The City of Canning has joined a consort of 15 local governments in an effort to connect METRONET to the wider community through mid-tier transport such as light-rail, trackless trams and rapid-transit buses.
City of Canning executive officer Michael Littleton said that although mid-tier transport concept had been around for some time in individual local governments, the time had come to consolidate that work.
“What we find is that local governments have been responding or planning for a mid-tier for a period of time, trying to lock those into planning schemes,” he said.
“What we thought we’d do is consolidate the work that’s been done and try and create one blueprint for metropolitan Perth.
“So, 15 local governments came together to try and provide a blueprint that would see mid-tier better planned in metropolitan Perth.
“Whether it’s light-rail, trackless trams, or bus for rapid transit, it’s a dedicated, safe reliable service that will move lots of people.”
He said the idea was to support Metronet, enabling the urban fringe to continue to expand but also to meet population targets.
Mr Littleton also said it would require a change in thinking when it comes to vehicle use in Perth.
“To meet those targets, we need to look at how we move people and around the inner-city suburbs and we can’t just rely on expanding road or additional infrastructure costs in road expansion because those corridors are largely built-out, so it’s retro-fitting roads with a mid-tier system that can carry a lot of people.
“The research suggests people will actively shift from road to public transport but there needs to be a need or a demand for that.
“If we keep growing traffic congestion is going to be a substantial issue so we need to plan to ease congestion.
“There’s a lot of work that need to be done and we’ll need to partner with State Government to achieve that outcome.
“We’ve developed a blueprint, we think that it will operate effectively, what we need now is for governments to come together and plan, do the detailed analysis of that plan and dedicate appropriate corridors where that mid-tier system can operate.”
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