Parents can end gridlock crush in radical plan to stagger school start times in Melbourne Staggered school times could be the answer to getting the Monash Freeway to look like this in the mornings. MELBOURNE school students would start classes at staggered times under a radical plan to stop the city from grinding to a halt. A taskforce of eight key transport, planning and health industry bodies will release a report on Wednesday warning Australian cities are in crisis, as infrastructure fails to keep pace with our growing population. Is the plan a good idea? Taskforce spokesman Michael Apps said staggering start and finish hours for schools would help alleviate the twice-daily rush. "Congestion in every capital city effectively drops off by 5 per cent in school holidays, which actually clears a lot of road space," Mr Apps said. "Clearly, if you can stagger the start times, and schools can look at what is best for their own communities and parents, they may be able to come up with new and innovative ways to do it," he said. There are about 163,200 cars a day on the West Gate Freeway during school holidays, 6800 fewer than a normal week day, according to VicRoads. Traffic volumes on the Monash Freeway also decrease by about 6400 cars to 153,600. Schools within the same area could elect to start at staggered times between 7am and 9am, while various year levels also could start at different times. "It's really about spreading the peak time to manage the impact of congestion," Mr Apps said. The Moving Australia 2030 report also called for more tolls and congestion and heavy vehicle charges to fund investment in roads, rail and public transport. Innovative ways to ease congestion include an increase in people working from home, stamp duty and insurance premium reductions on car share schemes, incentives for car pooling and extending programs that encourage people to ditch the car and walk to work. Mr Apps said our major cities were beset by the same congestion problems that led Prime Minister Julia Gillard to campaign in western Sydney last week. "Our capital cities are in crisis and national leadership is required," he said. The Municipal Association of Victoria and its 79 councils, including Melbourne, Stonnington, Dandenong and Wyndham, is a member of the ALGA. The report predicts that by 2030, Australia will be home to five million extra people and congestion costs will soar from $9.4 billion a year now to $20 billion a year by 2020. Congestion charges, which use number plate recognition technology to track and charge cars entering busy CBD areas, were a key recommendation of a 2010 federal government review. The RACV, Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce, Victorian Competition and Efficiency Commission and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims have previously supported a congestion tax. The report will be launched by Federal Transport Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday night. with Amelia Harris