Guest Post- Lori McLean
The Bracks Government thinks it is going to fix the rail problem to Werribee by adding another station near Aircraft Station called Point Cook.Why Point Cook when point Cook residents do not live near it.
The most sensible solution would have been to give Altona their own line back amd extend it to Point Cook therby allowing an extension to be built at a later date when The Werribee South District is opened up to development.THe Altona line could then come through from Newport as I used to many years ago before the Govt of the day decided to send the Werribee Rail around through Altona. To do laps of the Western Suburbs. By the way the line through to Altona is still a single line.Trains have to wait till other trains clear the station before they can travel through. The need for the rail to be electrified to The Werribee Racecourse would make more sense .
Then the residents of Wyndamvale and Manor Lakes and Westleigh Gardens would not have to come into Werribee and block up the roads and Have no where to park at the Werribee Station. This seem a little too logical for them to understand. Instead they are doing research on what the hold up is at Cottrell Street and what theyshould do about it. You know what they can do about it come here and talk to me and I will show them how they can save a whole lot of money on consultancy fees.
Labels: Guest Post, Transport
A transport review post-election?
Announced today is an
investigation into Transport Infrastructure to be headed by Sir Rod Eddington (former BA CEO), so that the Bracks government can find the "correct mix" of public transport, acknowledging long term planning is needed for public transport.
In that case, why was this not a central part of election policy, and indeed, why has this report been started so late, when much of the development in the outer reaches of Melbourne, has already occurred?
Labels: Transport
Guest Post- Lori McLean
Why is this Bracks Government spending so much money on the Health system in the Eastern suburbs when the West are crying out for funding and not getting their share. Even the safest seat will fall in time . People in the West are sick of the neglect. One Hospital from Altona to Geelong. No Childrens Hospital in one of the largest growing areas in Victoria and the third Largest growth area in Australia.Where are the Dental Facilities not everyone has been born with a silver spoon in their mouth to afford to go to the Dentist. I see young men and women in the district with really bad teeth I feel for them as they can not afford dental health for themselves when they have young families. These young families are our future.Also they must be suffering terrible pain.
It is disgusting when we have politians on huge salaries and benefits for life when the backbone of the country is suffering.
Yes you going to but millions into fixing the mistake of the Geelong Ring road but I am sure people would rather have a better health system in the West. More Doctors. The one Hospital we have on many occasions has one doctor on in Emergency. This has been a problem for a long time . We were told it was fixed. Bull. Why are the ambulance continually on BY Pass. They must think we love travelling on the poor public transport to go to other suburbs to see Specialists who we cannot get in Werribee.WE have one diabetic Specialist here. He is so snowed under its incredible, To see a rheumotoligist you have to go to Footscray.or East Melbourne. Why haven"t we got these facilities here. This is were your 2030 plan is to build High density housing well what about some bloody services.
Lori McLean
Labels: Guest Post, Health, Transport
Bracks Listens, Denies, Does It Anyway?
Brackswatch received the following submission from a member of the public:Some weeks ago when the Opposition suggested rail cars parks would become fee paying there where immediate denials from the Bracks government.
Seems however that exactly such a development may now be in the works for after the November election.
You will find this in the Connex contract via www.contracts.vic.gov.au
Franchise Agreement - Train - Public Release.docSection 10.6 Car parking page 93
a) Upon completion of the works in accordance with the Car Park Security Design Brief, the Franchisee may charge a maximum of $2.00 per day escalated by the CPI Multiplier each calendar year for use of a car park at the Stations where security works have been completed in accordance with the Car Park Security Design Brief.
(b) The Franchisee may submit a proposal to the Director to charge passengers intending to use the Passenger Services a reasonable charge (which shall be no more than the maximum charge set by the Director) for car parking spaces in addition to those required to be upgraded under paragraphs (c) to (g) where:
(i) the Franchisee can establish to the reasonable satisfaction of the Director that those car parking spaces are in excess of the number of car parking spaces at that Station at the Franchise Commencement Date and in addition to those required to be upgraded under paragraph (c) to (g); or
(ii) the car parking spaces comprise up to 50% of the car parking at a Station at the Franchise Commencement Date (provided that that Station is not the subject of an upgrade under paragraphs (c) to (g)) and those car parking spaces are:
(A) situated within a fenced area that has a boom gate controlling the entry to and exit from those car parking spaces; and
(B) staffed at all times on Weekdays when trains are scheduled to stop at the relevant Station (including for a reasonable time before and after the first and last scheduled train);
or satisfy other security requirements agreed with the Director.Labels: Election, Guest Post, Transport
A Cabcharge for Bracks
The refusal of Steve Bracks to
meet with Melbourne's Taxi drivers, and listen to their concerns regarding safety and conditions is shameful. Those who work the hardest to get us home, long after public transport has dried up, are being ignored. The Victorian Taxi Directorate (the industry regulator), the State Government must meet with the drivers and listen seriously. We must start to value those who provide a very important service to society.
