Action for Public Transport (N.S.W.) Inc.

Victorians will now be counting on PTV** to fix the state's many public transport woes. As the PTUA has repeatedly emphasised, everything from information, to connections, to timetables, to fleet and infrastructure planning, needs attention.

Will PTV make a difference? It's too soon to tell, but we know CEO Ian Dobbs has made much of his ambition to improve connections, improve system efficiency, and run a more customer-focussed organisation.

While the PTUA has insisted on the need for a strong authority like PTV to take charge of planning the entire transport network, we also stressed the need for a change in institutional culture to accompany the move to the new authority. Essential to this is the recruiting of 'outsiders' to at least some senior positions, to bring in new ideas and help combat the poisonous, negative bureaucratic 'groupthink' that has built up in Victoria's transport management over decades.

Unfortunately, the government failed to seize this opportunity, and has confined its senior appointments in PTV almost entirely to those in the current transport bureaucracy, or those who were associated with it in the recent past. While this does not at all preclude the kind of culture change we need in Victoria, it does raise the rather obvious question how we may expect such change to occur from what is little more than a 'rebranding' exercise. As CEO, Mr Dobbs will assume great responsibility in meeting public expectations for change.

Will Transport for NSW and its Master Plan be like Public Transport Victoria?






* Public Transport Users' Association, based in Melbourne

** Public Transport Victoria, the new authority responsible for public transport development