ITS Monday: Edition 15, 2021
A small collection of curated content from the worlds of intelligent transport systems, smart mobility, and associated areas.
Included this week, a real bumper crop of articles, are: road use charging, trackless trams, free public transport, e-scooters, parklets, city design, and more.
And just in case you hadn’t caught it yet, we have a new series of interviews with transport professionals – Effects of COVID on the transport sector – what they see now, what they would like to happen post-pandemic, and what they think will happen. If you’d like to be join this conversation, drop us a line!
Now, scroll down, and see what’s in this week’s edition. Oh, and before you do, be sure check out the quickest way to receive our new content via the subscription box just below …
Car makers want to replace licence fees, rego and fuel excise with a tax on how far you drive
‘The car industry is urging the federal government to lead a national overhaul of vehicle registration, stamp duty, licence fees and fuel excise and replace them with a single road-user charge to instead tax drivers for every kilometre they drive.’ Yes, the car industry is calling for road use charges!
The article goes on to quote Tony Weber. the chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries. ‘Opportunities for important reforms like this are not common.’ No they are not.
READ THE ARTICLEMelbourne’s next generation trams could be trackless with rubber wheels
Most of this article is about the new trams Melbourne is currently in talks with manufacturers about. The last few paragraphs are about the promise (?) of the trackless tram. Smoother ride, cheaper to run, cheaper to set up, can plug gaps in the bus network, …
As a sidebar on this, do we need to call these vehicles something other than trackless trams? It’s a term that does seem to rile people.
READ THE ARTICLEThe ACT government wants more Canberrans on public transport — could making it free be the answer?
How do we get people back to using public transport, post-(?)pandemic? Judging by the many stories I see on this, it’s a concern the world over. And making PT free is something that is being floated as a soldier in this battle. Making it free in Canberra is included in a Transport Recovery Plan, ‘… aimed at restoring community confidence in the network and adapting to the “new normal”.’
READ THE ARTICLEWhat next for parklets? It doesn’t have to be a permanent switch back to parking
During the tough year that was 2020, the parklet was a widely used strategy to aid businesses, and communities, to give them a boost as we inched toward being out there in the world again. Safe to say it was perhaps one of the transport-related heroes of the year. But can the parklet habit survive the reaction from the Big Parking lobbyists? Parking or parklet? ‘It’s not an either-or choice.’
This article is co-authored by Kim Dovey (Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, The University of Melbourne), Merrick Morley (PhD Candidate, Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne), and Quentin Stevens (Associate Professor, School of Architecture and Urban Design, RMIT University).
READ THE ARTICLE‘I am dizzy just looking at it’: Harbour Bridge northern cycle ramp designs unveiled
‘A two-storey spiral cycleway at the northern end of the Sydney Harbour Bridge is one of two preferred options under consideration by the state government.’ This double loop design may look cool, but experts have some doubts about its safety.
READ THE ARTICLE‘Unparalleled’: Sydney’s most popular pop-up bike path overtakes city’s busiest
And on the subject of cycling in Sydney (and the Harbour Bridge gets a mention here too), the numbers are in on the city’s new pop-up cycleways. For the most part, they’ve been a usage success. On these new cycleways with lower usage numbers, the story perhaps isn’t that they aren’t needed, rather it perhaps says more about the safety of the build.
READ THE ARTICLEMagic Hand of the Bike in Dutch Transit Success w/ Roland Kager
An episode of the Active Towns podcast, featuring Roland Kager, Data Analyst of mobility, land-use, cycling and transit. He talks here about the relationship between transit and cycling, and cycling’s success in the Dutch transit system.
LISTEN TO THE PODCASTBrisbane’s trial e-scooter fleet awarded 50 per cent bump by council
I think it’s fair to say that of all Australian cities Brisbane has been the one to take up the e-scooter most enthusiastically. The number of scooters on Brisbane streets is about to increase from 1,000 to 1,500, as well as being available for use in more Brisbane suburbs.
READ THE ARTICLEFarewell the utopian city. To cope with climate change we must learn from how nature adapts
‘Among all species, it is perhaps only humans who create habitats that are not fit to live in.’ A strong opening for what is a strong critique of these places many of us live in. It does delve into things design and architecture, but also into how we have shoehorned transport into the chaos of cities.
READ THE ARTICLEDiscover more from iMOVE Australia Cooperative Research Centre | Transport R&D
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.