{"id":89012,"date":"2024-07-18T08:25:13","date_gmt":"2024-07-17T22:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=89012"},"modified":"2024-07-19T10:47:41","modified_gmt":"2024-07-19T00:47:41","slug":"melburnians-want-airport-rail-and-more-buses-before-the-suburban-rail-loop-survey-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=89012","title":{"rendered":"Melburnians want airport rail and more buses before the Suburban Rail Loop, survey says"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Melburnians want to see an airport rail link and better bus services before the $34 billion Suburban Rail Loop, according to a new independent survey revealing residents\u2019 priority infrastructure wishlist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The survey found the government\u2019s big-ticket infrastructure projects, such as the Suburban Rail Loop<\/a>, the $14 billion Metro Tunnel<\/a>, the $10.2 billion West Gate tunnel<\/a> and the $26 billion North East Link<\/a>, lagged a desire for the long-awaited rail link to the airport.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
An artist\u2019s impression of a proposed above-ground station at Melbourne Airport.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Committee for Melbourne<\/a> is an apolitical organisation comprising 150 members from business, academic and community circles to lobby governments on issues related to the city\u2019s sustainable growth, and was instrumental in establishing Melbourne\u2019s free tram zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It surveyed 1000 Melbourne residents, to be published on Thursday, which shows 72 per cent support airport rail<\/a> and 66 per cent support improving the bus network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chief executive Mark Melvin said Melbourne\u2019s population would reach 9 million in 30 years so the projects taxpayers were funding had to set the city up for success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[Airport rail] needs to be done, and it needs to be done now,\u201d Melvin said. \u201cAirport rail is not going to be any cheaper tomorrow. It\u2019s already more expensive than it was yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Premier Jacinta Allan has delayed airport rail for at least four years and the project is unlikely to be completed until 2033. There is a funding shortfall of $3 billion from the $13 billion needed for the link, which has been on drawing boards since the airport first opened in 1970.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bus reform has long been advocated for as the quickest and cheapest way to fix the state\u2019s transport woes, and Infrastructure Victoria last year called for a network of dedicated bus only lanes<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Metro Tunnel and West Gate Tunnel projects both had 59 per cent support among those surveyed, the Suburban Rail Loop had 58 per cent support and North East Link had 50 per cent support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Metro Tunnel is an underground rail link connecting the new Arden, Parkville, Town Hall, State Library and Anzac stations in inner Melbourne and is expected to open to passengers in 2025. The West Gate Tunnel, also set to open next year, is a \u201cmarket-led\u201d project dreamt up by toll road giant Transurban, which will connect the West Gate Freeway in Yarraville to CityLink in the Docklands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Extract from The Age<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also see Suburban Rail Loop and the Metro Tunnel Projects ranked above North East Link<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It surveyed 1000 Melbourne residents, to be published on Thursday, which shows 72 per cent support\u00a0airport rail\u00a0and 66 per cent support improving the bus network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":82963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,47,8160],"tags":[993,8],"class_list":["post-89012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-rail-news","category-suburban-rail-loop","tag-melbourne","tag-victoria"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=89012"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89012\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":89893,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89012\/revisions\/89893"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/82963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=89012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=89012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=89012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}