AUSTRALIAN TRANSPORT COUNCIL

STRATEGIC RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY

WORKING GROUP REPORT

STRATEGICALLY
IMPORTANT
TRANSPORTATION DATA
TO SUPPORT THE NATIONAL TRANSPORT
POLICY FRAMEWORK
FEB 2009

January 2009

Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources

Contents
1. Purpose ............................................................................................................................................... 3
2. Background......................................................................................................................................... 3
3. Process for determining Strategically Important Transportation Data ....................................... 4
3.1 Definition of Strategically Important Transportation Data.......................................................... 5
3.2 Consultation...................................................................................................................................... 7
3.3 Documentation ................................................................................................................................. 7
3.4 Communication of results ............................................................................................................... 7
3.5 Prioritisation of data needs ............................................................................................................ 8
4. National Transport Policy Framework ............................................................................................. 8
5. Strategically Important Transportation Data ................................................................................. 11
Appendix A – Organisations Invited to the Workshop ..................................................................... 19
Appendix B – Scope of Transportation Data..................................................................................... 22
Appendix C – Transportation Data Action Plan ................................................................................ 23

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 Strategically Important Transportation Data
1. Purpose

This report provides the background required to understand the context for the workshop you have
been invited to in February. The report also provides a draft list of the Strategically Important
Transportation Data to support the National Transport Policy Framework.

It will be assumed that participants at the workshop will have read this report and be able to
contribute to discussions about strategically important transportation statistical data.

The objective of the workshop is to provide broad government and industry consensus on the
strategically important national transportation data and its gaps.

2. Background

At its meeting of 29 February 2008, The Australian Transport Council (ATC) agreed to develop a new
National Transport Policy Framework (NTPF). The vision for the NTPF is that Australia requires:
“... a safe, efficient, reliable and integrated national transport system that
supports our nation’s economic development and social and environmental
wellbeing.”
The ATC identified ten priority areas integral to the development of the NTPF and established
separate inter-jurisdictional working groups to investigate and make recommendations for each
priority area. It identified Strategic Research and Technology (SR&T) as one of its priority areas with
the desired outcomes of:
“Ongoing transport strategy development; and consolidated national approach
to transport research and data collection and dissemination.”
The Strategic Research and Technology (SR&T) Working Group, chaired by the Tasmanian
Government has the objective:
“To present a viable model for the advancement of strategic research and
technology that integrates modes, jurisdictions and technologies to support the
operation of a single marketplace for transportation.”
Data was identified by the ATC as an issue to be addressed by the SR&T Working Group. The
research undertaken by the SR&T Working Group confirmed that there was no recorded agreement
on what constitutes nationally important transportation data and there was little systematic
coordination. It found that developing a case and strategy for integrating and improving the quality
of transport data was essential and there was a need to develop:

 The quality requirements of national transportation data

 A governance model for transportation data, within the broader SR&T governance;
and
 Data access models.

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The SR&T Working Group set up a separate 'data sub-group' to consider the data needs of the
strategic research agenda. Its purpose is to provide a strategy and an action plan that would
facilitate:
“Access to comparable, fit-for-purpose national transportation data that enables
and supports the vision, objectives and principles of the National Transport
Policy.”
At its meeting of the 7th November 2008, the ATC endorsed the five recommendations made by the
SR&T Working Group. This report and upcoming workshop is about making progress on the
following recommendation:
“ATC AGREES with the Action Plan for improving transportation data and
DIRECTS the Strategic Research and Technology Working Group to initiate its
implementation.”
This report only addresses the first action and part of the second action in the Transportation Data
Action Plan. (A full copy of the Transportation Data Action Plan can be found in Appendix C).

Action 1 Identify strategically important national transportation data.

Action 2 Identify data gaps and coordinate data collections and other approaches to filling these
gaps.

The strategies for filling data gaps will be addressed only after getting agreement on what should be
included as the strategically important national transportation data.

Each of the remaining actions of the plan is dependant on completing Action 1. It is important to
note that only data that has been defined as strategically important will receive attention in the
Transportation Data Action Plan. The scope of transportation data is defined in Appendix B. Even
with a defined scope the range of transportation data is immense but not all of it is strategically
important.

Resources will determine how quickly the Transportation Data Action Plan can be implemented. It is
the intention of the SR&T Working Group to implement the plan on a project by project basis. The
priorities will be set with input from each of the national NTPF working groups and a forward work
program will be developed.

