“Victoria will this year spend $22.5 billion on capital works and an average of $19.6 billion a year over the forward estimates, four times the long-term average from a decade ago.” says Racel Eadie in the Age story on the Victorian Budget: Infrastructure blowouts, builder insolvencies dint budget.
Spending on cycling / active transport as part of new capital works as a proportion of transport project funding is $36.3 million or 0.42% of the transport budget. Even if we boost this by a generous estimate of projects delivered as part of major transport projects, the percentage is still likely to be between 1% and 2%.
For existing projects the cycling/active transport funding is also in the doldrums of $75.9 million or 0.36% of the transport project budget. This too would work out, on a generous consideration at 1% to 2% of the transport projects. Not very good.
These funding rates are not even proportional to the numbers of people currently cycling. According to the National Walking and Cycling Participation Survey (2021) via a Bicycle Network news report “Across Victoria 18.6% of the population rode a bike (including e-bikes) in the previous week and 40.4% over the previous year.”
Cycling rates were greater for males than females highlighting lack of safe infrastructure and perceptions of safety has a strong gendered effect. Lack of funding for safe protected lane infrastructure is contributing to less women cycling according to research from Monash University.
The Victorian State Government, in a Climate Transport Pledge (2021) (PDF) has set an active transport 2030 pledge target of 25 per cent share of all trips in Melbourne. But they are not funding the infrastructure to achieve this.
And most of this infrastructure is being delivered as Shared Use Paths when the Department Of Transport Policy Documment, The Victorian Cycling Strategy 2018-28 (December 2017), places an emphasis on initiatives that will result in more direct, separated cycle paths to important destinations. This is not something the state government is doing in the main. Most of the active transport infrastructure delivered as part of major transport infrastructure projects is shared use paths.
Infrastructure Debt
Infrastructure debt is not like other government debt. It adds to long term efficiency and productivity and can reduce cost of living when completed. It is a long term investment in the state and its people.
Looking through the Transport capital works new and existing projects and trying to breakdown the allocations to road, public transport and active cycling is interesting.
The United Nations advised in 2016 we should be spending about 20 percent of the transport budget on active transport: cycling and Walking infrastructure. Sustainable transport should be an important element of the transport budget, with investment in clean public transport.
The Budgert papers don’t neatly break down all the expenditure on cycling and walking. Sometimes it is grouped together in active transport, sometimes as road safety improvements, and active transport infrastructure can also be delivered as part of major projects, such as Level Crossing Removals. I have put level Crossing removals in with public transport, although these projects are equally beneficial as road projects, and they often contain an element for active transport.
So Budget Paper 4 was examined for the Department of Transport and Planning. This includes a number of planning item projects which I have chosen to exclude.
Transport new projects
Here are the VicBudget 2023/24 Transport new projects with Total estimated Costs
| New projects | Public Transport | Roads | Other (piers, bridges,jetties) | Safety | Cycling/Active Transport |
| 25 LXR | 6,522,100,000 | ||||
| local roads (metropolitan*) | 13,866,000 | 36,300,000 | |||
| Bus Plan (statewide) | 1,930,000 | ||||
| Piers (statewide) | 40,000,000 | ||||
| Road Blitz | 674,000,000 | ||||
| Road maintenance and renewal (statewide) | 1,250,000,000 | ||||
| West Gate Bridge maintenance (metropolitan | 31,707,000 | ||||
| Total new projects: | 6,524,030,000 | 1,955,707,000 | 40,000,000 | 13,866,000 | 36,300,000 |
| Percentage of transport budget | 76.12% | 22.82% | 0.46% | 0.16% | 0.42% |
* Note: Better Local Roads $50 million for the Delivering Better Local Roads initiative to increase safety on our local roads for motorists, pedestrians and cyclists alike. These are LFS 2022 commitments. Includes a shared user path between Montmorency Station and Eltham Station ($32.8m) and safer and better shared user paths, Ashwood ($3.5m). The rest are pedestrian crossing and safety improvements.
