How mid-tier transport can change how Perth moves

Perth is one of the most sprawling cities in the world. Mid-tier transport presents a real opportunity to create a more livable and more sustainable city for the future.

Australia | Tuesday, 16 July 2024

Perth is in the midst of delivering the single largest investment in public transport that Western Australia has ever seen. However, even with this unprecedented investment, heavy rail alone cannot service the entire city’s public transport needs. While feeder bus networks and commuter car parks at railway stations have expanded the coverage of Perth’s railways; but many people are still reliant on private vehicles to travel around Perth. This is where mid-tier transport has an important role in the development of our city – creating new public transport corridors which link railway stations, activity centres and housing to provide better connectivity and transport options to the growing city.

Brian Smith, WSP’s Technical Director – Transport and Mobility, says mid-tier transport solutions are key to getting the most out of Perth’s transport network as part of a hierarchy of public transport solutions.

Many other cities across Australia already have mid-tier modes. Adelaide has trams and bus rapid transit with the O-Bahn busway, Sydney has bus transitways and the B-Line, as well as light rail, and Brisbane has multiple busways and is currently implementing trackless trams. Canberra and the Gold Coast have developed light rail systems over the last five years, and Melbourne is delivering its first busway.

Brian Smith Technical Director – Transport and Mobility

Brian Smith Technical Director – Transport and Mobility

“There’s also a big focus on mid-tier modes around the world because they’re great value for money and can be more rapidly delivered compared to rail and metro rail solutions,” Brian says. “With the rollout of zero emission buses in Perth, mid-tier modes can also deliver a substantial reduction in greenhouse gas emissions while providing a smoother, quieter ride.”

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Assessing the options

Three potential options for Perth’s mid-tier transport are bus rapid transit, trackless trams and light rail:

Bus rapid transit operates on dedicated lanes or separated busways. It often has high-capacity vehicles featuring multiple doors, high-frequency services and high-quality passenger stations.

Trackless trams are larger than a bus but move along roads or busways on rubber tires and may use guidance technology to operate in narrower corridors.

Bus rapid transit and trackless trams both have the advantage of being able to move without dedicated tracks.

Light rail operates on dedicated tracks that can be on existing roads or fully separated in their own space. They have a higher passenger capacity.

Each mode has its own advantages, costs and impacts. They each interact with the surrounding land uses in unique ways. This is why it is so important to get the plan right in advance – the decisions regarding mode for one corridor will often have flow-on impacts to future corridors and extensions of the network.

A cultural shift

For many people, living in Perth necessitates owning a car. Mid-tier planning aims to challenge this paradigm by not only providing an alternative to private vehicles, but by providing connections between people and places that are more convenient, cheaper and easier than driving.

However, such a shift takes time and needs collaborative and detailed planning to achieve – particularly as mid-tier transport planning often reallocates road space away from private vehicles to allow for faster, more reliable public transport journeys.

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Zoe Maher, Principal – Strategic Rail Planning Lead WA, says envisioning how mid-tier transport will work in Perth can be difficult as up until now there have only been conventional buses and a limited heavy rail network. And while the addition of high frequency buses, peak hour bus lanes and priority for buses at traffic lights have all been successful – as demonstrated most recently by route 950 along Beaufort Street, there are still many more opportunities to improve our public transport offering across Perth.

“Mid-tier transport and indeed public transport offerings more widely are not intended to force people out of their cars. The intention is that introducing mid-tier transport in Perth can offer our residents and visitors a viable option for their journey that is fast, reliable, comfortable, convenient, sustainable and affordable. Our job as planners is to make that option as attractive as possible, to hopefully encourage the most amount of people to use the service.

“If we can capitalise on the recent and current significant investment in Perth’s rail network by working together across all levels of government to plan and implement a mid-tier network, we can help reduce our reliance as a city on private vehicles for every journey.”

Zoe continues, “Clearly, we will have some barriers to move through. Notably, on-road public transport solutions will require taking a lane of general traffic/other available space and allocating it to mid-tier public transport. This is understandably going to meet with some resistance but it’s something that can be worked through collaboratively with meaningful and targeted engagement with the relevant local governments and general public.

“I think there is generally an understanding as a city that we can’t forever keep widening freeways or building large grade-separated intersections particularly in developed residential neighbourhoods.” Zoe says that the benefits that mid-tier transport can offer local communities are substantial - “It’s not just about having an improved service offering on their doorstep, but reduced greenhouse gas emissions and vehicle noise that come with shifting more people into more sustainable and efficient vehicles.

“Mid-tier transport has already proven highly successful in many cities around Australia and the world with well-established bus rapid transit and light rail services. The time is ripe for Perth to begin its staged implementation of a mid-tier transport system for our residents and visitors to enjoy and benefit from.”

If we can capitalise on the recent and current significant investment in Perth’s rail network by working together across all levels of government to plan and implement a mid-tier network, we can help reduce our reliance as a city on private vehicles for every journey.

Zoe Maher Principal – Strategic Rail Planning Lead WA

Zoe Maher Principal – Strategic Rail Planning Lead WA

Creating better communities

Central to mid-tier transport planning is considering the needs of the communities that mid-tier transport modes will connect. Because of the scale and size of the infrastructure, mid-tier transport solutions integrate much more closely into existing road networks and activity centres than heavy rail, which is traditionally located on the outskirts of major centres. Mid-tier transport stations provide an opportunity to accelerate urban regeneration and infill; stations typically provide foot traffic to encourage new businesses, restaurants, and bars to establish (with the right planning controls in place) nearby. And, with greater public transport access and local entertainment, redevelopment often follows. Studies from across the world show that mid-tier transport encourages increased activity and density around stations.

Mark Fowler, Regional Executive - WA Advisory, says it's crucial to assess the needs of current and potential users. Those needs can then be used to design the service, before applying a technology solution.

“It is not just about providing transport infrastructure; it’s about improving communities. Integrated transport and land use planning is crucial to this. To provide equitable transport outcomes for our communities we need land planning decisions to consider the current and future development of the transport system and vice versa.

“Rail also has a limited catchment, especially given some rail lines in Perth are co-located with major road infrastructure. People use the road network to access train stations, causing congestion on entry and exit, and then parking becomes a premium. So, considered and designed as a system or network, mid-tier allows us to not only connect to end destinations and nodes, but also provides a viable option for interchange to other public transport routes increasing the potential for end-to-end trips solely on public transport.

“In the bigger picture of a commitment to Net Zero, changing to electric vehicles only gets you part of the way there because there will be more people and more travel demand. It’s about thinking about moving people rather than moving vehicles. With a holistic public transport system in place, you can make a choice between car or no car rather than combustion engine versus electric vehicle.”

For more information about mid-tier transport, contact Zoe Maher below.