4 Transport

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Key messages

• Transport is undergoing generational transformation. An explosion of new technologies, and fundamental shifts in what users want from services, present Australia with the biggest transport opportunities and challenges since the twentieth century's boom in motor vehicle use.

• Transport shapes communities.

Australia must build, operate and maintain transport infrastructure that shapes places where Australians want to live, work, play, visit and invest.

• There must be consistent national movement and place standards applied under a transparent framework to achieve expected funding outcomes.

• Transport activities should be aligned across short-, medium- and long-term horizons, between different levels of government, and across Jurisdictional boundaries.

• Working within an overarching vision, the staged delivery of public transport services, corridors and networks can establish a culture of sustainable transport use and ensure mobility services keep pace with demand.

• Strengthening the connectivity of regional, rural and remote communities is critical to realising their full social and economic potential while maintaining the momentum of regionalisation after the pandemic.

• Targeted improvements will leverage new data and technology to enable smoother supply chain access to key domestic markets and export gateways, reducing operator costs.

• Improving the local accessibility of Smaller Cities and Regional Centres will support their economic diversification and sustainable population growth, adding weight to the case for progressive regional rail improvements that lead to faster and high-speed rail.

• Regional passenger transport services can do a better job of connecting Small Towns, Rural Communities and Remote Areas to essential services in larger centres if they are reoriented from a point-to-point to an integrated hub-and-spoke network and coordinated with digital access.

• Different transport modes must work together to enable seamless end-to-end journeys for people and freight in all urban settings.

• With more people walking, cycling or using a micromobility device as part of their daily travel routine, prioritising and accelerating investment in active travel will pay health dividends for individuals and create less congested urban communities.

• Demand-responsive services that are fully integrated into the public transport ecosystem will significantly improve access for people with disability.

• Providing demand-responsive public transport and connected pathway networks in the early days of new suburbs can break the link between greenfield development and car dependence and build critical mass for public transport.

• Bringing forward new mobility technologies means redesigning cities and towns to make electric vehicle recharging commonplace and road networks ready for shared, connected and autonomous fleets.

• A transport pricing and charging system that covers all modes is needed to ensure transport networks move people and freight safely and efficiently.

• An equitable pricing regime will visibly dedicate transport revenues to transport outcomes and protect disadvantaged users from an undue cost burden.

• An equitable regime will pass on to road users the direct costs of transport infrastructure and services and the external costs of travel choices, such as emissions, crashes and congestion.

• Public transport users will pay fares that reflect the travel experience provided by different service types and encourage a shift away from driving to other modes.

• Under Australian Government leadership, distance-based road use charging reforms for all vehicles should build on current heavy vehicle initiatives and other road pricing proposals by individual Jurisdictions and be incrementally rolled out nationwide.