No state funding for Stirling tram

The City of Stirling’s trackless tram initiative will not receive state funding should it progress to the next stage of its implementation, according to Treasurer and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti.

Perth’s biggest council ran a public trial of its trackless tram at a farmers’ market over the weekend, as a business case funded in 2020 by a $2 million federal grant nears its end.

The City of Stirling envisages the tram could one day connect Glendalough Station and Scarborough Beach, and hopes the trial will pave the way for that reality.

But more funding would be needed should the project move to its next stage. Ms Saffioti told media over the weekend that the state government would not pay for the Chinese-built tram or the infrastructure required to facilitate its road use.

“When they’re running around a car park that’s one thing, but when you are putting them on a road then there’s significant infrastructure spend,” she said.

“That’s a matter for the City of Stirling in relation to the infrastructure spend. They’ll need to spend a lot of money on infrastructure to facilitate it.

“They have fully imported this asset, and like I said, we’re into locally manufactured; it’s not part of our plans.”

Ms Saffioti said delivering Metronet projects with technologies built in Western Australia was the government priority, and that the tram was a matter for the local government and its ratepayers.

"It's a matter for the City of Stirling, it's their ratepayers money. We look forward to seeing what they do next," she said. 

City of Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin told Business News the state had not been asked to assist financially in the trackless tram project to date, and that the idea was still at a very early stage.

“Any implementation of this technology would be several years away and rely on the outcome of our business case and extensive future discussions about mid-tier transit strategy in Perth,” he said.

Mr Irwin said the current trial and business case had been funded through a federal government commitment to investigate the suitability of the technology in the Australian context.

As part of its efforts, the city hosted a Net Zero Transit symposium in Scarborough last week, where Infrastructure WA deputy chief executive and former Public Transport Authority executive director of infrastructure planning Owen Thomas highlighted mid-tier transit as key to easing Perth’s growing congestion.

The event was attended by members of federal, state and local governments and administrators from across the country, as well as transit experts.

In tandem with the trial, Mr Irwin said the city was working cooperatively with the state to understand the next stages of transport development of all kinds along its activity corridors.

“The state government has always been clear in the staging of their transit strategy and has invested significant money throughout the City of Stirling to improve transport, bus interchanges and freeway connections, such as the Stephenson Avenue extension project,” he said.

Stirling is part of a group of 15 local governments that formed a consortium to develop a network of mid-tier public transport routes led by City of Canning planning manager Sergio Famiano.