The Planning and Transport Research Centre (PATREC), a collaboration between Western Australia’s four universities established in May 2003 has been engaged to evaluate the impact of the Perth to Mandurah railway project on travelling behaviour of residents and the economy of the Village at Wellard property development.
A memorandum of understanding signed recently between the research centre and the Village at Wellard joint venture development partners Peet and Co and LandStart provides a portion of the overall funding required for the research.
The Village at Wellard is billed as WA’s first suburban transit village with a train station at the heart of the town.
While PATREC director Fred Affleck would not reveal the amount of funding provided by Peet and Co and Landstart, he said it was not enough to fund the entire research project, estimated to cost between $300,000 to $400,000.
Mr Affleck said an Australian Research Council grant application would be made this year and discussions would take place with other government departments.
PATREC delivered a triple bottom line study of the Perth to Mandurah railway project for the WA Public Transport Authority earlier this year and found that it would yield a rate of return of 16.5 per cent by 2041.
Mr Affleck said the research into the Village at Wellard would commence prior to the scheduled December 2006 completion of the southern rail project.
“We will look at the changes that occur in people’s use of transport and particularly public transport as a result of the rail project,” he said.
“We will look at the economic development opportunities that come out of the railway strategy and urban development. Things like access to employment opportunities for the people that live there and the impact on the commercial centre of the town.”
