Scooters could help ease city congestion - The Australian

AUSTRALIANS are being encouraged to jump on a motorbike or scooter as a way of tackling congestion within our major cities.

Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese made the call on Tuesday when launching a report examining the state of the country's cities.

Mr Albanese acknowledged only trains could really carry large numbers of people from the urban fringes into increasingly concentrated city centres quickly.

But he insisted the often-forgotten two-wheelers also had a role to play.

"Many of the world's cities are thronged with motorbikes and scooters as people take advantage of this low-cost, low-energy and space-efficient form of transport," Mr Albanese said in Melbourne.

"However, in the Australian policy context they tend only to be mentioned in discussions about safety.

"This can obscure the fact that they are an important and growing component of the urban transport mix at a time when congestion drags like an anchor on our time and productivity."

The State of Australian Cities 2012 report notes urban sprawl was historically driven by manufacturing plants being built on city fringes, but current job-rich knowledge industries are concentrated in the heart of cities.

This trend means more and more white-collar workers are commuting into the CBD.

While better public transport is part of the solution, Mr Albanese said narrowing the distance between where people live and work was also necessary to improve productivity, sustainability and liveability.

That change would require "appropriate density" in city centres and particularly along transport corridors, the minister said.

It could also lead to "second CBDs" springing up with high levels of economic activity.

"It's very attractive to people to live in areas where they can just walk to the train station (and) ensure that they can get to work without needing to drive in their car," he said.

The report finds so-called fare recovery from public transport continues to decline, raising questions about the financial sustainability of current systems.

The gap between population increase and housing supply in Australia cities is now "the largest and most sustained in a century".

The report highlights a decline in the number of new housing lots being produced - particularly in Sydney.

In 1996, some 60 per cent of home owners owned their house outright compared with just 46 per cent in 2011.

In Sydney and Melbourne a dwelling 50km from the city centre has doubled in value since 1986. Properties close to the CBD have increased five-fold.

Nevertheless, the report argues new houses in Australia are possibly the largest in the world, eclipsing even the United States.

It notes that Melbourne is ranked first on the Economist Intelligence Unit's liveability index, but when it comes to residents ranking their own satisfaction, Adelaide wins for overall liveability on the My City Survey.

The cost of living in Australia's capital cities has remained relatively stable for more than two decades.

Sydney is the most expensive with the highest average costs for electricity, mortgage interest, transport and recreational activities.