3. Process for determining Strategically Important Transportation

Data

In summary, the process consists of:

(i) Developing a definition for transportation data of strategic and national importance.
(ii) Consultation with transportation data users from a broad spectrum of transportation
agencies via interviews and workshops.
(iii) Documentation of the information collected by common themes and preliminary
identification of data gaps as per the table in section 5 of this report.

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 (iv) Communicate the results of the Consultation Process to all stakeholders, data users and
data providers and endorsement of the transportation data needs and gaps.
(v) Prioritisation of data needs through consultation with ATC WG representatives (high,
medium, low or not relevant)
(vi) Communication of data priorities to all stakeholders, together with an action plan to
address the Data Quality Framework for the top priorities (project by project approach).

Steps (i) to (iii) have been completed. Steps (iv) and (v) are to be undertaken on February 12 th and
13th 2009 respecitvely

The rest of this section describes the work undertaken in (i), (ii) and (iii) and the approach proposed
for (iv), (v) and (vi).

3.1 Definition of Strategically Important Transportation Data

The development of a definition for strategically important transportation data was necessary to
ensure relevance and to ensure that limited resources would be focussed on areas that counted the
most.

Useful, reliable, accurate and timely data and information are a central part of the decision making
process. Strategically important Transportation Data include raw data sources that are used to
inform policy, either directly or indirectly through their modelling and analysis as well as modelled
outputs that directly inform policy.

Transportation data of strategic national importance is:

Data, data collections and associated information critical to strategic policy development,
transport sector performance assessment and/or project evaluation. Nationally significant
transportation data should:
· Support key ATC policy initiatives;
· Provide NTPF performance measures and indicators;
· Be enduring collections; and
· Inform policy makers of potential future policy issues.

Throughout this report, transportation data refers to and includes all transportation data sets and
related information that comply with this definition.
The diagram below illustrates the application of the definition. It results in two categories of data –
nationally significant transportation data and not in scope of being strategically important
transportation data.

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Page 6 of 23
3.2 Consultation

The Strategic Research and Technology group consulted with a range of government and non-
government organisations across Australia and covered all modes of transport. The extent of
consultation was limited by both time and resources but allowed for enough information to be
obtained to enable the drafting of a preliminary list of strategically important transportation data.
Organisations included in the consultation included a range of agencies in the State and Territory
governments, Commonwealth government agencies, industry associations and one university.
Consequently, government views may be more strongly represented than the views of non-
government researchers, institutions and the users of the transport system. See Appendix A for a
list of organisations included in the consultation.

The users of the transportation system will be the beneficiaries of improved transportation data.
Through the better sharing of good quality transportation data, individuals, businesses and
communities will be able to better develop and plan their transport activities. It is thus critical that
they participate in the review of this report so as to assist in identifying the strategically important
data gaps, along with Government representatives.

The purpose of the consultations was to discover what data was currently being used and for what
purpose and what missing data or information forced planning and decisions to be made based on
anecdotal evidence or best estimates. In addition, data quality issues were explored. Information
gathered from these consultations heavily influenced the formulation of the data action plan
described in Section 2.

3.3 Documentation

The next stage in the process was to document the information gathered in a way that would help
facilitate the final stage of determining the strategically important transportation data and gaining
agreement from stakeholders. This data report is essentially the first draft of strategically important
transportation data and will help inform stakeholders so they can participate effectively at the
February workshop.

After consultations, the working group was able to determine that there are large overlaps in data
needs across jurisdictions and to some extent modes of transport. The themes of the economic
contribution of transport activity, congestion, infrastructure, a more efficient integrated transport
system and climate change were amongst the strongest drivers for data. Also evident was the need
to understand the transportation workforce and to some extent the impact transport has on social
inclusion.

There is strong demand for data at the national and state level and in many cases by mode and
smaller geographic areas. Geography is going to be one of the more challenging data needs to
address.

3.4 Communication of results

Communication of the results of consultation will be done via a workshop in February 2009. Those
invited to the workshop will include both users and providers of data. Organisations involved with

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consultation so far will be invited as well as other user organisations missed in the process as a result
of time constraints. Key data providers will also be invited.

The workshop aims to ensure that the draft list of strategically important transportation data is
complete but not overstated. The workshop will also be an opportunity for the transportation data
action plan to be explained in broad terms. Any significant concerns or risks will also be identified.

