samantha in the press

Belgrave and Lilydale train line passengers most likely to have parking trouble, RACV survey says
Lilydale Leader
by Laura Jolly
27 Sep 2013

Burger off!
The Age Good Weekend

by Stuart Rintoul

28 Sep 2013

samantha in the press - public transport

Blitz on free Maroondah rail rides
Leader Newspapers
by Tim Michell
21 June 2011

samantha in the press - public transport

Extra trains - Maroondah commuters hope for reliability
Leader Newspapers
by Tim Mitchell
17 May 2011

samantha in the press - public transport

Train Services Fail to Deliver
Leader Newspapers
by Tim Michell and Laura Armitage
19 April 2011

public transport summit - a plan for the east

On Friday 4th July, I spoke at the Eastern Transport Coalition’s (ETC) Public Transport Summit. I was making the case for why we need a duplication of the Lilydale and Belgrave rail lines. The case for rail to Rowville and Doncaster also featured at the summit. (vist http://www.etc.org.au/ for copies of the presentations)

The summit was well attended with over 200 people including community members, public transport advocates, Greg Barber (MLC for Northern Metropolitan), Ted Bailleau (Leader of the Opposition), politicians, Mayors and Councillors from across the eastern region.

Speakers included Professor Peter Newman from Curtin University who spoke about the significant role public transport has to play in addressing greenhouse gas emissions as well as peak oil. Professor Graham Currie from Monash University spoke about getting the planning right around public transport with some great examples from around the world as well as Perth, Adelaide and Sydney. Telling in Professor Currie’s talk was that there were no examples of recent, well thought out public transport planning in Melbourne.

Rob Hudson MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Public Transport spoke as well as Peter Daly from the RACV. I shared a session with Cr Alex Makin from Maroondah who spoke passionately about the need for an updated, new approach at Ringwood railway station.

There is no doubt what our community needs is a fast, frequent and well connected public transport system. That’s not what we have now. Supporting information from the recent Eddington East West Link Needs Assessment show single track sections reduce capacity on a corridor and affect scheduling flexibility. The Lilydale line experienced the highest number of cancellations in the last year, 770 in total, was this due to the single track?

A recent survey conducted by the ETC (blog entry 29 April 2008) shows that only 26% of commuters at the Belgrave station believe the train service meets their needs.
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In peak trains can carry up to 60,000 passengers an hour, one freeway lane of traffic can carry 2000 people an hour. Timetabling of services for Belgrave and Lilydale show the limitations of having single tracks. It is easy to understand that a train delayed in a single track section will have an impact on trains waiting from the opposite direction. Delays can only be accommodated so far in our timetable so it is inevitable that the ripple effect of a delayed train will lead to cancellations. Single tracks limit the provision of services.

Car parking at all stations along these lines is insufficient to meet demand. At the summit Rob Hudson announced additional parking for Lilydale, well quite frankly additional car parking at Lilydale alone just doesn’t cut it. All the car parking at stations are overcrowded and all along the line commuters are parking wherever they can, often in spaces for community use, shoppers and traders, in local streets, legally and illegally. Better connecting bus services are an answer too, if this was a reality people could leave their cars in the driveway.

The fact is rail transport is many times more efficient than car travel. We need to think to the future, we need to get serious about climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, we need to get serious about peak oil.

I hear our community when they say we need better public transport NOW.

public transport in the east - summit

I'm the Yarra Ranges Councillor representative on the Eastern Transport Coalition (ETC), the ETC advocates for sustainable and integrated transport services in the Eastern region of Melbourne which focuses on the travel needs of the community and reduces the level of car dependency.

The ETC are holding a major public transport summit on the 4th of July to discuss what changes we need to accommodate for the increase in public transport patronage in our area, now and in the future.

The summit will feature keynote speaker Professor Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University. Professor Newman is a renowned West Australian academic and planner who is credited with coining the term ‘automobile dependence’ — an expression describing the creation of cities reliant on cars.

The Summit will also hear from Professor Graham Currie, Monash University Chair of Public Transport and Peter Daly, Chief Engineer from the RACV.

The Summit is an opportunity to highlight the Eastern Suburb's basic requirements of a transport plan for our region. If you're interested in improving public transport in Yarra Ranges you should come along and if you can't make it you can still send in your ideas (to: info@etc.org.au).

There is no doubt that Yarra Ranges needs better public transport, the summit is our plan for the future.

Details
Friday 4 July, 8:30am to 11am
Manningham City Council,
Doncaster Road, Doncaster
To RSVP to the summit by Friday 27 June contact Melissa Sparrow
e-mail: melissa.sparrow@knox.vic.gov.au or phone 9298 8126

public transport - what do you think?

Tomorrow morning (29/4) I'll be up bright and early to greet commuters at the Belgrave Railway Station.
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As part of the Eastern Transport Coalition's (ETC) campaign to improve public transport in the East I will be surveying commuters asking their thoughts about our existing train and bus services.

The ETC is a group of 7 Eastern metropolitan municipalities who advocate for improvements to our public transport services, I'm the Shire of Yarra Ranges councillor representative for the group. If you'd like to know more about the ETC visit www.etc.org.au.

If you're interested in participating in the survey you can visit ETC's website, otherwise I'll happily post, email or fax you a survey form, just email me at s.dunn@yarraranges.vic.gov.au .