This report describes an overview of the different patterns of traffic growth in Australia's states and capital cities and their determinants. Understanding the determinants of past and likely future traffic growth is important for understanding the needs for infrastructure investment, for congestion amelioration, for the road safety task and for many other trends that concern governments and citizens.

• Traffic Growth in Australia
  
  report_127.pdf
  (6.86 MB)

This report describes an overview of the different patterns of traffic growth in 25 Countries, and their determinants. There is a remarkable commonality in these determinants, but the variety of their operations has generated an amazing variety of traffic growth patterns. Understanding the determinants of past and likely future traffic growth is important to understand the needs for infrastructure investment, for congestion amelioration, for the road safety task and many other trends that concern governments and citizens in all the 25 countries.

• Traffic Growth: Modelling a Global Phenomenon
  
  report_128.pdf
  (10.56 MB)

Subsequent growth in Canberra, particularly in the post-war period, and projections suggesting continued rapid growth, prompted the Minister for Shipping and Transport in 1964 to request from the Commonwealth Railways Commissioner a report on the proposed rail link between Canberra and Yass.

That report stated that when the considerable savings are taken into account that would accrue to the various instrumentalities and people located in the Australian Capital Territory as the result of lower freight rates and passenger fares consequent upon the direct linking of Canberra with Yass, construction of the Canberra-Yass railway could be justified on economic grounds.

In April this year, the Minister for Shipping and Transport requested the Bureau of Transport Economics to carry out a detailed economic evaluation of the link.

• Economic Evaluation of a Canberra to Yass Rail Link
  
  report_001.pdf
  (4.95 MB)

This Report was prepared as the basis for the Standing Committee of Advisers report to the Australian Transport Advisory Council on urban public transport needs in this decade.

• Economic Evaluation of Capital Investment in Urban Public Transport
  
  report_003.pdf
  (8.91 MB)

The evaluations presented in this Report have been made to determine the least cost sleeper alternative for each of three railway projects. They are the proposed new railway line from Tarcoola to Alice Springs, the standard gauge connection from Adelaide to Crystal Brook, and the re-sleepering of the Trans-Australian Railway.

• Economic Evaluation of Timber and Concrete Sleepers for Three Railway Lines
  
  report_004.pdf
  (3 MB)

This Report presents the results of an economic comparison of alternative strategies for the development of Brisbane Airport.

• Brisbane Airport: Economic Evaluation of Alternative Development Strategies
  
  report_016.pdf
  (4.48 MB)

This report examines in detail the proposal to deepen and widen the entrance channel and harbour of Port Pirie. Not only is this the major port for Broken Hill lead and zinc concentrates and refined metals, but it also handles a considerable volume of wheat and barley exports.

Of the various benefits identified from the work, only two have been found to be substantial in economic terms.

These are the possibility of utilising to full capacity the somewhat larger bulk carriers for bulk concentrate exports and similarly, the possibility of fully loading wheat export ships so that they would not require topping up at deep water ports.

• Port Pirie: Economic Evaluation of Harbour Improvements
  
  report_017.pdf
  (4.77 MB)

This particular Paper describes the methods used to determine sample frameworks and sizes for the National Trend Survey (NTS), and also outlines the methods finally adopted for selecting a sample.

• Sampling Processes for the National Travel Survey
  
  op_005.pdf
  (3.98 MB)

This Paper describes the National Travel Survey in terms of it's objectives and strategies. It discusses the concepts of interregional travel patterns and the need for consistent and statistically valid data, the parameters influencing travel particularly the social, economic and personal choices, seasonal variances, sampling details and the operation of the survey. Much of the information has never been systematically collected before, and none of it has been collected to the comprehensive degree applying in the NTS. As a result, it is expected that the results will give new insights into the requirements for future transport systems, policies and philosophies.

• Timetables as a Source of Statistical Data
  
  op_009.pdf
  (3.5 MB)

A knowledge of bus maintenance costs and how they vary with bus age is of value in a number of applications. Of particular interest to BTE is the importance of bus maintenance costs to optimal bus replacement strategies. The report summarises the Aggregate Bus Maintenance Studies of six bus operators in Australian capital cities and isolates the major variables influencing both maintenance and servicing costs.

• Aggregate Bus Maintenance Costs
  
  op_013.pdf
  (2.16 MB)