The workshop will have broad representation from all sectors impacted by transportation to ensure
that:

 Possible oversights in the consultation are overcome;

 Perspectives from the many important stakeholders are brought to light; and
 Biases and errors in the draft, which may reflect the position of asset owners and regulators
as compared to the views of users, are addressed.

3.5 Prioritisation of data needs

Further to the workshop referred to in section 3.4, representatives from each of the national
working groups will be invited to be involved in a process to prioritise the strategically important
transportation data from the perspective of their working group. This will help focus resources in
the transportation data action plan as it is envisaged that implementation is likely to be spread over
a number of years.

The Strategic Research and Technology Working Group is one of the Australian Transport Council
Working Groups that support the National Transport Policy Framework and it is assumed that the
other Working Groups will be able to comment on the data requirements for the roads users
impacted by their individual Working Group agenda. Where this is not the case, supplementary
consultation may be required to ensure that the data requirements of transport system users are
included.

4. National Transport Policy Framework

Data will be recognised as strategically important if it is critical to informing policy development and
monitoring. The National Transport Policy Framework is the policy framework used for this purpose.
A brief description of the relevant policy areas are listed below.

Economic Framework for Efficient Transportation Marketplace

More efficient use of existing infrastructure and more timely, targeted and efficient investment
require better signals to guide both the supply of and demand for transportation infrastructure and
services. Market-based principles can be better utilised to achieve this outcome. Implementation of
a new economic framework may entail a sustained national program of structural reform and
require well managed transitional arrangements. Currently included are the -EFETM Ministerial
Taskforce strategic reform priorities, COAG Reform Plan for Heavy Vehicle Charges and Review of
Regulatory Approaches including Transport Safety Law.

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Infrastructure Planning and Investment
Fragmented land use planning and infrastructure investment across all modes can lead to poor
transport outcomes, such as housing developments poorly serviced by public transport or ports and
freight terminals inaccessible to high productivity transport assets.

The objective of the Infrastructure Planning and Investment working group is to improve certainty by
creating a more predictable and rational investment environment. Delivering nationally significant
infrastructure, with improved private sector investment, will increase the capacity and productivity
of the transport sector. Currently included are options for increased investment in transport
infrastructure, including the greater use of Public Private Partnerships; and development of
guidelines for integration of transport and land use planning.

Capacity Constraints and Supply Chain Performance

Support Australia’s economic development by optimising national supply chains for efficient,
sustainable, safe and socially responsible outcomes. At the July 2008 Australian Transport Council
meeting Transport Ministers identified 12 supply chains which are of national significance coal, iron
ore, livestock, meat, copper, grain, seafood, processed foods (including dairy), wine, forestry,
automotive, petroleum, general freight (including containers).

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Urban Congestion
Less congested roads can deliver reduced queuing, fewer time delays and less air pollution. The
improved productivity of urban transport can also deliver economic benefits and support the
sustainable future growth of Australian cities. Measures to address urban congestion can improve
transport efficiency without restricting the accessibility and mobility of individuals and freight
vehicles. The immediate objective is to increase cooperation on urban transport and land use policy
to combat congestion.

Climate Change, Environment and Energy

Transport is Australia’s third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 14 percent
of the total. The transport sector is also one of the fastest growing sources of greenhouse gas
emissions, with transport emissions projected to increase by 34% to 2020. Other transport-related
environmental impacts include air, noise and visual pollution.

The objective is to protect our environment and improve health by building and investing in
transport systems that minimise emissions and consume less resources and energy. Currently
included is passenger transport to reduce emissions through programs to encourage low-emission
travel behaviour, the National Transport Commission’s ‘Freight Transport in a Carbon Constrained
Economy’ project and exploring broader environment issues - such as noise impacts, vibration and
air quality.

Safety and Security

Australia has around 1,600 road deaths and 30,000 hospital admissions each year and is struggling to
meet the 40% road safety reduction target.
The transport and logistics sector is also
Australia’s most hazardous workplace.
Transportation is a potential target of
terrorists because people congregate in
vehicles, terminals and airports.

Currently included are strategies designed to

deliver a safe and secure transport system
that meets Australia's mobility, social and
economic objectives without causing death or
serious injury.

