Sustainable transport

1
Sustainable transport

• John Whelen
• Presentation to NCOSS/Shelter NSW Bursting at
  the seams? conference, Parramatta, 2 November
  2004

2
The Challenge

• By 2041 there will be 8.3 million people in NSW
• 24 (2 million) will be over 65 - up from 12
  today
• 14 will be over 75 - up from 6 today
• Is our transport system ready?

3
NCOSS Report - quotations

• Health is a state of complete physical, mental
  and social well being and not merely the absence
  of disease or infirmity.. W.H.O. definition
• We need transport not treatment (survey
  respondent)

4
The Providers

• Taxis
• Taxis provide 175 million passenger journeys a
  year
• 6108 taxis - 432 are Wheelchair Accessible Taxis
• 100 of these in the country
• TTSS has limited coverage

5
Typical submissions to HREOC
Ms M.Paterson explained the importance
of accessible transport  I need taxis to be
reliable and safe so I can live my life.  I want
to be able to go out at night and not worry that
I will be stranded waiting for a taxi at a late
hour.  I want to be able to book a taxi and know
it will arrive on time and not have to waste an
hour waiting and ringing the call centre to
remind them Im still waiting.  I dont want to
constantly worry that I will be late for a
meeting or look unreliable to my work peers for
not turning up.  And most especially, I need to
know that my wheelchair - on which I
rely absolutely is being transported safely and
in one piece, along with me.
6
Community Transport

• 132 Funded Projects of which
• 121 funded through HACC 20.5m
• 80 funded through CTP 2.6m
• 14 funded through AAS 610,000
• Other sources include DVA, DET, DoH,
  brokerage/hire, chook raffles, donations/in kind
  support

7
The Bus Industry

• Prior to the Unsworth Review 350 separate bus
  contracts moving 344 million people a year
• No P.E.T in private bus areas
• Lack of integration with other providers - no
  real network
• Problems with pick up and set down in other
  contract areas
• Different fare scales and service levels from
  place to place
• First full review since buses replaced trams in
  1961

8
Where Weve Been
9
Post Unsworth

• 15 contract areas
• P.E.T. available across the Metropolitan area
• more consistent levels of service
• improved integration/cooperation with other
  providers
• trying to improve equity in fare scales
• new types of services promoted - the Baxters
  flexi bus, use of taxis, use of community
  transport groups

10
Where Were At
11
Rail

• Rail Corp provides up to one million passenger
  journeys a day
• Key issues of reliability and accessibility
• 80 out of the 306 stations are wheelchair
  accessible or 25 per cent
• Other issues for vision and hearing impaired.

12
Funding

• The myriad of different funding programs and
  organisations involved, and the lack of
  coordination and consultation in planning, means
  that there are restrictive eligibility criteria,
  inefficiencies in the ways existing resources
  (eg. vehicles) are used and gaps in services.
• Driving Miss Daisy in Country NSW
• October 2000

13
NSW Transport Subsidy Flows
14
Conclusions and Questions

• Integrated Service planning with a focus on older
  people
• Matching need to appropriate providers
• Changing the assets - eg Universally Accessible
• Changing Service methods
• New funding models - HACC and Residential Aged
  Care for example.