Transport discussions and planning seem to be in a bit of an odd spot at the moment. As a society we seem to be increasingly aware of the negative effects extreme car dependency has on quality of life and how viable alternatives to driving are severely lacking at the city’s fringes. Yet one of the main solutions touted by the government is a new multi-billion dollar road tunnel that will only further entrench car dependency throughout the western suburbs in the coming decades.
We are no longer in the dawn of the automobile age. We now have fairly good understanding of how induced demand works - you spend a ton on money on making driving faster and more convenient and that will generate more trips than before, either because people switch their travel from other transport modes or they decide to travel when they wouldn’t have before because of the shiny new infrastructure.
When opened, the new West Gate Tunnel in Melbourne will not solve traffic congestion. In fact it is likely to make congestion worse at both of its ends, further fuelling the cycle of car dependency and requiring more roads to be built or expanded in the Western suburbs.
While it is difficult to argue that an infrastructure project in the Western Suburbs should not be built - given the critical need across the region - the limited availability of funds tells us that we need to be super focused on what projects are given priority.
This is made even more critical by the implications of induced demand. Induced demand accurately describes the usage share of transport modes precisely because most of us, most of the time are not car people, or train people or bike people. Most of the time we are get-us-to-our destination-as-conveniently-and-quickly-as-possible people. Most people are not ideological in their transport choices, they will use whatever works the best for them.
This means that as a society we get to shape how our cities, towns and transport networks function, though what projects we fund. If we want more people to use and be dependent on cars, we should build and expand more roads, ensuring that the car remains the most convenient option for the majority of people.
However if we want to improve traffic congestion, reduce the air and noise pollution caused by cars and make our communities safer, we need to build up alternatives to driving so that people are more likely to choose them because they are approaching or exceeding the convenience of a car trip.
For Melbourne’s west this means focusing in the short term on improving the bus network, making routes direct and frequent. In the longer term it means focusing on transport projects such as Melton electrification, Melbourne Metro 2/Rail Futures Institute’s East West Metro Rail and removing trucks off roads by prioritising rail based freight over even more freeways such as the Outer metropolitan Ring Road.
The car isn’t somehow intrinsically the most convenient transport option; rather as a society we have made it so through vast amounts of funding, multiple times what is spent on other transport modes.
The solution isn’t to stop funding roads either, we are currently a highly car dependent society and even if funding decisions are refocused on public transport, the impact will not be immediate, particularly due to the legacy of the mega road projects we continue to build. Road maintenance in particular will remain critical until viable alternatives are available.
In contrast to the almost endless commentary on the wisdom of the Suburban Rail Loop, road projects such as the West Gate Tunnel are questioned little, reflecting an assumption that such projects are obviously needed even when the alternatives haven’t been considered. In this case the West Gate Tunnel project was pushed by a private toll company wanting to secure their revenue.
Yet it is critical that - given the time and cost - we consider all the alternatives and their implications. If we had, Melbourne might have had Melbourne Metro 2 opening this year along side Melbourne Metro 1 for the Sunbury and Pakenham lines and a future for Melbourne’s west that was significantly less car dependent.