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Workforce Planning and Skills
Challenges facing the transport industry include an ageing workforce and an acute skills shortage
leading to a predicted shortfall of transport workers in five years, poor matching between education
and training needs and the industry’s long-term capability, exposure of the industry to generally
difficult workplace safety conditions and fragmentation and accessibility of programs to address
these challenges.

Current objectives are to identify opportunities to improve access to appropriate transport and
logistics industry education and training, identify opportunities to improve workforce planning,
recruitment and retention practices, including workplace conditions and consideration of options for
improvements to skilled migration and identify opportunities to streamline transport and logistics
industry regulatory impediments. The focus is on workers employed in the transport and logistics
industry.

5. Strategically Important Transportation Data

The amount of transportation data required for policy development and monitoring performance is
significant and the same data set or indicators are quite often used to inform multiple policies, either
directly or indirectly. An example of this is output data from the Survey of Motor Vehicle Use.
Measures produced from the survey are used directly and indirectly via modelling, to inform policy
development and monitoring on Congestion, Infrastructure, Climate Change and Economic
Framework for Efficient Transport Marketplace. They are also used in modelling work for the Heavy
Vehicle Charging Scheme and in a variety of less significant ways in analysing accident rates and
other Safety policies. For this reason some existing data collections may be mentioned more than
once in the table below.

To help minimise duplication and improve readability of the table it has been organised by general
themes rather than the NTPF policy areas. The data needs have been included on the basis that they
have been judged to be required to support strategies and policy development and monitoring
within the context of the NTPF. This is a preliminary list only and is expected to undergo at least
some change as a result of discussion at the February workshop.

Data needs have been grouped under the following headings:

 Transportation and the economy;

 Transportation operations and performance - people and freight movements;
 Transportation demand;
 Transportation infrastructure;
 Transportation externalities and energy; and
 Transportation and land use planning.

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Transportation and the Economy
Need Description Existing Collections Data Gaps
Contribution of the Transport and National Accounts chain volume measures of ABS Australian National National level estimates available, state
Storage Industry to GDP and GSP the transport and storage industry Accounts level unavailable
(ABS cat. no 5206.0)

Contribution of transportation activity
to GDP and GSP (Transport Satellite
Accounts)
Structural data on the Transport
Industry and transport activity within
other industries (Transport
Industry/Activity Survey)
Understanding of the size and
composition of employment in the
Transport and Logistics Industry
Define the change in price of
transport for private travel
Model economic impacts of changes
in transportation and externalities
Define household financial input into
transportation
Define international imports and
exports
Within the National Accounts context, the
contribution of all transportation activity to GDP
and GSP
Turnover, value added, cost structure and other
financial data showing the relative performance
of sectors of the transportation industry.
Employment numbers by age, sex by sector of
the transport, storage and logistics industry
Price indexes for components of costs of private
travel
Input-output Model
Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Model
for transportation
Household expenditure on vehicles, registration,
insurance, repairs, transport services
Tonnage, value, commodity type, state of
origin/destination, country of origin/destination,
ABS Labour Force, Australia
(ABS cat. no 6291.0)
ABS Consumer Price Index
(ABS cat. no. 6401.0)
ABS Australian National
Accounts Input-output
Tables
(ABS cat. no. 5209.0)
Monash Centre of Policy
Studies (COPS) CGE model
ABS Household Expenditure
Survey
(ABS cat. No. 5635.0)
Merchandise Trade
(ABS cat No. 5439.0 &
5368.0)
National level data critical and not currently
produced in Australia. State level is very
desirable.
ABS Transport Industry Survey not
undertaken since 1983-84 and out of date
Current data collection is deficient because
of restricted scope and inability to identify
transportation workers across industries.
Population census data is being used by
the Aust. Logistics Council in a data project
to quantify employment numbers – not
released yet.
Australian level input-output model for
2001-02 is becoming dated; few State
models exist
CGE models of varying reliability available
for Australia; less reliable models can be
produced for states and territories
Once every 5 years but may not be
frequent enough with a carbon emissions
reduction scheme
Details on contents of containers deficient
and seriously limits usefulness of data

Understanding total cost and sources
of funding for different aspects of
transport
Required for evidence basis for policy
formulation, eg separating the capital
expenditure from operating expenditure by level
of government
Customs
Government Finance
ABS Cat No 5512.0
Inconsistencies in how jurisdictions classify
expenditure make data less fit for purpose,
also the anticipation of more public and
private partnership will result in details not
being compiled as part of Government
Finance Statistics

