Are buses really running so late?

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Criticism of the performance of public transport has been in the media, with headlines like: “Brisbane buses late 16 per cent of time”.

This is as a result of the Queensland Government restarting the publication of performance report called TransLink Tracker, with the second quarter of 2015/16 being published this month.

Public transport performance is a key metric to monitor as reliability is a key attractor of patronage (customers value reliability very highly) and it is a key means of ensuring quality of service and value for money.

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Could traffic incident response services help reduce traffic congestion?

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Public sector road traffic agencies have limited opportunities for a direct relationship with their customers, the users. As the move towards road user charging continues, then providing quality customer service, and building the relationship with their customers will require a significant change in focus.

Two of the major challenges currently facing traffic agencies are increasing traffic congestion, and securing funding – hence the growing interest in road user charging.

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Where Next with Public Transport?

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The Australian Infrastructure Plan released in February 2016 by Infrastructure Australia (IA) has some key findings and recommendations for public transport across Australia.

With the project growth in population to 30 million over the next 15 years, and 5.9 million of that growth occurring in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, there will be much greater demands on public transport services, and government budgets.

What is needed according to IA is high-frequency, interconnected public transport systems to move people efficiently and comfortably.

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How to find time for your professional development

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You need to make building capability a priority in your professional life.

Do you want to become more marketable and be able to win that promotion or new job or get selected for the best projects?

Then you have to take time to develop your knowledge and learn new skills. But do you struggle to make the time for personal development, even though it’s on your ‘to do’ list?

The urgent or important tasks that need to be done crowd out your work day, and beyond! It is difficult to avoid being distracted by those urgent things on your list.

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Think lattice, not ladder career development

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What should be the career development strategy for technical professionals?

A major challenge facing transport agencies is being able to readily obtain the required skills and expertise to plan, design, implement, operate and maintain smart transport infrastructure and services.

The public sector is still the predominant transport system owner and operator in Australia, although increasingly the private sector is providing infrastructure and contracted services ranging from road maintenance, to provision of bus and train services.

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How to ensure the success of smart mobility

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Measuring smart mobility initiatives is critical to success.

Transport agencies and companies are accountable for the return on investment funds and it is in their interest to demonstrate the success of past investment in moving towards desired transport outcomes, when seeking funding for future programs.

However, post-evaluation of transport projects is rarely conducted.

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Emerging fourth ‘E’ in improving road safety

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Road safety has successfully applied the 3 E’s: engineering, education and enforcement, preferably in combination, as they have demonstrated their effectiveness in reducing the human costs of road crashes.

Now as a result of application of technology the potential of fourth ‘E’: encouragement has emerged as a disruptive business model.

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What are fair public transport fares?

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Public transport fare policy is complex and fraught with compromises.

Some call for free public transport.

Others suggest the cost of car travel in peak periods should be have a congestion charge to provide a more level playing field (like London and Singapore).

At the same time, governments are trying to balance budgets, with less revenue and increasing demands for services.

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How do you know that public transport services are performing?

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The performance and reliability of road based public transport services is become an increasing challenge, and priority.

Traffic congestion is the dominant challenge in cities across Australia. In the recently released Australian Infrastructure Audit 2015 it was forecast that:

The passenger transport task (both road and public transport) across our six largest capital cities is projected to increase by 58 per cent, from 622 million km per day in 2011 to 982 million km per day in 2031.

In most major urban areas across Australia the priority is to increase the mode share of public transport and ensure value for money for taxpayers.

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