NTC proposes information boost for Australia’s transport planning

A proposed five-yearly Who moves what where report has been recommended by the National Transport Commission in the release of its Who moves what where: Better informing transport planning for Australians discussion paper.
Chief executive of the National Transport Commission Paul Retter said it made sense to keep building upon the data the NTC had compiled from more than 150 data sets and released in the Who moves what where information paper on 8 September last year.
“Publishing a regular report on passenger and freight movement trends would help industry, governments and local communities plan for the future,” Mr Retter said.
“If we are able to use the knowledge and power of even more big data sets and better analytics, we can produce detailed reports that identify national trends and the likely impact those trends will have on the transport systems and associated infrastructure routes we use every day.
“Australia needs to have the best information to make the best investments in transport infrastructure, from large-scale projects to the location of bus stops.”
Other proposed recommendations in the discussion paper are related to a transport-wide approach to identifying long-term statistical and information priorities and introducing data collections to assist with measuring transport productivity.
“Every Australian has a stake in better, more productive transport systems, including consumers, employers and governments and I encourage all of them to make a submission through our website.”
Mr Retter said while the NTC’s Who moves what where information paper went some way to analysing Australia’s transport movements, information gaps were identified as predicted, and the NTC expects that any future editions would include much more data, such as information about port movements.
The NTC is also interested in working with other government agencies to find innovative ways to encourage the Australian community’s use of relevant open data sets in the future.
Stakeholders can make a submission via the NTC’s website before 5pm, Friday 10 March 2017. More information about this project is available here.
Mr Retter said the feedback would help the NTC determine the final recommendations to be presented to Australia’s transport ministers at their meeting scheduled for November 2017.
He said the project was a good example of the higher-level strategic work the NTC was encouraged to focus on as part of the 2015 review into the NTC.