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Transportation Operations and Performance – People and Freight Movements
Need
Travel times and congestion
Define use of major highways
Define vehicle travel in capital cities
Define use of road network
Projected use of road network
Projected freight task
Projected use of major interstate road
links
Modelling of and projected use of key
road links in major urban areas
Description Existing Collections Data Gaps
Travel times and delays for passenger and Some work has been done Could be difficult to address across the
freight movements by mode, eg, delay times in by some jurisdictions via board but there is scope to include addition
loading and unloading and time taken for household travel surveys questions on road usage surveys and from
distance travelled port authorities
Road count by type of vehicle Jurisdictional road use WIM sites are limited in number and
Weigh in Motion (WIM) sites datasets distribution
Vehicle kilometres of travel by purpose and BITRE estimates Reliability dependent on data used in
vehicle type as well as commodities being model to produce estimates, more details
moved by freight vehicles are required, eg data on use of light
commercial vehicles
ABS Survey of Motor SMVU estimates standard errors are too
Vehicle Usage (SMVU) high
(ABS cat no. 8208.0)
By vehicle type: vehicle kilometres travelled, ABS Survey of Motor 08 and 09 SMVU were not be conducted,
business and private use of vehicles, average Vehicle Usage (SMVU) future frequency still not determined, data
vehicle kilometres travelled, freight tonne (ABS cat no. 8208.0) required annually
kilometres, laden and unladen freight kilometres
of travel Standard errors can limit reliability for many
purposes
Projections of road network by passengers and BITRE network projections BITRE projections limited to AusLink
freight network
Jurisdictional projections
Only undertaken by some jurisdictions or
for selected road studies
Apelbaum Consulting
Projections of the freight task growth BITRE freight task Limited to whole of Australia
projections
Only undertaken by some jurisdictions
Jurisdictional freight
projections Discrepancies between projections
Apelbaum consulting
Projections of major highway links by AusLink road count Projections limited to AusLink road network
passengers and freight projections and to selected road studies
Use and projections of major urban road links by Models developed / in Modelling limited by available data
passengers and freight development for Melbourne, Much developmental work still to be
Sydney, Brisbane and undertaken
Adelaide
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Define the motor vehicle fleet
Define sales of new motor vehicles
Define use of rail network and rail
links by passengers
Projected use of rail transport by
passengers
Define use of rail network and rail
links- freight
Projected use of rail freight transport
Define use of shipping vessels
Define coastal shipping - freight
Define international shipping - freight
Define seaport throughput
Projected use of sea transport
Define air freight task
Define how air freight prices change
Define domestic air passenger task
Define international air passenger
freight task
Define aircraft fleet
Projected use of air transport
Motor vehicle and trailer registrations by type of ABS Motor Vehicle Census Fleet distribution by industry is a key data
vehicle, age, industry (ABS cat no. 9309.0) gap, the value of existing day would be
enhanced by including ABN with
registration
Motor vehicle sales by type, make and fuel ABS Sales of New Motor Categories not aligned with the Motor
Vehicles Vehicle Census, data would be enhanced
(ABS cat. no. 9314.0) by harmonising collections.
Commuter and long distance use and time-of – ARA Australian Rail industry
day patronage of key links Report
Projected use of rail transport by passengers Projections on passenger rail use not
available for all states.
Origin and destination of rail freight and Tonnage ARA Australian Rail industry Rail link data limited by confidential data
of commodities on key rail links Report
BITRE modelling limited by available data
BITRE Australian rail freight
performance indicators – Insufficient commodity data available
interstate rail freight
Projected use of rail freight transport Projections for each state not available
Shipping fleet (capacity, flag, tonnage), number Lloyd’s Marine Information
of port calls Unit
