7 November 2005
Melbourne's trams could be phased out within 25 years, a Monash University transport expert predicts.
Professor Graham Currie (pictured), who holds the Chair in Public Transport at the university's Institute of Transport Studies, believes the city's tram system will not be able to withstand the congestion and disruption caused by traffic much longer.
"We have the western world's biggest tram system, something we should be proud of, but we squander this valuable asset in growing queues of traffic," Professor Currie says.
He says research indicates traffic congestion costs the Australian economy about $20 billion a year, with most of the costs affecting business. It is expected that congestion costs will increase to about $30 billion a year in 10 years as traffic continues to grow.
"In Melbourne traffic holds up trams, yet each tram carries about 300,000 potential car drivers each year," Professor Currie says. "If trams go, traffic congestion will get much worse. Congestion is strangling one of our most precious and sustainable assets -- our tram network."
He says the only way for trams to co-exist with cars will be if Melbourne follows the lead of other large cities and ran trams along dedicated, off-street tracks or if existing tracks are sectioned off from traffic. "Greater Melbourne has 167 kilometres of on-street tram tracks, compared with France where the total of all on-street tram tracks is only 800 metres -- less than the length of Collins Street," Professor Currie says.
He is also concerned about progress in making trams accessible to disabled people. "Making services accessible is essential to the future of Melbourne's trams. The best way forward is new platform stops, but the size of these would reduce local parking and road widths would be thinned to a single lane of traffic in most cases". Professor Currie says this is needed in about 1,000 locations in inner Melbourne. But local resistance to new stops has halted progress. "If we cannot find a way forward, the future of trams will be limited," he says.
"We need to substantially increase the quality of our public transport system to provide a realistic alternative to car use."
For more information contact Ms Robyn Anns, Media Communications, Monash University on +613 9905 9317 or 0417 568 781; Professor Graham Currie on +613 9905 5574.
| 