Delivery of safer roads for road users, improved rail trails and better pedestrian and cycling underpasses for families in Ashwood was an election promise of the Andrews Government.
This election promise allocates $3.5 million to deliver:
- $1 million grant to Monash Council to widen and improve Scotchmans Creek Trail near Warrigal Road and Blackburn Road
- $1.5 million grant to improve the Waverley Rail Trail between Mount Waverley and Jordanville stations – including lighting upgrades and secure Parkiteer bike facilities
- Designs for a pedestrian and cycling underpass for the Anniversary Trail at High Street with an investment of $1 million
See Better Local Roads pre- election costing (Dept of Treasury and Finance Costing Word Doc)
Note the The Victorian Cycling Strategy 2018-28 (December 2017) places an emphasis on “initiatives that will result in more direct, separated cycle paths to important destinations, like workplaces, schools and public transport stops, and make it easier for cyclists to park their bikes at stations or take them on a train or bus.” The new capital works projects in this budget are shared use paths.
And the other fact to note that direct support to active transport and/or cycling only comes up to 0.42% of the new capital works transport budget. Even if you factor in shared use paths as part of level crossing removal, funding is still likely between 1 to 2 per cent of the transport budget. When we should be spending up to 20 per cent.
Okay, lets look at Transport existing projects…
Transport Existing Projects
Here are the VicBudget 2023/24 Transport Existing projects with Total estimated Costs
| Existing Projects | Public Transport……………..,,, | Roads………………………,,, | Other (piers, bridges, jetties)……………….,,,,,,, | Safety | Cycling / Active Transport……., |
| 85 by 2025 LXR (Metro) | 8,831,693,000 | ||||
| Accommodation and Workplace Modernisation Strategy (statewide) | 7,155,000 | ||||
| Active Transport (metropolitan) | 15,870,000 | ||||
| Active Transport (statewide) | 14,886,000 | ||||
| Barwon Heads Road Upgrade (Barwon Heads) | 365,000,000 | ||||
| Building a new St Kilda Pier | 54,900,000 | ||||
| Bus service improvements and reform (metro) | 13,658,000 | ||||
| Bridge strengthening for freight efficiency (statewide) | 71,600,000 | ||||
| Bridges Renewal Program (statewide) | 14,178,000 | ||||
| Delivering Victoria’s Bus Plan (statewide) | 18,435,000 | ||||
| Great Ocean Road Renewal (Barwon South West) | 255,000,000 | ||||
| Keeping Ballarat Moving (Ballarat) | 58,642,000 | ||||
| Keeping Freight Moving (statewide) | 10,894,000 | ||||
| Keeping Trams Moving (statewide) | 36,717,000 | ||||
| Keeping Victorians moving (metropolitan) | 173,127,000 | ||||
| Kilmore Bypass (Kilmore) | 33,270,000 | ||||
| Local Road and Intersection Upgrades (statewide) | 50,420,000 | ||||
| Maintaining Victoria’s road network (statewide) | 119,442,000 | ||||
| Metro bus service improvements (statewide) | 5,349,000 | ||||
| Metropolitan Road and Intersection Upgrades (metro various) | 117,001,000 | ||||
| Metropolitan road upgrades 2021-22 (metropolitan various) | 30,750,000 | ||||
| Metropolitan road upgrades 2022-23 (metropolitan) | 100,760,000 | ||||
| New bike lanes on St Kilda Road (metropolitan various) | 30,555,000 | ||||
| Planning Shepparton bypass and improving links in Shepparton (Shepparton) | 7,640,000 | ||||
| Public transport accessibility and amenity upgrades (statewide) | 16,539,000 | ||||
| Revitalising Central Geelong (Barwon South West) | 2,300,000 | ||||
| Securing safety and productivity of Victoria’s road network (statewide) | 39,384,000 | ||||
| Smarter roads – Phase 2 (metropolitan) | 12,496,000 | ||||
| Targeted Road Safety Works (statewide) | 105,700,000 | ||||
| Walking and cycling upgrades – Stage 2 (metropolitan various) | 14,670,000 | ||||
| West Gate Tunnel (metropolitan various) | 10,154,092,000 | ||||
| Totals | $9,095,518,000 | $11,460,491,000 | $150,133,000 | $0.00 | $75,981,000 |
| Percentage | 43.76% | 55.14% | 0.72% | 0 | 0.36% |
Here we also see a miniscule amount on dedicated cycling and shared use paths. Just 0.38% of existing transport projects. Most of the cycling infrastructure again will be shared use paths, although the Separated and protected St Kilda Bike lanes are the one noteable exception. The St Kilda protected bike lanes is the kind of infrastructure the Victorian Government should be building more of, especially in inner urban areas where there is high cycling and pedestrian use. Shared Use paths are appropriate where volumes of pedestrians and cyclists are low.