Mass and pack type BITRE Domestic Sea
Freight Database
Mass and pack type ABS
Customs
Mass of commodities and pack type Port authorities and some
jurisdictions
Freight tonnage projections for major sea ports Projection on the freight task by port not
available, modelling required
Interstate and overseas movements by ABS Overseas freight movements are available
commodity by value and tonnage , airport use by airport but not interstate movements.
Customs
Air freight price index BITRE Airfreight index
Interstate passenger movements, seat BITRE Aviation Statistics
availability, flights, airport use
Overseas passenger movements, seat BITRE Aviation Statistics
availability, flights, airport use
Numbers of registered aircraft CASA Civil Aircraft Register
Passenger numbers using air transport and Modelling required
origin-destination pairs for major airports.
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Define interstate freight task and
state contribution to Aust exports
Define integrated national freight
movement for all modes
Define Passenger travel
Understand public transport capacity
and usage
Define major city and intercity
passenger tasks
Define pipeline task
Transportation performance
indicators
Transportation Demand
Need
Understanding of production across
all industries
Define how economic activity creates
demand for freight on road and rail
Define population distribution
Project population changes
Define / model the behavioural and
sociological influences and factors in
personal travel choice
Tonnage and value by commodity of interstate
and international imports and exports
Freight Task by mode and commodity, also State
and interstate/ intrastate and intra-urban
movements
Passenger kilometres for each mode
Capacity by mode, patronage and peak use
Passenger kilometres within capital cities and
between capital city pairs
Commodity tonnage and distance
Performance indicators showing the outcomes of
policy initiatives
Description
Commodity by volume by geographic area of
production
Volumes and distribution of domestic, import and
export freight movements related to industry
(agriculture, forestry, mining, manufacturing,
wholesale, retail)
Population location and demographics.
Population projections
Why do people make the travel choices they do
and what influences change in choice?
ABS Available import and export data by State
of entry/exit rather than by State of
Customs production or consumption.
Interstate trade is a gap.
ABS Freight Movements ABS FMS survey out of date and had
Survey (FMS) limited scope – did not measure the whole
freight task. Survey data needs updating
BITRE Freight Measurement and expanding to include whole freight task
and Modelling in Australia
BITRE modelling limited by available input
data
BITRE estimates Reliability dependent on data used in
model to produce estimates
Jurisdictional performance Inconsistent use of definitions reduces
indicators comparability
BITRE estimates Reliability dependent on data used in
model to produce estimates
Apelbaum consulting
Austroads performance Limited performance indicators available –
indicators new ones will be required to encompass
the whole of transportation for NTPF
Jurisdictional performance purposes
indicators
Existing Collections Data Gaps
Manufacturing, Mining and Agricultural
statistics available at the state level but
nothing available at Capital city or lower –
could be difficult to address
NZ and Tasmanian freight Gap for most States
demand surveys
ABS Population Census
ABS Population Projections
(ABS cat. no. 3222.0)
Some surveys have been Gap that will be difficult to fill.
undertaken for specific
studies
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Define changes in Economic activity
Project changes in economic activity
Define / model price elasticises of
transport and fuel costs
Define tourism demand for transport
Level of activity of the economic sectors
Projected level of activity of the economic
sectors
How changes in prices change transport
demand and substitution between modes and
transport alternatives
Domestic and international tourist use of
transport services and their travel patterns
ABS Economy Wide Surveys
(ABS cat. no. 1350.0)
Jurisdictional Treasury Inconsistent basis for projections between
budget papers jurisdictions
Gap that will be difficult to fill
Tourism Australia’s National Data gaps exist in some jurisdictions
Visitor Survey, International
Visitor Survey and Regional
Profiles

