Beyond the ribbon cutting: What’s next after Melbourne Metro?
ZP: Great transport infrastructure is about far more than simply moving people from A to B; it plays a fundamental role in making cities social, accessible, and ultimately liveable. As a Melburnian, could you tell us about the response to the opening of the new metro?
KP: The big thing I’m noticing is this genuine excitement about the architecture and public spaces in and around the stations.People aren’t just rushing through – they’re lingering, exploring, taking photos, and using the stations as generous civic spaces rather than just a means to get from one place to the next. We have to remember that these huge patches of the city have been hoarded up for years, so there’s this sense of people finally being able to ‘reclaim’ parts of their neighbourhood. It’s lovely to see.
ZP: Many major transport projects prioritise and transform our inner cities first. How do we make sure they genuinely improve life for outer‑suburban communities too?
KP: The first thing to acknowledge is that projects like the Greenline and Melbourne Metro are far from ‘one‑size fits all’ solutions.But what they’re successful in is sending a clear signal about our values – that public transport, active travel, and connection to the river are central to Melbourne’s brand, identity, and priorities as a city. They also serve as
a catalyst for further improvements in
these areas.
For outer‑suburban communities, the real challenge is making sure people at least have a genuine choice of public transport rather than defaulting to their cars. That means frequency, connection, and local access all need to stack up so public transport feels viable in everyday life – not just on specific occasions, like taking the family to the football.
The first precinct of Melbourne’s Greenline, completed in 2025, spans a 450-metre public space and boardwalk, lined with more than 70 native trees and 25,000 native plants.
ZP: Often the benefits to our health come not from the train ride itself, but from what happens at either end – the walk, the wait, the ‘in-between’. From a public health perspective, where do major transport projects most often miss opportunities to support better daily movement?
KP: At the moment, we don’t support onward journeys by walking, cycling, or micromobility nearly as well as we could. Too often, the connections to and from stations are treated as an afterthought – with narrow footpaths, missing crossings, and hostile traffic environments. If we want to encourage people to use public transport, we must ensure that the journey to the station and the facilities provided at those stations truly enable that. The last mile is usually the weakest link, as it’s really tricky to service everybody right to their front doors.
In Australia, our local government boundaries often operate as hard edges that discourage joined‑up strategic thinking. The outcome is a disjointed walking and cycling network, with little consistency or continuity in the user experience. To address this, we need to look beyond individual jurisdictions and design around how trips actually feel and function on the ground, rather than how they appear on paper.
Written by: Kate Pleban
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