Researchers warn of 'transport poverty

Sarah

"Petrol prices weigh on the mind of any motorist, but there are predictions that if the cost of fuel continues to rise, the poorest Australians will be forced to quit work because travelling to and from their jobs will be unaffordable."...

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/06/27/1963181.htm
This article brings up a few topics relevant for possible inclusion in the TRANSPORTED forum.

beatriz

This is a very important issue Sarah. We would like to discuss it in transported under 'social exclusion'.
At present large sectors of Melbourne's periphery are disconnected by the lack of services, distance and underdeveloped transport options. This is not only something that relates to infrastructure, it is a social and cultural issue--those important elements that cities are supposed to embody.

The AHI insists in asking the government to release land for development, when surely the answer lies in increasing the density of our cities. The suburbs—and I am aware that many would disagree—are like wastelands, with no incentive to walk as there is nothing to do, to look at and no one to see. For people who can't drive, the elderly, the teenager, what can they do in those places?
I have added to more quotes form the same article that I though were very telling too.

"Our cities are gigantic, and there is really no alternative other than using the car at the moment, and if that is further marginalised with increasing oil prices, climate change, this will further marginalise groups who can't afford these cars," he said.
It is a problem sustainability consultant and transport planner Peter Newman, from Murdoch University in Perth, says is worst in Melbourne, where only 3 per cent of jobs are reachable by public transport if you live outside the inner city.

Another good article: Outer-urban growth casts doubt on 2030 plan, The Age, Royce Millar and Stephen Moynihan, June 28, 2007

N

I wonder if one of the stumbling blocks in getting housing intiatives to inmplement adequate public transport is that in new communities, there is less of a community "group" that can lobby for these changes?

The housing shortage is a problem which won't just go away by building large housing developments. Especially with the pitfalls of doing so becoming more obvious. I began a thread in the development section of this forum about this housing shortage, coupled with the rental market shortage, and now including transport shortage. It makes me wonder what has been happening to allow it to get like this.

Back to the subject at hand though, I think there should be community interest groups started in new housing developments to allow residents to get together and start acting upon what they want from a community. The sacrifice has already been made on their behalf because they've moved out of the serviced areas i dont see why the next thing that is sacrificed is a sense of community. However, I have to ask, how much of this problem is caused by consumers who are either unaware or too lazy to speak up and do something about it and start demanding a standard of public transport in these new communities?

beatriz

I have been thinking about the concept of "the right to the city" by Lefebvre. I wonder whether we have not yet understood the real meaning of this. How can we exercise our right if we don't have the vehicles (literally and figuratively) to do this?

When we recognise that there is geographical social exclusion---isn't the right to the city being denied to those people? And if this is the case, should we demand this right?

People in other countries demonstrate when the public transport does not perform as usual (most recently in Buenos Aires). In most European and American countries (non Anglo) an efficient public transport is viewed as their "right"—as much as public health, education and political participation. I wonder what would happen if in Paris (or Sweden, Chile, Mexico, Germany, Spain…) the government decided to provide similar levels of services to the ones in Australia?