This story first appeared in the May issue of AutoTalk – CLICK HERE to download the magazine FREE
Kathryn Fagg
A report from the Australian Academy of Technology says our transport system is at risk of becoming archaic.
The Shifting Gears – Preparing for a Transport Revolution report says failing to ready our transport network for the future will impede mobility, increase congestion, deteriorate health and negatively impact productivity.
Australia’s sparse population centres and geographic isolation remains a critical problem, but transport can be revolutionised and disrupted by technology, the report indicates.
The academy highlights sustainability and climate change, productivity and health as the three primary challenges that need to be addressed in the next 10 years.
The congestion problem costs $16.5 billion per year alone.It’s made worse by the fact 70% of all domestic passenger travel in Australia occurs on roads, with 79% of passenger kilometres by road, and 82% commuting to work by car; compared with just 4% of passenger kilometres and just 10% of commuting covered by rail.
Yet it’s estimated, as of February 2019, by the department of infrastructure Australia spends $27 billion per year as an economic cost of road crashes – which human error is a factor in 90% of them.
Urban congestion, according to data sourced for Shifting Gears, will rise to a per annum cost of $30 billion by 2030 and the number of people using public transport in capital cities increases by 30%.
Greenhouse emissions from transport, contributing 19% of Australia’s overall emissions in 2018, will rise by a further 9% in 2030.
By that time, Australia’s population is expected to rise by more than 20% over 2017 to hit 29.8 million.
Tokyo’s 102 train lines, which include legendary 300km/h bullet trains, manages to move 14 billion people every year.Madrid, Spain, with a population of only 5.6 million people, has 21 lines and 396 stations (making it the sixth-largest metro system in the world) moving 1.5 billion passengers annually.
Seoul has Wi-Fi, television and mobile reception on every climate-controlled train.New York’s subway system, like the city itself, never sleeps and runs 24 hours a day.
Unfortunately, the academy rates Australia’s infrastructure readiness in regards to “high frequency mass transit” as only a quarter ready, despite a three-quarters social readiness.
Intelligent transport systems is only rated at a quarter ready, and the skills availability for connected autonomous vehicles is also only rated a quarter.
The report makes a list of recommendations including governments who need to set nationally consistent standards to support productivity enhancing technology such as electric-vehicle charging infrastructure, and offering competitive grants programmes to entice transport technology trials tailored to Australia’s unique geographical or climatic conditions.
The academy also implores governments in strengthening the teaching of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) at primary and secondary school levels in order to support further workforces, as well as preparing university and VET courses to be developed in collaboration with industries such as automotive, transport and construction, to ensure a talent pool with relevant skills is available.
Academy fellow Kathryn Fagg highlights the rapid rate at which our unique transport system is becoming affected by advanced technological innovation, and the lack thereof.
“Failure to be prepared will risk a decline in many aspects of our Australian way of life and society,” Fagg says.
“With Australia’s geographic isolation and long distances between urban centres, the transport sector will be both significantly disrupted and revolutionised by this technological transformation,” she explains.
Fagg warns “increased congestion and vehicle-related emissions, a deterioration in health, safety and security, and a negative impact on the cost of living, productivity and the ease of mobility” are all a likely result of inaction.
But she says it isn’t all bad news, suggesting Australia does have the ability to prepare.
“Australia is performing well on a number of readiness indicators and is well placed to capitalise on the coming technology revolution, but we need to make smart, strategic decisions to keep pace with the technological frontier,” she advises.
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