Developing effective public transport networks in outer suburban areas

Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney have all developed strategies to guide their growth in recent years. Each of these espouses sustainable development principles and includes objectives for increased use of public transport, as one plank in a raft of strategies aimed at moderating the use of motor vehicles. Yet the nature of our cities and the extent of projected growth requires that we continue to cater for much of this growth on the outer fringe. This paper examines the challenges in delivering effective public transport services in outer metropolitan areas and addresses the operational reality of developing effective networks. The authors have been working for many years in the planning and design of public transport services in new areas and their experience has shown that the answer relies heavily on achieving coherent and viable networks that open up trip making opportunities and reduce the costs of service delivery. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E214755.