The Transport Future for NSW

The Hon Gladys Berejiklian is the New South Wales Minister for Transport in the O’Farrell Government. She is also the first Armenian descendant to be elected to the NSW Parliament. As a member of the Liberal Party she was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (Willoughby seat) in 2003. Before entering parliament, Gladys Berejiklian was an executive at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. Taking on her challenging portfolio, Gladys Berejiklian has demonstrated an ability to communicate clearly the objectives of the O’Farrell Government in improving what has become a major issue in Sydney – reliable public transport and its availability, along with a better roads system to move congested traffic. The Hon Gladys Berejiklian addressed The Sydney Institute on Wednesday 28 November 2012.

THE TRANSPORT FUTURE FOR NSW

GLADYS BEREJIKLIAN

Thank you very much Gerard for this wonderful opportunity to address The Sydney Institute tonight. In fact, the last time I had this opportunity was 16 years ago when I was the president of the Young Liberals. I’d like to think I’m not as young but a bit wiser than what I was 16 years ago.

Can I acknowledge the many distinguished guests in the room tonight, so many who contribute in such a big way to our thought process and our thinking in this city and our state. I noticed my predecessor Peter Collins whom I succeeded in Parliament. I’s nice to see you Peter, tonight.

The transport future for NSW is important. We know that cities are engine rooms of modern economies, our places of residence and our playgrounds. For NSW, the ability to reach our full potential and have a great quality of life depends on how efficiently and effectively we can move within, and between, our cities.

Today, Sydney is clogged by congestion, lacks the right infrastructure and has missed too many opportunities.  NSW regions have been left struggling to get goods to market efficiently and to improve their own connectivity. For the past 18 months, as a government, we have been systematically laying the foundations to transform public transport, and ultimately, our urban environment.

Our approach is to construct an integrated transport network that unlocks huge economic and community value for NSW. Our intention; to build a public transport system that people want to use. Our first step on assuming government was to create a single transport authority in NSW responsible for policy and planning across all modes of transport, including roads and freight.

We abolished six different transport agencies we had inherited, and amalgamated all the planning and policy functions of the remaining agencies. Transport for NSW was formed after observing the enormous benefits London experienced through creating Transport for London twelve years ago. But we have gone even further.

In September, we released our draft Long Term Transport Master Plan. It is a twenty year outline of what we need to achieve. The Master Plan lays out what the government must do to build a system the equal of any in the world as well as manage huge amounts of capital investment and service delivery. Our key three strategic drivers are:

Integrated Planning

To build a single effective transport network we know we need better connections between all transport modes, roads and freight.  And we embrace the whole state. We include associated infrastructure like integrated ticketing, interchanges and commuter car parks as necessary elements. This is the first time a NSW transport strategy integrates and connects every form of transport and includes roads and freight.

A Customer First Culture

Every decision must consider the customer experience from the outset. Attitudes and economic forces are turning people to use public transport as a first rather than last option. Our response is to significantly step up and really improve the capacity of the network to deliver more frequent services.

Major reform in infrastructure planning and delivery

We are going in new directions and massively reforming the way we deliver projects and service. Evaluating public transport projects in a new way is a key element. Greater private sector involvement in service delivery is also fundamental. The last few decades have seen an amazing transformation in the way cities around the world, including North America, provide transport options for their citizens; and the positive economic and social benefits this brings.

It’s a sharp contrast from when the car was viewed as the only mode of choice and convenience. It is hard to imagine London without its Tube, New York without the Subway, or Paris without the Metro. Asian cities like Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo with their population densities began a transport revolution years ago. Today, their transport networks are the essential thread that connects their cities and their people. Commercial and social activity in all these cities is based around accessible public transport.

But combine 16 years of an incompetent Labor government (apologies for the bias), the ongoing sprawl of our city, the absence of investment in infrastructure, and we understand why Sydney hasn’t been engaged in the same transformation we see in Europe, Asia and now North America.

On becoming Minister for Transport in March 2011, I inherited a piecemeal transport system that lacked meaningful planning or integration. It had become the transport option of last resort.

During opposition, four years of which I was the Shadow Minister for Transport, I was able to think, and consult widely, about the opportunities and challenges we faced in developing a world class transport system. It couldn’t be business as usual.

For 16 years the transport operators in NSW had been run as government departments. That was simply not sustainable. Layers of bureaucracy, red tape, excess process, lack of market discipline or contestability killed good customer service and lead to bloated, wasteful organisations. This was symbolised by the eighteen signature sign-off culture. I knew we had to make a clear distinction between planning and operating:  between Transport for NSW, and operators like RailCorp and the State Transit Authority.

Today, all decisions regarding procurement, projects, asset standards and long term planning are made in Transport for NSW in consultation with the operators. Deliberately, government operators have been reduced to a core function of providing services. This allows us to benchmark performance and judge how customer obligations are being fulfilled. Insisting operators focus on core business creates a customer first culture. The operators attention must focus now on customer needs not outdated industrial practices.

I also knew we had to get our customer culture right.  We had to put customers first. Every part of service, for instance, in Tokyo or Hong Kong is tailored to the needs of the customer.

We don’t have the population, nor density, to be a Hong Kong or Tokyo, but we can learn from their customer service and use of cutting edge technology. In these cities, the needs of the customer guide every service element;

• from the extraordinary reliability of the system
• to way finding
• to the convenience of their transit oriented development

Staff have pride in their workplace, and staff are respected by the customers. These are qualities we want in our network.  These are my goals.

