The defining issue for transport planning is peak oil, not traffic congestion

The first is that public transport is subsidised while road costs are covered by taxes and other revenues from motorists. Construction and operating costs for public transport certainly are subsidised by the taxpayer, however the fact is that car use is subsidised much more heavily. Including revenues from licensing, registration, fuel excise and other taxes, but excluding any of the considerable environmental, health or road accident costs, public roads operate at a net cost to the Australian taxpayer of at least $4.7 billion per annum (PDF 2.87MB). Queenslanders pay a disproportionately higher bill per capita given that our state government’s $540 million per annum fuel subsidy is unique in the country.

Yet fuel and other road user subsidies pale into insignificance in relation to the private costs of car dependence to the South East Queensland economy. Given that no cars are manufactured locally and we produce only negligible quantities of oil, at least $10 billion leaves the state each year, even at today’s petrol prices, to pay for our reliance on cars. The typical household currently owns and operates two cars. Reducing this dependence by half, to one car per household, could inject at least $5 billion into local businesses, jobs and investments.

The second myth is that the population density of South East Queensland is inadequate to support a cost-effective, world-class public transport system. Throughout Europe, regular heavy rail and bus services extend well out into the rural areas surrounding major cities, while extensive light rail and bus networks connect the suburbs and city centres. Here in Brisbane meanwhile, the Lord Mayor trumpets his commitment to public transport on the one hand while closing bus lanes and turning commuters away from over-crowded buses on the other.

For its part, the state government has committed two thirds of the transport infrastructure funding in the South East Queensland Regional Plan to road projects that may become redundant even before they are completed, while ignoring public transport black holes such as the much vaunted Western Corridor. Clearly the only barrier to a world-class public transport system in South East Queensland is the lack of political will.

In order to address the challenges arising from peak oil, what the South East Queensland public urgently needs from its political and business leaders is visionary thinking about the transport needs of the future, not more populism, pork-barreling or protection of vested interests. The keys to this will be to recognise the harsh reality that there is no quick techno-fix that will preserve the motor car as the cheap, principal transport solution that it is today, to communicate this reality to the public, and to set about developing a public transport system that can get the majority of commuters to and from work each day. Above all, what will be required is honesty. The future of the South East Queensland economy depends on it.