Tourist demand projections
Understand the drivers of use of
public transport
Jurisdictional Surveys
Projections of future tourist demand and travel Tourism Australia forecasts
patterns
Jurisdictional forecasts
Purpose of journey, barriers to use, price Some jurisdictional data Data not available for all states
elasticities, economic environment available

Transportation Infrastructure
Need
Define length of road network
Define the road network
Determine expenditure on roads
Define the change in price of inputs
into infrastructure construction
activity
Define road condition and capacity
Define value of road assets
Description Existing Collections Data Gaps
Length by road type Jurisdictions Inconsistent definitions of roads between
states and territories
Road location, carriageway, seal type, seal PSMA Data availability and quality varies
width, urban/rural, considerably, particularly for council
Jurisdictional road owned, forestry and private roads
infrastructure information
management systems
Expenditure by level of government ABS Government Finance
Statistics
(ABS cat. no. 5519.0
Construction inputs price indexes ABS Producer Price Indexes
(ABS cat. no. 6427.0)
Road Maintenance Price
Index - BITRE
Road condition and capacity data for key road Jurisdictional Road Good data for AusLink network; data of
links information management varying quality for other critical road links
systems
Value of road networks and other infrastructure Jurisdictional asset Capacity is still a data gap
valuations

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Rail infrastructure and condition
Define sea port infrastructure and
condition
Define airport infrastructure and
condition
Define pipeline infrastructure and
condition
Transportation Externalities and Energy
Need
Define fuels and energy consumed
by type of vehicle
Emissions generated by transport
activity
Define fuels and energy consumed
by pipeline transport
Define transport fuel production
Transportation greenhouse gas
emissions projections
Rail condition data for key rail links More work needs to be done to ascertain
the availability and consistency of existing
information
Sea port condition data for key sea ports More work needs to be done to ascertain
the availability and consistency of existing
information
Airport condition data for key airports More work needs to be done to ascertain
the availability and consistency of existing
information
Pipeline condition data for key pipelines More work needs to be done to ascertain
the availability and consistency of existing
information
Description Existing Collections Data Gaps
Total fuel consumed by type and average rate of ABS Survey of Motor Vehicle 2007-08 SMVU will not be conducted
fuel consumption by vehicle type and vehicle Usage (SMVU) Standard errors for SMVU limits reliability
age (ABS cat no. 8208.0) for some uses
Jurisdictional estimates Consistency issues across different data
sources
Apelbaum Consulting
Greenhouse gas emissions, methane emissions BITRE BITRE produce National estimates only,
and nitrous oxide emissions by mode of jurisdictions and Aplebaum produce
transport Aplebaum Consulting estimates below the national level.
Jurisdictions Consistency issues exist between these
important data series.
Total fuel consumed by type and average rate of Apelbaum Consulting
fuel consumption by pipeline transport
Petroleum production, imports and exports by DITR Australian Petroleum
fuel type Statistics
Projected CO2, CO2 equivalent and methane BITRE greenhouse gas Projections have the same consistency
and other emissions by mode and type of emissions reports issues contained in the estimates.
vehicle
Jurisdictional greenhouse
gas emission reports
Apelbaum Consulting
Page 17 of 23
Define road safety
Define rail safety
Define marine safety
Define aviation safety
Transportation and Land Use Planning
Need
Understand private use of transport
Understanding numbers and
locations of disadvantaged
populations
Understanding spatial distribution
Fatality accidents, fatalities, death rates, injury Australian Transport Safety Perceived inconsistency in the application
rates by severity Bureau of classifications, work is required to
harmonise series between jurisdictions
Jurisdictional road safety
databases and performance
indicators
Fatality accidents, fatalities, death rates, injury Australian Transport Safety
rates by severity Bureau
Fatality accidents, fatalities, death rates, injury Australian Transport Safety
rates by severity Bureau
National Maritime Safety
Committee
Fatality accidents, fatalities, death rates, injury Australian Transport Safety
rates by severity Bureau
Description Existing Collections Data Gaps
Details of household and individual travel ABS Population Census – JTW collected for 1 week day every 5
patterns and journeys Journey to Work (JTW) years
ABS Time Use Survey Journey to education is required on the
same basis as journey to work
Jurisdictional Household HTS sample sizes limit reliability for many
Travel Surveys (HTS) uses and are not comparable across
jurisdictions
Number of disabled, mental health issues, aged Centrelink information used in combination
and where they are located – social inclusion with population census seems to have
potential but not currently accessed
Geospatial data , including topographic ANZLIC based data and
infiormation, planning zones, population, information such as that
infrastructure, manufacturing, mining, available through PSMA and
agricultural, forestry, energy generation, utilities jurisdictional mapping
service enterprise locations, endangered and agencies
threatened species, climatic features
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Appendix A – Transportation data consultations
State Government
Department of Environment and Heritage (South Australia)
Chris Radbone
Department of Families and Communities (South Australia)
Sue Gould; Nancy Rogers
Department of Premier and Cabinet (South Australia)
Tania Dziadosz
Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure (South Australia)
Lindsay Oxlad; Mike Milne; Peter Hollister; Irene Sesel; Nick Holyoak; Graham Ackers;
Tom Wilson; Rodney May; Danielle Mangion; Peter Tissato; Mark Elford; Christine
Bierbaum; Koutrikas Antonia; Phil Lawes; Tony Carbone
Department of Planning and Local Government (South Australia)
Ian McQueen

Department of Infrastructure, Energy and Resources (Tasmania)

