By Cara Waters
Melburnians want to see an airport rail link and better bus services before the $34 billion Suburban Rail Loop, according to a new independent survey revealing residents’ priority infrastructure wishlist.
The survey found the government’s big-ticket infrastructure projects, such as the Suburban Rail Loop, the $14 billion Metro Tunnel, the $10.2 billion West Gate tunnel and the $26 billion North East Link, lagged a desire for the long-awaited rail link to the airport.
An artist’s impression of a proposed above-ground station at Melbourne Airport.
The Committee for Melbourne is an apolitical organisation comprising 150 members from business, academic and community circles to lobby governments on issues related to the city’s sustainable growth, and was instrumental in establishing Melbourne’s free tram zone.
It surveyed 1000 Melbourne residents, to be published on Thursday, which shows 72 per cent support airport rail and 66 per cent support improving the bus network.
Chief executive Mark Melvin said Melbourne’s population would reach 9 million in 30 years so the projects taxpayers were funding had to set the city up for success.
“[Airport rail] needs to be done, and it needs to be done now,” Melvin said. “Airport rail is not going to be any cheaper tomorrow. It’s already more expensive than it was yesterday.”
Premier Jacinta Allan has delayed airport rail for at least four years and the project is unlikely to be completed until 2033. There is a funding shortfall of $3 billion from the $13 billion needed for the link, which has been on drawing boards since the airport first opened in 1970.
Bus reform has long been advocated for as the quickest and cheapest way to fix the state’s transport woes, and Infrastructure Victoria last year called for a network of dedicated bus only lanes.
The Metro Tunnel and West Gate Tunnel projects both had 59 per cent support among those surveyed, the Suburban Rail Loop had 58 per cent support and North East Link had 50 per cent support.
The Metro Tunnel is an underground rail link connecting the new Arden, Parkville, Town Hall, State Library and Anzac stations in inner Melbourne and is expected to open to passengers in 2025. The West Gate Tunnel, also set to open next year, is a “market-led” project dreamt up by toll road giant Transurban, which will connect the West Gate Freeway in Yarraville to CityLink in the Docklands.
The Suburban Rail Loop has been described as a “money-sink” by one planning expert and the federal government has refused to commit to funding it. Construction on the first $34.5 billion stage, between Cheltenham and Box Hill, has begun with an expected completion date of 2035, and then a further three stages at additional cost are needed to complete the project.
The project with the least support among those surveyed is the North East Link, Victoria’s largest, most expensive road, which comprises twin 6.5-kilometre road tunnels from Watsonia to Bulleen, that will connect the Ring Road to the Eastern Freeway. It is set to open in 2028.
Crystal Legacy, an associate professor in urban planning at the University of Melbourne, said the survey suggested that perhaps big, expensive infrastructure was not needed to achieve fundamental gains around access to quality buses and public transport.
“I think people do desire an airport rail link, in part because people see that as part of an aspiration of a city of our size,” she said. “Sydney’s got one, Perth even has one. Why don’t we have one?”
Urban planning expert Crystal Legacy says bus reform should be Melbourne’s main priority.Credit: Chris Hopkins
However, Legacy said bus reform should be the No.1 priority.
“That’s just something we can do and achieve with relative ease,” she said. “Looking at the contracts of the different bus providers and making sure that those buses are going down the streets where people need them, and are co-ordinated with existing hard transport infrastructure like the train lines and the tram lines.”
Melvin said there was a great opportunity to reform the bus network as it was underutilised. Only 2 per cent of journeys in Melbourne are made by bus and there are only 52 kilometres of bus lanes throughout the city.
“We believe the government should look at all of its infrastructure spend and spend the dollars where there is most productive return for those dollars,” he said.
Committee for Melbourne chief executive Mark Melvin says the city’s bus network is underutilised.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui
A spokesman for the Victorian government said it was making a record investment in road and rail.
“Victorians have endorsed our infrastructure priorities at consecutive elections and we’re getting on with delivering them,” he said. “We had an ambitious plan to get a rail line built to the airport by 2029 and the project remains a priority, but the airport’s unreasonable demands have delayed its delivery by four years.”
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