Jill Lewis - The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

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And it isn’t on any infrastructure list. No one has looked beyond the amazing figures of coal tonnes mined and railed.......and thought, we need diesel to power those diggers. And food for the miners, and electrical equipment etc etc. There is no evenly barely sophisticated response to a mine boom supply chain. And no connection between transport needs and mine growth (and dollars to government). There’s definitely no hypothecation between dollars raised in taxes and royalties, and the real cost of development in a region. Oh, and allow half an hour to get from Mackay city to the airport which was a ten minute trip. So there is congestion causing real extra cost .....and now starting to cause real cost to industry and the nation. That’s just one of many congestions popping up out of economic growth. The sophistication we lack there is planning – we haven’t even got in the helicopter to see the supply chain creaking and groaning from 30,000 ft. One arm of government knows what is going on – it approves the mines.......but the other arms of government which provide or organise the infrastructure are left years, in some cases decades behind. I know there are many dedicated transport and urban planners – you can usually tell them by the permanent look of frustration on their faces. They have sophisticated tools, but generally highly constrained powers. Transport Skills shortage........... The other sophistication is from the two factors usually least considered in transport – people and IT. As anyone with a smartphone will know, the impact of IT on people is surely one of the great wonders of the world. This is not just the speed of dissemination of information. It is the ability to change habits......ask anyone in the music industry or a retailer. So we have several hundred thousand people sitting in serious congestion (your car is at a complete halt in an 80 km/h zone) – and other than the few doing their makeup or eating their If IT is changing people’s habits, one area badly missed is the use of these devices and services to help change people’s habits to avoid congestion. cornflakes behind the wheel, most are listening to radio (falling rapidly – did you know that TV new viewership has fallen three times faster than even newspaper readership in the last decade.......) but almost all are connected to their phone.....and an increasing number using it, texting, listening, talking, playing games ....... The first conundrum is that these and other devices are changing how people work at work and live at play. People’s habits within their work and play are changing rapidly. The second conundrum is that it has, so far, had little impact on their ‘daily commute’. The freeways and major intersections are just as clogged. In fact we have more congestion at different times. It has taken a decade, but seven day trading has only recently really had an impact on shopping times. So entrances to major shopping centres and surrounding roads are crowded even more often. And the casualisation of the workforce is having an impact on what is and where is a ‘peak hour’. If you live in New Farm in inner Brisbane, the council has been ahead of the game and increased bus services as industrial areas convert to high density living. We now have buses at five and ten minute intervals from 5.20 am to after midnight. The services between 5 and 6 INTO the city are generally crowded with people going to work in bars etc, but also IT night shifts....or those of us bussing to a function. If IT is changing people’s habits, one area badly missed is the use of these devices and services to help change people’s habits to avoid congestion. Many devices and systems have been trialled, but quite simply they haven’t worked. In the IT habit world, it either works or it does NOT. Transport and congestion have not rated (with a much avoided exception we’ll come to) Melbourne has a Smart Bus which has a toe in the water, and maybe we should continue to accept that as a trial. The money invested in that highlights the cost of changing travel habits......as has done the Smart Travel and similar informational systems. There is potential here. We need to recognise much more how we can change the habits not just of commuters, but of consumers and of industry. The stumblebum attempts to get transport operators to coordinate online is unfortunately more farce and wasted dollars. Perhaps part of the issue is that as well as not recognising that changing habits can be as much part of relieving congestion as investing in infrastructure, is that we lack enough skilled people in transport and logistics. I think you need on a couple of sets of hands to count the number of Masters in Logistics graduates in our universities. The planners and operators of transport and transport systems have a dearth of sophisticated technicians and management COMPARED TO THE SIZE INVOLVE | INFORM | RECOGNISE | DEVELOP
OF THE TASK. Compare number of engineers in mine development vis a vis even plain old road and bridge engineers. The comparison with transport planners and supply chain managers results in an embarrassingly small fraction. So size and speed are beyond our control in a world growing fast and in sophistication. Our sophisticated talent is there but scarce and without much backing upstairs. We must keep pushing for more infrastructure, but I don’t hear a persistent and consistent loud voterland cry for more dollars voluntarily.....and you and I can be realistic enough to know there’s no deep trough of dollars (taxpayer or private) to clear congestion.......not even to clear the backlog of projects let alone keep up with an extra third of a million Australians a year. So I am going to take you to London, Singapore, Stockholm, Rome and Milan ......Congestion Charging. Put aside Rome and Milan because their systems rely heavily on manual collection....and if you want to take your partner to Via Condotti for the best fashion, just slip the magnificently uniformed policeman a few euro. But the other cities have well organised systems that work. New York and San Francisco will start systems in 2015 (if the US governments can make some rational budgetary decisions....... see how they have just boosted their highway funding, which was much needed, but be ‘defunding’ public transport by $57 billion......) I am going to skip the political debate because that is another world (albeit not insurmountable), but if you follow the Size, Speed, Sophistication and changing habits thesis, then there has been only one proven effective, cost efficient method of easing congestion long term. You could call it the Steve Jobs approach – offer a solution but make sure you charge for the convenience ........as the Apple entrepreneur did with Smart Phones and IPADs. Congestion charging.......Singapore started in 1975 and London 2003. The costs are known (and coming down as IT improves – London’s IT is managed from congested Mumbai, which seems bizarre). More pointedly, the results are known. So size and speed are beyond our control in a world growing fast and in sophistication. People will change habits.......and they (after initial grumbling) accept the price. A steep price ......Ten quid an entry to central London or about four times the bus or train ticket. So congestion charging actually makes public transport more attractive. (Let me address habit changing ....... because there’s a cycle of politicians being spooked easily so short trials are run. Even in this IT fast world, the cycle of leading adge technology to broad acceptance is about a decade, perhaps 7 or 8 years.......Versions of the IPAD were available in 1999......we tried to use them to cut paperwork in freight. It took 8 years to sort the technology, sort the really popular use....and use bridging technologies to change habits. The habits change slower than the IT promise .......but at the same speed of the real, reliable IT delivery. So the technology is the enabler, but this congestion charge is really about habit changing) A proven system, a falling cost, acceptance by consumers and freighters with changing habits in very different markets, driving more volume (and reducing unit costs) of public transport.......ticks lots of boxes. Issues for Australia....... 1/ One System. Billions have been wasted by states using different public transport and road tolling systems....and incredible waste when off the shelf systems were available. Let’s not waste billions again on government designed transport IT. Buy the best off the shelf – like you do with an IPad and ITunes. 2/ Trial. Trial, trial and trial. Because not only do we want one system for all Australia, we want one system for everything that moves, anywhere, 24/7. So policymakers need to understand the scheme needs to be in all vehicles (Shane Warne says also bicycles) even if not needed. So my 4WD in Proserpine which has no traffic lights and congestion is defined as an inability to park outside your desired shops, needs a device although it would never be used running around my farms. It hauls in all the types of road and load restriction and charging. So when the number of wide loads explodes in to mining areas, we can vary the charging, especially when we measure the huge road damage caused. And we will learn the lesson from the national truck charging IT debacle.......charge the load. The habit gets changed when the person in charge of the load makes the decision. For instance, supermarket chains have invested heavily in noise suppression at suburban stores to allow night delivery .......there’s a connection between their benefit of cheaper night transport and willingness to invest in their infrastructure upgrade. 3/ Hypothecation. That is linked to another H word.....honesty. We in the general public and governments need to be honest enough to connect all the money raised from congestion charging to improvements in infrastructure.
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Jill Lewis - The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport

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