Most of the active transport construction as part of level crossing removal is also shared use paths. The exception to this is under the Coburg skyrail which had a major pre-existing arterial cycling route, the Upfield Bike Path. Hence under Coburg Skyrail there is a 1.8km dedicated cycling path separate from the footpath for walking.
Public Transport
It is pleasing to see in both new funding and existing projects the high level of funding of public transport infrastructure projects. (Even though much of this is Level Crossing Removal). Not only rail and level crossing removal, but also funding for buses and bus route reform.
As Friends of the Earth noted in their budget commentary:
As big infrastructure projects like the airport rail link are put on hold, buses provide a low cost solution for getting people moving, especially those in our most underserved suburbs. The Western suburbs in particular, which is the fastest growing area in Australia, have some of the worst bus services in Victoria.
“The lack of regular, reliable bus services means that communities in the western suburbs of Melbourne are dependent on cars, leaving hardworking families paying more for car ownership and petrol, and creating polluting carbon emissions.” said Friends of the Earth Sustainable Cities campaigner Elyse Cunningham.
“We hope that this announcement will bring forward much needed bus route reform to make services faster, more frequent and more reliable. We congratulate Labor for their commitment to the Victoria’s Bus Plan.”
“Transport is the second largest and fastest growing source of emissions in Victoria. Without strong policy support for public transport, active transport, electric buses, and other electric modes of transport, the sector’s contribution to climate change will grow to match that of the electricity sector this decade. Getting people out of their cars and onto public transport in the immediate term is imperative if Labor wants to reach their target of net zero emissions by 2045” said Ms Cunningham.
FoE State Budget Announcement 2023
See the post on the 2019 state budget: Funding for Cycling reduces in Transport Infrastructure VicBudget
References:
- UN News, 20 October 2016, Put ‘people, not cars’ first in transport systems, says UN environment chief https://news.un.org/en/story/2016/10/543292
- Victorian State Budget 2023/24, Budget Paper No 4 (PDF 5MB) https://budget.gov.au/content/bp4/download/bp4_2023-24.pdf
- Victorian Cycling Strategy 2018-28 (December 2017) https://dtp.vic.gov.au/-/media/tfv-documents/walking-and-cycling/victorian-cycling-strategy-2018-28.pdf
- Friends of the Earth, Melbourne, Media Release – State Budget Announcement 2023 – https://www.melbournefoe.org.au/media_release_state_budget_2023
- Victorian State Government, Climate Transport Pledge (2021) https://www.climatechange.vic.gov.au/victorian-government-action-on-climate-change/Transport-sector-pledge-accessible.pdf
- Bicycle Network news report, 8 September 2021, Bike riding trends up in Victoria, https://bicyclenetwork.com.au/newsroom/2021/09/08/bike-riding-trends-up-in-victoria/
See also CWANZ full report https://www.bicyclenetwork.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/NWCPS-Vic-2021-v2.0.pdf - Peason et al (2023) Barriers and enablers of bike riding for transport and recreational purposes in Australia https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140522002109
- Pearson et al (March 2022), The potential for bike riding across entire cities: Quantifying spatial variation in interest in bike riding, Journal of Transport & Health, Volume 24, March 2022, 101290, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214140521003200
Extend the Upfield Bike Path to Upfield 