When thinking about the customer big cultural shifts must be considered. For instance, Gen Y drives significantly less than previous generations. They are moving to city centres. They value time on public transport to use social media or hand held devices for entertainment. But it’s not just Gen Y. Every customer, no matter where they come from, expects to use phones and tablets anywhere on the network, at any time. Since we’ve been in government, we made sure Sydney‘s public transport, for instance, is now on Google Transit; there’s mobile phone reception in train tunnels and quiet carriages on intercity routes. Technology increases public transport’s attraction –

• as long as you have a clean seat
• safe, reliable, and frequent service
• And easy access

Technology also allows us to communicate directly with our customers. For me it always starts and ends with the customer. That’s why when we plan and evaluate public transport projects it’s absolutely necessary that a cost benefit analysis includes all the benefits, as well as all the costs.  I am a compassionate economic rationalist.  I understand people’s absolute reliance on an efficient transport system. But today formulas used to determine the cost-benefit of public transport fail to consider a range of enormous economic benefits.

Factors which should also be included in a proper evaluation are:

•  the reduced cost of congestion
• increased productivity through shorter travel times
• increase in land value
• opportunities for transport oriented development
• consolidation of services around transport hubs

Look further.  An even wider variety of social benefits could be included:

• reduced costs to the average household budget
• positive impact on urban amenity
• improved sustainability
• better air quality
• and healthier lifestyle

To capture the full value of transport infrastructure and its impact on NSW how we evaluate projects must reflect these values. It has been argued that Sydney is at a fork in the public transport journey and can choose to become a London or a Los Angeles. But that contrast is diminishing.

In London, public transport supports the daily life of the city. Land use revolves around public transport based accessibility and cars support transit. Yet like so many other American cities, Los Angeles is now building light rail lines and extending public transport to deal with the economic and social challenges of tackling congestion. Right across the US, transit related initiatives have won the approval of voters. Globally, we are seeing the resurgence of public transport because of its positive economic and social benefits. The car as the sole focus of transport is past its use by date. Integration is the key.

Motorways are important, and relevant, and improving them is necessary. Connecting existing roads is a must. Extending existing roads to new destinations is also a must. But new motorways must consider public transport connections and the opportunity to allow rapid bus transit or other transport options as part of the construction. We intend to give people good reasons to use public transport; and not just for the daily commute to work. That’s why the government is simultaneously acting to;

• Improve existing transport infrastructure
• Give users a better experience
• Improve transport connections
• Integrate rail, roads and freight
• And extend the transport system, and rail network, to population growth centres such as the north west and south west of Sydney

That’s why Sydney’s rail future includes a second harbor crossing which will increase capacity on every current line by up to 60 per cent. A second crossing will benefit everyone who uses public transport and our road network. It is a customer driven transformation. We understand people can choose to either live close to city centres, with relatively short commutes to work; or enjoy suburban or regional life and travel further.

We know making road and rail links to the regions efficient is vital for regional NSW. Moving freight to markets and ports; providing great transport for the people in regional NSW strengthens regional economies and communities. So for everyone, public transport must be – we must make it an attractive first choice.

When we came to government we knew tackling the infrastructure backlog in public transport was absolutely critical. For instance, we have already issued 22 tenders and 44 contracts on the North West Rail link alone. This is a project of global standard and the government has already committed 3.3 billion dollars over the first four years. Land acquisition and building demolition is underway, early construction work has begun, and we are on track for major tunneling to begin in 2014.

But we also knew we had to make much better use of existing infrastructure. A greater role for the private sector in the provision of service was an obvious step. Done right this improves the customer experience and stretches the taxpayer dollar further through benchmarking and efficiency. Efficiency for me is an ethical issue. Every dollar not focused on serving customers is a dollar not well spent. That’s why we franchised Sydney Ferries.

From August, Sydney ferries have been run by the private sector.  The government determines the fares, service routes and regulatory environment, but the customer is measurably better served by the expertise of the private sector. The number of ferry services and patronage has increased. The taxpayer is better off through greater efficiency. Meanwhile, it hasn’t made me popular but private sector Bus operators have now been forced to compete for bus contracts for the first time. Previously, existing contracts simply rolled over every seven years – locking out new entrants and creating private monopolies.

Now these contracts, worth a billion dollars in the Sydney metropolitan region alone, are contestable.  Savings to the taxpayer are significant as are service improvements for the customer. And next, the government bus operator, the State Transit Authority, is being subjected to major reform reducing back office cost and increasing services.

But the greatest reform is in rail, because of the overwhelming scale of the network. For too long RailCorp and its predecessors were unwilling and unable to change and meet basic community expectations. From 1 July 2013, RailCorp is being replaced with two new operators.  Firstly, Sydney Trains will serve customers in the Sydney Metropolitan area that require more frequent and reliable services. Secondly, NSW Trains will cater for our customers travelling longer distances and requiring better quality, on-board facilities and more comfortable seats.

Our new organisations will cut red-tape. They will be driven by the needs of our customers not outdated industrial practices. They will boost frontline services. They will return huge financial efficiency with a focus on the customer. They will meet our demands of a modern efficient effective transport system.

Conclusion

Despite the challenges of our massive agenda I know that as a community we have the will and the resources to deliver a world class transport system. This is a once in a generation opportunity. We can’t allow old ways of thinking to creep back onto the agenda.

A great city and our great state demand action.

Not only will our actions transform service offering to our transport customers but will transform our urban environment and our quality of life. Our natural attributes and human resources need to be supported by a world class transport system and we’re on our way to deliver this major transformation.