Goodbye Zone 3 - Hello affordable public transport

I can't say I am following the Victorian election with any great passion, but certainly keep an eye in when I can. It's heartening to see that public transport is taking a prominent place in both major party's campaigns, with some pretty significant promises being made.

If elected, the Libs promise to make public transport free for students, which sounds great, but Labor cannot see how this can be afforded, opting not to match this promise. It is interesting to note, however, that both parties have promised to abolish Zone 3 from the Melbourne metropolitan ticket zoning. Zone 3 is the outer-most ticket zone for Melbourne's public transport system, covering all the outer-eastern suburbs (where I grew up). An adult daily ticket into the city from zone 3 currently costs $12.60, which I think is quite an incredible amount, making the car option all the more attractive. Of course, maintaining Melbourne's public transport system cannot be cheap, by virtue of the suburban sprawl that seems to be forever consuming farmland in the West, the North, and the South East. Even so, if the State government is happy to allow Melbourne to expand like this, then it must be prepared to foot the costs of maintaining affordable, reliable public transport. The problem for Zone 3 dwellers has always been that public transport offers very few advantages over the car. The only incentive I currently see for catching a train rather than driving from somewhere like The Basin (where I grew up) is that you don't have to worry about parking. In my undergrad days before I moved out of home, I worked out that the optimal solution was to drive into North Carlton, park the car, and catch a tram (or walk) to uni. On most metrics, the car seems to win (probably even on travel time), and with big new freeways being built as we speak, this gap is only going to widen unless some significant changes are made. So it's good to see this issue taking the spotlight. I just hope this is backed up with action when the voting is finished.