UPDATEHow about this
suggestion from our friends in Indianapolis?
Cops will be posing as cabbies in an effort to stop a deadly crime wave plaguing Indianapolis. Fifteen people have been killed in ten days. There's also been a spate of robberies, with taxi drivers being frequent targets. One cabbie was shot to death. So authorities say officers will be driving cabs, sometimes in uniform, sometimes in plain clothes.
Labels: Taxi, Transport
Victorians on the slow train to nowhere
The ludicrous plan by Steve Bracks to improve rail links in rural Victoria has proven to be just that, ludicrous. Like any Bracks plan, on the surface, this new timetable looks pristine.
- Nine minutes saved travelling to Traralgon,
- Ten minutes saved travelling to Geelong,
- Seventeen minutes saved travelling to Bendigo and
- Twenty-three minutes saved travelling to Ballarat.
Unfortunately, as you dig a little deeper, you find that only 6 services daily out of 160 will be able to deliver time savings as measured by the Bracks Government.
An express service on the Traralgon line has been dumped, adding 11 minutes to each journey.
For $750 million, over time and overbudget, Victorian taxpayers have a right to feel like the wheels have fallen off public transport infrastructure. Another $550 million is planned for new trains.
Update
If only Terry Mulder was as quick as Brackswatch in being critical of Steve Bracks.
BALLARAT'S civic leaders would have preferred the State Government invested in health services, police resources and water storages ahead of a faster train service, according to Opposition Transport spokesperson Terry Mulder.
Mr Mulder said the new V/Line timetable, which was unveiled by Premier Steve Bracks in Ballarat on Wednesday, proved the government's $750 million investment in regional rail had been a "total waste of money".
Labels: Rural, Transport
Transport Wrap
Cities cannot survive on promisesIf wishes were horses, then beggars could ride. Since the Bracks Government was elected in 1999, Victorians have been presented with lots of transport plans to improve the liveability of Melbourne through promises to improve the public transport system.
The plans aren't a serious attempt to confront Melbourne's transport problem. They are wishlists designed to present an impression that the Government is seriously tackling the issue.
After seven years, the voter is entitled to look to the Government's record rather than take on trust its promises for the future.
For the most part, the transport plan seems to be fairy floss wrapped around the decision to funnel more traffic onto CityLink via the proposal to spend a billion dollars on the Monash-West Gate corridor.
Stance on new roads takes a tollNo government wants to announce new tolls just six months out from an election. But Premier Steve Bracks' decision to stay away from tolls means that no significant new road projects are included in his $10.5 billion transport blueprint. Tolls could build many desperately needed roads, such as a tunnel between CityLink and the Eastern Freeway and the Frankston bypass, and finish the Ring Road from Greensborough to Ringwood.
But the Bracks Government was determined that no new tolls would be announced.
Integrated transport system will solve all?During the next 25 years, growth will continue, with the state's population expected to increase by 1.2 million people, with more than one in four of those new Victorians settling in provincial Victoria.This growth is placing a severe strain on the transport system, creating severe road congestion and stretching peak-hour public transport to the limit. Saddled with an outdated public transport system designed to take people only from A-to-B (the suburbs to the city) rather than A-to-Z (the suburbs and the regions to anywhere and everywhere), the majority of working families have been now forced to use a second car. This stretches family budgets and congests arterial roads across the state.
All aboard for a $10 billion rideVICTORIAN drivers are being encouraged to give up their cars, with the Bracks Government pouring billions of dollars into public transport ahead of desperately needed new roads.
