Is road-user charging for EVs a good idea?

Electric vehicles charging (via Joenomias)

Following South Australia's announcement a few weeks ago, Victoria has just announced that it will be the second state in Australia to introduce a road-user charge (RUC) for Electric Vehicles. The stated rationale is to replace fuel excise - EVs don't burn petrol, so this revenue source will disappear as we transition from Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) to EVs. But critics say that this disincentivises EV ownership, and will slow down that transition. So is it a good idea or not? 

Primer: Should you buy an electric car?

Electric vehicle and charger (via Walter Baxter)

Knowing my keen interests in transport and climate change, people sometimes ask me whether they should buy an electric car for environmental reasons. The short answer is "it depends", and the long answer is annoyingly complicated, so to help others who might be wondering the same thing (and to help illustrate a point I want to make in tomorrow's blog post) I thought I'd summarise the key points here. 

Airport Rail and the Geelong Diversion

HCMTs will run to the Airport via the Metro 1 tunnel (via RPV)

The Age and the Herald Sun are reporting that the State and Federal governments have come to an agreement on the Airport Rail project. Let's take a look at what they've agreed to, and what it means for different groups.

The Squaresville algorithm: optimising Melbourne's buses

Diagram of the proposed layout (via Steve Pemberton)

Last week, RMIT Masters student Steve Pemberton released a paper on optimising Melbourne's bus network by changing from its current "tailor-made" network, where many buses meander through backstreets to ensure most of Melbourne has a one-seat journey to key destinations, to more of an "everywhere to everywhere" grid-based system, which prioritises speed and short waiting times over coverage, and was tested by a computer model. This is a great example of the tension that exists between patronage and coverage in public transport planning, and presents a good starting point for something that could actually be implemented in Melbourne, so let's take a look at it. 

Making eScooters succeed in Ballarat

Lime scooters in Brisbane (via Kgbo)

The City of Ballarat has recently adopted its Integrated Transport Plan, which aims to present a cohesive vision for the transport future of the city, looking at all the different modes together rather than just each one in isolation. There's a lot in there to digest, and I'll probably do a few posts focusing on different aspects of this, but I wanted to do a quick post on one of the things Council is advancing now - a trial of hirable eScooters. While I think it's safe to say that things like bus reform would be more important (and indeed one of the reasons Council is so keen to advance this is to provide for trips that the current bus network makes impractical) this is something Council can control quite directly, without the State government, and can probably roll out quite quickly - hence making it a priority.

Amsterdam Lelylaan: a model for level crossing removals

The current spate of level crossing removals means that more stations are being rebuilt around Melbourne than at any time in living memory. These stations, by virtue of the selection process, are generally adjacent to roads - and often those roads are major public transport corridors, whether for trams or buses. Perhaps because we've gone from zero to 100 so quickly, and therefore don't have a ton of station design experience in our local public service, some of these new stations haven't been ideal from an urban design perspective - in fact in some cases they are worse than the ground-level stations they're replacing. The Dutch, however, are very good at this, so I thought I'd go through a case study to see what lessons Melbourne can learn from it.

Re-trafficking Bridge Mall

So! The saga of the Bridge Mall continues. In my last post on the topic, I pointed out that there was a lot to like about the City of Ballarat's draft Bakery Hill and Bridge Mall Urban Renewal Plan, but that there was one very retrograde step proposed - reopening Bridge Mall to cars. Unfortunately they not only went ahead with this idea in the final plan, but have progressed it much faster than all the good stuff - they announced the designer in May, and have now narrowed the project down to three options which have been put out to consultation.

Not just carbon: the problems with planes

A plane flying over Uilenstede on approach to Schiphol Airport

Ten years of the Maryborough line

Friday was the 10-year anniversary of the government reopening the Maryborough line to passenger trains - so now's as good a time as any to take a look at the history of the line, how it works today, and what should happen for the future.

Travel Diaries: United Kingdom (Part 4)

Edinburgh Waverley Station

Draft designs released for Deer Park level crossings

Concept image looking north over the planned Fitzgerald Rd bridge (LXRA)

On Saturday, the government announced that the level crossing removals at Fitzgerald Rd, Ardeer and Robinsons Rd, Deer Park would be fast-tracked, and set to be completed by 2023; while the Mount Derrimut Rd, Deer Park crossing - and rebuild of Deer Park Station - would happen a bit later, slated for completion by 2025. At the same time as this announcement, they released design concepts for Fitzgerald and Robinsons, so let's take a closer look at these.

