Australian Electric Vehicle Association committee member Peter Gorton told The Future of Transport Forum the upcoming release of an Hyundai electric car costing $50,000 was among the indicators of change.

“I took the plunge in February and bought a three year old BMW – the challenge I had was it only has a 110 kilometre range,” he said.

“People says that’s absurd, but the BMW is a city car – we absolutely need in this country national charging infrastructure.

“We need a greater range of models, and the third thing we need is leadership at the federal level, to address emissions our society produces.”

Bigger choice, but also in transport options, was outlined as key by Albury Wodonga Pedal Power’s Keith McDonald.

“The future of bicycles in transport is … not about ‘them and us’ and one taking over the other, but increasing options available to people so on any day you can choose a wider range of transport,” he said.

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“One of the the big barriers for cyclists now and in the future is the opinions of the general community.

“In Albury you’re a little bit of a weirdo if you cycle … car is the king.”

Mr McDonald said better cycling infrastructure, more consultation about infrastructure design and a rethink of laws governing electric bicycles was needed, plus the consideration of incentives for cycling.

“This sounds unrealistic, but we did that with solar power in Australia, so why not do it with bicycles?” he said. 

“A cyclist that commutes 20 kilometres a day will do 5400 kilometres in a year and just by sheer chance that works out to save one tonne of carbon dioxide emissions.” 

But Indi MP Cathy McGowan said in her address it wasn’t yet time for such subsidies.

“I think we’ve got too much work to do before we go there – we’ve got to get the bus routes fixed up, have hub and spoke design, and actually design a system that works,” she said.

The gaps in connectivity between forms of public transport was discussed by Border Rail Action Group’s Dennis Toohey, who outlined bus routes on a map on the Border and pointed out the train stations in both cities were not covered.

“We sadly don’t have a plan for integrated transport here in Albury-Wodonga, but I believe we’re getting closer to it – there is work going on behind the scenes in both councils looking at a truly integrated transport strategy for our city,” he said.

Greens NSW Spokesperson for Transport Mehreen Faruqi said more political will and transparency was important in improving transport, which she considered a social justice issue.

“In NSW we are going backwards … I don’t think we have a visionary, progressive government,” she said.

“No one sees business cases, we don’t see cost benefit analysis, this is something community should be involved in and see where billions of dollars (in transport) are going.

“We should be moving to a society where transport is free.”

In responding to a question about whether transport was a human right and thus should be free, Ms McGowan disagreed with Dr Faruqi’s position.

“I don’t think it’s a right and I don’t think it should be free, in a well-functioning market economy there’s a huge opportunity for people to create transport that is low-cost and still profitable – I see Uber doing that and I wish it would come to Albury-Wodonga,” she said.

“I choose to live on a farm and I don’t expect society to provide me with free public transport, because I chose to live there.

“But I know we could do it so much better.”

The Future of Transport Forum, held by Pedal Power Albury-Wodonga, the Sustainable Activity Centre, and The Albury Greens at the Bended Elbow, was attended by about 80 people.