The $10.5 billion transport blueprint unveiled yesterday is skewed firmly towards public transport, with two-thirds of the money earmarked for hundreds of new buses, trains, trams and rail upgrades. Just one-third of the money will go on road projects, with the widening of the Monash and West Gate freeways the main relief for frustrated motorists.
There will be no new roads, bridges or tunnels.
RACV tips rocky roadRACV general manager of public policy Dr Ken Ogden said there was much missing for roads.
"While there is a lot to like in the statement, we are very disappointed there was no commitment to the completion of the ring road between Greensborough and the Eastern Freeway, nor the Frankston bypass," Mr Ogden said.
"These are critical projects, and it is inconceivable that a 20-year strategy has not recognised their importance. "The proposal for a reversible lane on the West Gate Bridge is only a short-term solution; and meanwhile nothing is proposed to solve the mess at the inner end of the Eastern Freeway."
The Public Transport Users' Association said that despite an extension of bus services, many Melburnians would still be in transport black holes.
'This statement is just the latest of a continuing saga of plans that have simply been regurgitated to provide endless re-announcements with very few tangible improvements," spokesman Alex Makin said.
Labels: Transport
Report Targets Bracks, Bureaucrats
A committee report, released out of parliamentary sesssion, has criticised senior public servants for awarding themselves bonuses, as well as the inclination for the Bracks Government to use public monies for advertising itself.
This reminds an amusing episode of
Yes Minister,
Doing The Honours, where the performance of senior public servants had nothing to do with their honours being presented; it was just a natural progression.
Jim Hacker: "When did a civil servant last refuse an honour?"
Bernard Woolley: "Well I think there was somebody in the Treasury that refused a Knighthood."
Jim Hacker: "Good God. When?"
Bernard Woolley: "I think it was 1496."
Jim Hacker: "Why?"
Bernard Woolley: "He had already got one."Less amusingly, and more important, are the safeguards recommended to prevent the government selling itself. A series of advertising campaigns, 05/06 financial year had attracted
"recurring political and media controversy", the committee said.
These include:
- $122,000 on advertising a yet to be compelted Spencer Street/Southern Cross Station
(Exhibit 4.5 P143) - $135,171 telling Victorians about the different colours of number plates available
(Exhibit 4.4, P144) - $42,860 trumpeting the Bracks ban on cattle grazing in Alpine National Parks
(Exhibit 4.5, P153)
Labels: Advertising, Rural, Transport
Party Away Your Health Worries
$450,000
Four Hundred and Fifty Thousand Dollars
Thats how much Steve Bracks and his government have spent to celebrate the opening of the new
Austin and
Mercy hospitals.
Amongst the bill for Victorian taxpayers:
- $15,000 for roving performers and stage acts
- $9300 for muffins, danishes, slices and other refreshments
- $15,000 for invitations and flyers
- $46,000 for Health Minister Bronwyn Pike's Party
Tax Justice Association national director Peter McDonald puts it best:
"You don't need to have 20,000 people at something as a feelgood exercise: all you need is an announcement through the media and everyone will know the new hospital, or whatever, is open."
This isn't the first time that Bracks has used big events to soften the pain for cost blowouts. From Victorian Hansard on 1 March 2006:
"Last April the Premier and the Minister for Transport had Max the Magician, Spaghetti the Clown and Thomas the Tank Engine selling the Spencer Street railway station redevelopment and the fast rail project at a party bash, a pathetic public relations stunt that, based on the good freedom of information work done by the member for Brighton — cost taxpayers at least $170 000, all for a one-day shindig. It was a ridiculous open day when nothing was in fact actually open."
also Railpage:
Despite the many thousands of dollars spent advertising the event, just 4500 people attended the day-long festivities at Spencer St Station in April. As well as clowns, face painters and rides for the children, the publicity stunt featured 10,000 balloons, ribbons, banners, stickers, audio-visual displays and two photographers to record it all.
The Bracks Government has spent $800,000-plus on parties and breakfasts to "sell" troubled major projects to voters and will spend about $5 million more on ads and events leading up to this year's election. Think of the money that could have been spent to retain Victorian doctors.
Labels: Advertising, Education, Health, Transport
Connex Whinger Takes On Bracks Public Transpot Bureacracy
For all those of us who struggle with the daily commute on Connex trains,
Connex Whinger may just be our new champion.
Labels: Guest Post, Media Commentary, Transport
