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Description
Why is public transport so poor in Australian cities? Why can't it be more like the fast, convenient systems in Europe?
Unlike Europeans, most urban Australians live on far-flung suburban blocks rather than in high-density apartments. Most urban travel is to widespread suburban locations rather than to the city centre. It is often argued that fast, efficient public transport is impossible in our 'dispersed' cities.
In A Very Public Solution, Paul Mees compares Melbourne's public transport system with the highly successful system in Toronto; a 'dispersed' city very like Melbourne with its suburban sprawl, and sheds new light on a century-old debate.
This debate is particularly important now, as 'economic rationalists' move to privatise public transport in Australian cities. We can have European-style public transport, Mees argues, if our different forms of public transport stop competing with each other and start competing with the car.
A Very Public Solution is the first serious work on public transport planning ever published in Australia. It is essential reading for everyone concerned with urban sustainability and our growing traffic problems.
About the Author
Dr Paul Mees OAM (1961-2013) lectured in Urban Transport Planning and Public Transport in the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne and was Associate Professor in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies at RMIT University. A frequent media commentator on public transport issues, he was President of the Public Transport Users Association (Vic) from 1992 to 2001. In 2014 he was recognised for his achievements and posthumously awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for 'service to public transport and urban planning as an academic and advocate for creating sustainable cities'.