Once these external costs are taken into account, it appears that, instead of road users contributing $14 billion to general revenue each year, there is a subsidy to road users of about $16 billion a year.
The recent claim ... that Melbourne needs an orbital ring road to remain competitive with Sydney reveals an "old economy" mindset - which is the antithesis of "new economy" thinking. Material, energy and transport-intensive industries will be less important than knowledge in creating value in the future. Cities that wilfully spend billions on roads that cannot relieve congestion, and that generate pollution, noise and accidents, degrade the urban environment and starve the city of investment in life-enhancing infrastructure, undermine their long-term ability to compete globally.
Mind you, the political reality is that the swinging voters, who decide elections, are overwhelmingly outer suburbanites who drive everywhere out of necessity and habit. There is not likely to be any change to the automobile-centric transport policies of both major parties any time soon.
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