Would you like traffic incident response services with that?

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If the trend towards road user charging continues then that relationship and providing quality customer service will require a significant change in focus for these agencies.

Highway agencies have limited opportunities for a direct relationship with their customers, the road users.

Two of the major challenges facing highway agencies into the next decade will be dealing with increasing traffic congestion, and securing funding for infrastructure and services – hence the growing interest in congestion charging.

Is congestion getting worse? Congestion used to mean that it took longer to get to and from work in the ‘peak hour’. Now congestion affects more trips, extending to more hours of the day, creates even more extra travel time, extends across more of the road network and results in reduced reliability of travel.

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Dealing with Unexpectedness

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How should we deal with traffic incidents at critical times and locations, which cause major, unexpected problems for users?

Operators of road traffic networks are under increasing pressure to maintain acceptable levels of service, with declining resources and competing priorities. Urban traffic networks are not able to keep pace with the growth in travel, as a result major roads operate at maximum capacity for extended periods.

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How better transport results from land use planning

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Why is understanding the linkages between land use and transport so important for transport and planning professionals?

Transport is a primarily a derived demand, we travel in order to get to a destination, to undertake an activity and to carry goods. Land use is a key determinant of the need, when, how, and where to travel.

So learning how to influence land use and develop integrated transport plans means you will become one of the critical few transport and planning professionals who have this knowledge and know what an be done.

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What are the options for more transport funding?

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Transport professionals need to find innovative ways to deliver transport projects in the face of demands for do more for less.

These challenges have resulted from:

  • strong passenger and freight transport demand
  • governments at all levels tighten budgets, to get their finances in order
  • costs to provide and maintain services and infrastructure have been rising
  • revenue from traditional tax sources is being used to meet other government priorities
  • users are seeking improved service levels for transport by cars, trucks and public transport
  • user pays is not on the political agenda.

How can we think differently about how to resource transport programs?

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How to use lean project management for transport projects and programs

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Smart transport professionals deliver the greatest impact for the resources that they have available, by using a systematic approach to planning and delivering lean transport projects.

Lean project management is about delivering more value for less. The key is stripping away everything that does not add value in terms of providing outcomes for the end user.

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Do more for less – introduce disruptive innovation in transport

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The biggest issue facing transport professionals is how to improve productivity – deliver more in a constrained resource environment.

As consumers, we are accustomed to the constant productivity improvements in technology and related services that lead to dramatic price reductions and performance improvements – known as disruptive innovation.

Past examples of disruptive innovations include the car compared to a horse and carriage, email compared to postal mail, or the personal computer compared to mainframe computers.

Can disruptive innovation be part of the solution to transport budget constraints?

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What is successful transport integration?

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Understanding the essence of transport integration is the first step to building a successful transport system.

What does Transport Integration Really Mean?

The term “integration” gets used a lot by transport planners. But what does it really mean?

Let us consider the importance of integration from a user’s perspective. It can be distilled down to issues pertaining to time, cost, and quality of transport.

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Fair public transport fares?

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Margaret Thatcher, former British Prime Minister, is attributed with the statement: Any man who rides a bus to work after the age of 30 can count himself a failure in life!

In early 2014 governments were jacking up public transport fares yet again. Sydney increased rail fares by 3.5% and bus fares by 2.4%, Melbourne increased fares across the board by 2.4% and Brisbane by 7.5% (three times annual inflation).  “FARE-mageddon” quoted the Brisbane media.

Fare increases in Brisbane were reduced to 7.5% in 2013 (following the change of government), after 15% annual fare increases for a two years. Public transport patronage appears to have dropped significantly as a result.

The subsidy of the public transport farebox in Brisbane is about 73% (ie for every dollar fare that is paid by a user, the government has to kick in another 3 dollars), and this is just for operating costs.

So how do Australian public transport fares compare?

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