Tracy Dunleavy, manager of the International Transit Study Program at the Eno Transportation Foundation, served as on-site coordinator of last fall's mission to study revitalized urban transit in Australia and New Zealand. We visited that subject with a policy overview by team leader Tom Kujawa early in December, which focused on privatization approaches. Dunleavy adds a nuts-and-bolts perspective on busways, trams, and passenger information systems.
Our next TCRP study mission returns to Asia--Japan and Hong Kong--April 8 to 25, 1999, under the leadership of Dr. Minnie Fells Johnson, general manager of the Miami Valley Regional Transit Authority in Dayton, Ohio. The theme will be "Technology and Joint Development of Cost Effective Transit Systems in the Asian Pacific region."
By Tracy Dunleavy
Eno Transportation Foundation
Australia is improving and expanding its bus systems.
One example can be found in the city of Brisbane, which has set a goal of increasing the modal split from the current 7 percent to 10.5 percent. Brisbane is completely redesigning its bus system and investing $600 million for 30 kilometers of exclusive busways, including a downtown bypass to speed crosstown operations. New satellite depots are being built, and commnity-based bus services are being initiated.
In addition to the transitway, Brisbane has planned an expansion of its underground bus terminal to double in size to accommodate the increase in bus volumes. The bus transit improvement plans also include integrated ticketing and real-time passenger information. The goals of the transit network redesign are to simplify the system, improve bus travel speeds, increase frequencies, and improve system integration at rail and ferry terminals. While Brisbane Transport is the only public agency in Australia to manage a major public transport system, joint ventures with private companies will provide for some service expansion.
Melbourne is focusing on management improvements for buses and trams. A multi-modal smart ticketing system is being implemented. The lead firm is an Australian company that is responsible for th record-breaking "Octopus" contactless farecard system in Hong Kong. (Participants in the spring 1999 ITSP mission to Hong Kong and Japan will observe this system firsthand--one of the largest contactless transit farecard systems in the world, with more than five million cards in circulation in a population of six million.)
Sydney's major bus service provider focuses on enterprise management principles to improve efficiency and enhance service quality. In addition, bus priority lanes and traffic control and management techniques are being introduced throughout the arterial system of Sydney to enhance bus reliability.
One feature of the Sydney system that deserves a serious look by systems in this country is that Sydney has colored many of its dedicated bus lanes a deep red, which has proven to be more effective in deterring violators than striping or other types of painting.
With the 2000 Olympic Games coming up, the city of Sydney faces a major challenge in transporting visitors.
A high-capacity subway station, designed for 30,000 people per hour, ahs been built, along with a spur line to serve the Olympic Park, located some 14 km form the central business district. The approach for bus transit is to assemble a 1,000-bus fleet from a consortium of private carriers and operate them under a central operating company. The buses will provide service to many of the suburbs surrounding the Olympic Park that are not served directly by rail.
The Transit Cooperative Research Program will publish a complete r report on the Australia and New Zealand mission later this year.
Plans for this spring's mission are well underway. The fall 1999 mission will visit southern Europe, and nomination request s for participants will be mailed in the spring. Managers of transit properties and transportation agency officials are asked to nominate individuals I management-level positions who have demonstrated leadership and who are dedicated to continuing their careers in public transportation.
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