A select group of transport industry leaders met in Brisbane this week at CILTA’s Moving People Summit
By David Goeldner | March 18, 2011
Speakers at this week’s Moving People Summit, convened by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILTA), gave examples of public transport initiatives and how politicians can be effectively lobbied for action.
Summit Convenor Paul Blake says having a viable product and communicating the benefits to the wider community is imperative to the success of any passenger transport system.
“The time is right,” Blake says.
“Three levels of government are all aligned in their support for investment in a better system, making sensible land use planning decisions and providing more useful information on options.”
University of Sydney’s Professor Corinne Mulley says while Australian cities keep growing in density, the focus should be on providing high frequency on corridors to enhance the whole network.
“Frequency is what will encourage people to get out of their cars,” she says.
“We can’t keep going the way we are – carbon, congestion and rising costs all mean behavior must continue to change.”
Recently appointed Queensland Transport Minister Annastacia Palaszczuk opened the conference saying it was important to discuss passenger transport in terms of what people need to link communities with bus and rail networks.
“We can provide public infrastructure but our focus needs to be on people and what the general public want,” Palaszczuk says.
“The bus network is very important in south-east Queensland, but we also need a response to transport in our regional centres as well.”
Palaszczuk says one of her challenges as transport minister is not just to look after south-east Queensland but to represent all of Queensland.
Long term goals will also be attended to under Palaszczuk’s ministry, but she is mindful of the need to focus on tangible short to mid-term outcomes for the travelling public.
“The Queensland Government has a vision of where we want to be in 2030, but for many people that’s a long way away,” she says.
Palaszczuk says her ministry will focus on the next five years to deliver public transport that has meaning and that the broader community understands what her ministry is doing.
In reference to new growth suburbs of Forest Lake and Springfield to Brisbane’s south-west, Palaszczuk says attention will be given to bus networks that link with trains.
“Over the next few weeks you will hear a lot more from me about the direction we will take with public transport in Queensland,” she says.
The CILTA Moving People summit was Palaszczuk’s first formal speaking engagement in her capacity as transport minister, taking the opportunity to share initial impressions with a broad cross section of transport industry leaders.
Delivering the keynote address was Queensland Department and Transport and Main Roads Director General Dave Stewart, conferred with a CILTA fellowship by Black and White Cabs Operations Manager Mick Skinner during the summit.
The national Moving People Summit was convened by the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Australia with the support from the Bus Industry Confederation, the Australasian Railway Association and UITP.