A willingness to embrace transport innovation such as ride sharing and driverless cars makes the ACT one of the most progressive jurisdictions in the nation for keeping its population moving, new research has found.
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But the national capital would need to invest in driverless rail and adopt digital drivers licences to rival Sydney and Singapore as world leaders in "future transport", according to the industry group behind the study.
As the planned April 20 start date for Canberra’s light rail network edges closer, research commissioned by Tourism and Transport Forum has shown the ACT sits behind only NSW and SA as the nation’s leaders in the uptake of transport innovation.
The report noted the ACT was the first Australian jurisdiction to promote and regulate Uber, and recognised the Barr government’s support for driverless car technology and plans to have an entirely electric fleet of vehicles by 2020-21.
Tourism and Transport Forum chief executive Margy Osmond said release of the government’s draft Moving Canberra strategy in December had made the ACT one of only a few states with a long-term integrated transport plan.
The strategy, which covers 2019 to 2045, flags a default 40km/h speed limit on residential streets, floats the idea of road tolls and proposes an expansion of the light rail network every five years.
The forum, the peak industry body for the tourism, transport and aviation sectors, commissioned L.E.K consulting to evaluate five states and the ACT on their uptake of 10 transport-related innovations, including ride, bike and car sharing, autonomous vehicle trials, electric cars, driverless rail and digital drivers licences.
Their progress was measured on four criteria; does it have appropriate regulation for the technology; has it been trialled; has the state government invested in it, and; whether it is operating at scale. One point was given for each criteria, across the 10 trends, for a maximum of 40 points.
NSW topped the rankings with 34, a point above Singapore, which was included in the study as an example of "international best practice". SA was judged the next most progressive jurisdiction, with 26 points, followed by the ACT on 25. Tasmania and the NT were not scored, as they were found to have shown "less progress" on transport innovation.
The national capital was considered a leader in shared-mobility, having embraced Uber, Airbike's dockless bike-sharing service and car sharing.
It received top marks for its uptake up electric vehicles, while it ticked three of four boxes for autonomous vehicles and payment innovation, which includes e-ticketing.
The government is yet to explore driverless rail, although it is is mentioned in the "future directions" section of its draft transport strategy. It received no marks for digital drivers licence technology.
Ms Osmond said the study had shown the ACT, along with NSW and SA, were at the forefront of transport innovation in Australia.
She urged the government to continue "experimenting" with new transport technology, and strongly advocated extending light rail beyond the Civic-Gungahlin line.
"Light rail is proving to be a real winner around the country," Ms Osmond said. "I know that it's easy for people to get a bit cranky because these things can take time and be an inconvenience - but it's worth it."
"My message to the government would be 'roll on'."
