2031 is a long way away

I remember growing up in the 1980’s, and looking forward to the 21st century. I was inspired by movies like 2001 A Space Odyssey, and had visions of shiny suits, flying cars and video phones. Well, very little of that has eventuated and what has is a little disappointing.  But it was fun to speculate what the distant future would look like.

Today we sit in 2012, and the Barnett Government wants to roll out a rail line to the foothills sometime after 2031.  I am fairly certain that the 15 year old me, of 1981, would have assumed that by 2031 the flying car would have made the train redundant, now I am not so sure. 

President Kennedy announced the project to land a man on the moon in 1960, this was achieved by 1969. Colin Barnett cannot get a train to the foothills in 20 years. I think it shows just exactly where, we, in the foothills stand in his list of priorities. 

2031 is so distant, it is difficult to judge what our transport needs may be. We need something more than a vague promise that something will happen in this far distant future. We need a detailed plan on how the existing bus services will be expanded to cope with the burgeoning population in the foothills. We need a detail plan on how the public transport network will be altered for the opening of the Midland Health campus in 2015. These are things that are necessary to put in action in the next 5 years.

The fact of the matter is the Barnett Government left the eastern suburbs and foothills almost entirely out of its 2031 planning document. This needs to be addressed, and we need a comprehensive plan that will ensure that our transport needs are met now and in the near future.