Fiona Murray
Department of Premier and Cabinet (Tasmania)
Andrea Heath; Louise Hawker
Department of Treasury and Finance (Tasmania)
Andrew Rayner

Department of Premier and Cabinet (NSW)

Tim Hurst
Department of Treasury (NSW)
Ziggi Lejins; Andrew Hughes
Independent Transport Safety and Reliability Regulator (NSW)
Simon Meiers; Russell Preece; Ian Kearns; John Austen; Bronwyn Lind
Ministry of Transport (NSW)
Lisa McGill; Tim Raimond; John Peachman; Cassandra Wilkinson
Roads and Transport Authority (NSW)
Sean O’Shannassy

Department of Premier and Cabinet (Victoria)

Gabi Burman; Daniel Helley
Department of Transport (Victoria)

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 Philip Norman; Fiona Calvert; Justin Rouke; Lachlan McDonald
Department of Treasury and Finance (Victoria)
Helen Ratcliffe; Andrew McDonald
VicRoads
Ed McGeehan; John Davison

Main Roads (Western Australia)

Mike Williams; Drew Gaynor
Department of Planning and Infrastructure (Western Australia)
Mike Cosson; Bob Peters

Queensland Transport
Greg Brown; John Chapman; Renny Phipps; Nicole Bunning; Andrew Armstrong; Beth
Leven; Nicole Woodman; David Welsby; Vanessa Taylor
Queensland Treasury
Drew Ellem

Department of Planning and Infrastructure (Northern Territory)

Marj Morrissey; Ken Grattan; Greg Scott; Steve Sanderson; Ernie Wanka; Philomena
Smith
Northern Territory Treasury
Sarah Rummery; Robert Cagnetti
Department of Chief Minister and Cabinet (Northern Territory)
Tim McManus

Commonwealth
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Paul Williams
Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics
Gary Dolman; Godfrey Lubulwa; Glen Malam
Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, and Local Government

Commonwealth Grants Commission

Glenn Pure

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Other organisations
COAG Reform Council
Michael Frost
National Transport Commission
Meena Naidu; Chris Egger
Infrastructure Australia
John Austen
MariTrade
David Bendall
Shipping Australian Limited
Llew Russell
Australian Railway Association
Brett Hughes; Kevin Taylor
South Australian Freight Council
Neil Murphy
Australian Logistics Council
Zoe Wilson; Melinda Buker

NTPF Working Groups

Economic framework for efficient transportation marketplace
Philip Hanlon
Infrastructure, planning and investment
Lachlan McDonald
Capacity constraints and supply chain performance
Sheree Goldsworthy
Urban congestion
Lachlan McDonald
Environment and energy
Robert Campbell
Safety and security
Judy Oswin
Workforce planning and skills
Marj Morrissey
Governance
Leslie Riggs

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Appendix B – Scope of Transportation Data

 Transportation data covers a wide range of data types relevant to the physical
movement of goods and people:
 Modes, including road, pathways, rail, air and sea;
 Infrastructure such as roads, bridges, footpaths, cycle ways, transit centres, railways,
airports and sea ports;
 Vehicles such as cars, trucks, buses, bicycles, trains, aircraft, ships and ferries;
 Users such as drivers, riders, passengers, pedestrians, businesses and tourists;
 Geographic issues such as location and size of population centres, shopping centres and
industrial estates;
 Services such as freight, courier, postal, passenger and emergency services;
 Administrative by-product data from the movement of goods and services;
 Transport management such as human and management resources;
 Transport economics, finance and international and interstate trade;
 Fuels and energy consumed;
 Externalities such as pollution, greenhouse gas production, social impacts and economic
impacts; and
 Substitution such as data about transportation elasticises and the impact of
communication system evolution on transportation.
 The data includes dimensions of mobility, accessibility, cost, efficiency and effectiveness.

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Appendix C – Transportation Data Action Plan

Action 1 Identify strategically important national transportation data.

Action 2 Identify data gaps and coordinate data collections and other approaches to
filling these gaps.

Action 3 Define classification systems, collection methodologies and standards to be used

for strategically important national transportation datasets.

Action 4 Establish minimum accuracy criteria for strategically important national

transportation data.

Action 5 Establish minimum data currency criteria for strategically important national
transportation data.

Action 6 Improve the institutional environment for managing strategically important

national transportation data.

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