Infrastructure draft precinct plan for Leppington http://www.aptnsw.org.au/documents/leppingtonDCP.html.