A Green New Deal for Ballarat

A wind farm outside Port Fairy (source)

Originally published on 02-12-2019 in the Ballarat Courier as The deal that could offer Ballarat's future the most. In light of the recession that COVID-19 will push us into, it's more important than ever to stimulate our economy in an environmentally-friendly way. 

Railway Archaeology: National Railway Museum, York

In Part 3 of my series on my trip through the UK, we'll take a look at the National Railway Museum in York. The museum is right next to the mainline station, as it's the former site of a large depot and maintenance facility. My first port of call was the Great Hall, which used to be the motive power depot.

What to do with the Lydiard Street crossing?

The crash site (via Luke66683251)

Ballarat Station is right next to Lydiard Street, and the level crossing there is unique in Victoria for its heritage swing gates. Approximately a century old, the gates cross the railway line by default, allowing cars through, and swing around to cross the road and allow trains through when required. At various points in past decades, there have been proposals to replace the heritage gates with more modern boom gates, but the people of Ballarat have been pretty adamant that the gates form part of the heritage aesthetic of the station precinct and they want to keep them for as long as possible.

Late on Saturday night, a V/Line passenger train ploughed through the heritage gates at speed, severely damaging them and only coming to a halt beyond the Doveton Street level crossing, several hundred metres away. The investigation into how this happened will take time - given the stopping distance it seems clear that the train ran through Ballarat station at some speed, but it's not yet clear why. Regardless, though, the extensive damage to the heritage gates will mean we need to think about what the future of this crossing should be.

Travel Diaries: United Kingdom (Part 2)

In Part 1, we looked at the trip from Amsterdam to London, and I'd just departed from London Euston station.

Why service levels matter in accessible transport

Travel Diaries: United Kingdom (Part 1)

Will these intersections improve Ballarat's cycling network? (Part 2)

Bike hoops at Wendouree Station in 2015

In Part 1 we looked at the proposals for the intersections at Hertford and Albert Streets, and Wiltshire Lane and the Glenelg Highway. Today we look at the intersections at Wiltshire Lane and La Trobe Street, and Gillies and Gregory Streets, as well as summing up the overall approach.

Will these intersections improve Ballarat's cycling network? (Part 1)

Shortly before they released the Sturt Street path plans, Regional Roads Victoria released the designs for a number of revamped intersections around Ballarat. Most of these are currently roundabouts, and all of them are very dangerous for pedestrians to cross - and signalising them should increase walkability across the board. But most of them are on key routes in the City of Ballarat's proposed cycling network as well - so let's take a look at how well the designs fit into those plans, and whether they fit world's best practice.

Diagram of City of Ballarat's proposed cycling network

Should High Speed Rail be part of a green stimulus?

Australia, and the world, is in the midst of fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, and everyone is (quite rightly) pretty focused on the task of actually fighting the disease right now. But it is quite clear that this fight will tip us over into a recession - if not a full-blown depression - and so we're starting to see some early thoughts on what kinds of actions governments can take to get the economy moving once we're in that recovery phase.

Finally, the Sturt Street path proceeds

The bike path down the centre of Sturt Street is in many ways the crown jewel of Ballarat's future cycling network. It will act as the spine of the network, connecting several suburban routes with a large percentage of Ballarat's workplaces, retail and hospitality - but by travelling along the Sturt Street gardens it will also be probably the most beautiful ride in Ballarat. Despite a lot of controversy fomented by people lying about the impact it would have on the heritage of the gardens, Regional Roads Victoria have stuck with the project and delivered the final designs for their section on Friday.

The view down Sturt Street

The Belated Ballarat Bus Interchange

I'm back in Australia and have been quite busy getting my life organised again, hence the lack of posts (searching for rental properties is The Worst). Some more Travel Diaries and some more substantial local stuff should be coming soon, but just a quick post today on some news that broke last weekend.

Diagram of the precinct redevelopment (via VicTrack)