Maximise the overall benefits of transport investments by aligning transport programs with place-based objectives.
- Slow recovery from a sustained pandemic
Key messages
Transport infrastructure and operations must be managed under long-term plans. A planning horizon of at least 40 years is how long it can take for major population flows to respond to significant changes in access.
Plans should align transport investment with an overarching vision for settlement and activity, be based on a nationally consistent movement and place framework, address how the links in a multimodal network hierarchy will provide specified mobility and access outcomes, and be explicitly linked to budgets that integrate capital and operating costs with revenue forecasts.
Delivering major mass transit in increments will ensure transport investment keeps pace with changing user needs, while combining multiple maintenance projects into programs will provide more certainty for transport asset maintenance and bring forward associated economic benefits.
What are the impacts?
Sharing a single vision between planning, funding and delivery agencies will maximise governance and decision-making outcomes for transport infrastructure investment. This will enable optimal generational outcomes tailored to population, settlement and land use.
This reform aims to improve service and mobility gaps for users in Fast-growing Cities, Smaller Cities and Regional Centres. By having consistent performance standards across all regions, it will be easier to match investment that supports equitable access and quality outcomes.
Considering the interaction between transport operations and adjacent land uses will generate place-based economic value.
How easy is it to implement?
Across state and territory governments and industry, there is capacity to integrate transport and land use activities. The established movement and place decision-making framework and mature investment assurance regimes are existing examples.
However, changing established funding programs where government and industry stakeholders need to be aligned adds a layer of complexity. This can be mitigated through newer projects and programs, where the Australian Government has the opportunity to revise funding rules within the next five years.
The cost of implementing such reform has a net neutral effect for transport costs due to the increased efficiency and effectiveness of future decisions. The proportional cost to taxpayers will also be reduced by the greater opportunity to leverage developer contributions.
How certain are the outcomes?
Confidence that the reform will be successful during the COVID-19 pandemic recovery is high due to the strategic importance of the transport sector in enabling broader economic recovery.
Whether it be maintenance or incremental delivery of major corridors, the tangible outcomes for users are likely to generate favourable levels of community acceptance.
Reaching agreement on funding outcomes is unpredictable because stakeholders present competing visions. This hinders the level of government control. However, stakeholders can be unified through a single vision in the years to come
| Access |
30-minute access
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| Access |
Access to public transport
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| Quality |
Land use and transport models
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Read more about this recommendation in 4.1 Getting the most out of our transport investments in the 2021 Australian Infrastructure Plan.
Reform implementation pathway
This recommendation comprises of outcomes and activities, which form the reform's implementation pathway.
The implementation pathway is designed to guide change agents on the supporting activities necessary to achieve the overall reform.
For each outcome and activity, we propose change agents to act as:
- Proposed sponsor: facilitate, coordinate and champion the recommendation
- Proposed lead: deliver specific activities or lead related outcomes
- Support: share ownership, contributions or knowledge to enable the reform process.
Maximise the place-shaping impacts of transport investment by linking transport infrastructure funding decisions to published population and land use objectives.
5-10 years
Enable a consistent approach by all jurisdictions to the development of nationally significant transport infrastructure proposals by specifying the use of:
- an agreed and consistent set of land use and transport modelling tools that meet minimum functional standards
- common inputs, including population scenarios.
0-5 years
Prepare place-based visions that identify credible population and land use scenarios. Incorporate measurable objectives for proposed transport projects to contribute to the sustainability of community and user outcomes for a defined area.
5-10 years
Align investment with place-based objectives by requiring that the proponents of nationally significant transport infrastructure projects reference a published place-based vision for the relevant linear corridor or broader geographic area in their business cases.
5-10 years
Ensure the most cost-effective mobility and land use outcomes from transport expenditure by tying transport budgets to the achievement of specified movement and place performance standards.
5-10 years
Enable the achievement of consistent and predictable results from transport expenditure by developing a nationally uniform movement and place framework and associated performance standards for the function of links in a multimodal transport network hierarchy.
- Ensure the movement and place framework aligns with the National Service Level Standards Framework for Roads.
- Specify performance standards in the Australian Transport Assessment and Planning Guidelines.
0-5 years
Ensure that road authorities select, design, manage and operate road projects in line with their function under a uniform movement and place framework by updating the Guide to Traffic Management to incorporate nationally consistent performance standards.
0-5 years
Maximise the benefits of public expenditure by making the allocation of all Australian Government transport program funds to jurisdictions subject to the demonstrated achievement of specified and agreed movement and place outcomes.
5-10 years
Apply nationally consistent performance standards by aligning the administrative classification of existing roads with their movement and place role.
5-10 years
Bring forward the benefits of transport investments, in a context of uncertain and changing user needs, by promoting and facilitating the incremental delivery of transport services, corridors and networks as separable stages.
5-10 years
Ensure the economic analysis of proposed transport investments, and other infrastructure decision-making processes, take account of significant shifts in user preferences and travel behaviours, by updating the Australian Transport Assessment and Planning Guidelines to:
- reflect changes to settlement and working patterns catalysed by the COVID-19 pandemic
- consider the impacts of new transport technologies and business models (including Mobility as a Service) on how people travel and freight is transported
- facilitate incremental investment in transport services, corridors and networks.
0-5 years
Promote the staged delivery of major transport corridor projects by updating assurance frameworks as required to assess business cases for multi-modal investment programs and monitoring their implementation.
0-5 years
Support incremental and demand-led transport network development, including the staged introduction of different public transport modes to cost-effectively grow the patronage base for these services, by executing new and updated Australian Government funding instruments with state and territory jurisdictions that commit to a multi-year staged funding approach. Take this approach under Federation Funding Agreements and place-based agreements.
5-10 years
Increase the combined impact of existing transport funding allocations on safety, capacity, accessibility, connectivity and user experience outcomes by coordinating discrete maintenance and upgrade programs for roads, pathways and interchanges.
0-5 years
To ensure available funding delivers the greatest possible user and local economic activity benefits, identify and address multimodal transport network gaps under partnership programs that integrate periodic maintenance with the completion of minor missing links.
0-5 years
For urban areas, deliver quick wins for users and relieve pressures on congested roads by prioritising minor 'missing link' projects that upgrade walking and cycling networks and improve the accessibility and amenity of public transport interchanges.
0-5 years
Maximise the collective benefits from local governments' transport investments by reorienting funding programs towards specified end-to-end journey outcomes.
5-10 years
Where required, bring forward the completion of cross-boundary local transport networks that meet users' short journey needs and prioritise funding support under place-based agreements for partnerships of two or more councils working together.
0-5 years
Help councils to develop their capabilities in planning, prioritising and procuring local transport infrastructure and services that enable increased public transport and active travel use.
0-5 years
Help councils to accelerate the delivery of public transport and active travel infrastructure early in the life of new urban areas by ensuring timely access to developer contributions, value-sharing mechanisms and/or low-cost borrowing facilities.
5-10 years