ITS Monday: Edition 4, 2023

Counting the full costs of transport choices

“John Rose is the Neil Smith Chair in Sustainable Transport Futures at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Here, he discusses how calculating the environmental impact of transport involves more than simply calculating CO2 emissions.

Related iMOVE content: Developing a low/zero emission transport strategy for Australia, and Promoting sustainable university travel choices

Electric car tax cuts are fuelling demand and delays

A recent booming interest in electric vehicles, helped along by a tax cut, has highlighted the fact that supply of EVs to Australia is an issue.

Related iMOVE project: Electric vehicles: Supporting uptake, investigating smart charging

What if Opal and Myki became one? It’d help more of us than you’d think

This The Conversation article is penned by James Bushell, PhD Candidate and Research Associate at the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. He looks at overseas public transport ticketing systems and asks why we can’t follow their ease and flexibility.

Strategic cycleway corridors for Greater Sydney

This page contains links to information and maps of Sydney’s Eastern Harbour City, Central River City and Western Parkland City cycleway networks and corridors.

Related iMOVE project: Safer cycling and street design: A guide for policymakers

More electric deliveries set to hit Australian roads

A story about Australia Post’s six-month trial of a Volvo FL electric truck, along with progress on its adoption of 1,507 electric bikes, and 3,125 electric delivery vehicles. Contains quotes from Volvo Group e-mobility manager Tim Camilleri.

Related iMOVE projects: Last mile van delivery planning and optimisation (also with Australia Post), and Hybrid drone/truck last mile delivery planning for e-groceries

Light commercial vehicles destination choice: Understanding preferences relative to the number of stop and tour-based trip type

A new academic paper, from Camila Balbontin, David Hensher and Chinh Ho of the Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. “Freight delivery modelling has made significant progress in the past few decades. In this study we propose to use an aggregate multi-step approach to gain a better understanding of the tour-based trips of light commercial vehicles in Sydney, Australia. The paper identifies differences in destination choice-making given by the number of stops and the stop count of the trip, defined by the total number of stops in the tour-based trip.”

Self-driving cars would be a climate disaster

“A recent study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology measured the energy consumed by powerful onboard computers that serve as the brains of autonomous vehicles.” There’s a link to the study within the article.

Australian children aren’t walking to school – but there’s a plan to change that

“Waverley Council in Sydney’s eastern suburbs is working with local schools to develop safe routes.”

Related iMOVE project: Evaluation of the Wagga Wagga Active Travel Plan

Mapping and analysis of laws influencing built environments for walking and cycling in Australia

An academic paper written by Tracy Nau, Sean Perry, Billie Giles-Corti, William Bellew, Adrian Bauman and Ben J. Smith. “We conducted a legal assessment of state and territory laws in Australia, to systematically characterise how they address built environment considerations with specific relevance to walking and cycling.”

A comparison of the life-cycle of greenhouse gas emissions of European heavy-duty vehicles and fuels

Results of a study by The International Council on Clean Transportation. “This study is a life-cycle comparison of the greenhouse gas emissions from combustion, electric, and hydrogen trucks and buses in Europe. The analysis evaluates the lifetime emissions of different powertrains on a fully harmonized basis, comparing both the emissions attributable to fuel production and consumption as well as the emissions attributable to the vehicle’s manufacturing. It investigates the current best-in-class diesel models against their natural gas, battery electric, and hydrogen fuel cell electric alternatives in the European market.”

Urban freight in 2030: What will we measure?

From the Urban Freight Lab at the University of Washington’s Goods Movement 2030 Project. “We identified six crucial priorities that we can use to quantify progress towards our collective vision of urban freight in 2030.”

Volvo starts Queensland electric bus deliveries with specialised driver training

“Ahead of the first Volvo BZL Electric being delivered to Transdev this week, Volvo Bus Australia has delivered hands-on, specialised competency training to Transdev staff. This Volvo BZL Electric delivery marks the first bus in an order of 17, set to be delivered to Transdev Queensland throughout the first half of 2023.”

Green light for all nine Sydney Metro precincts

“Planning approval has been received for new precincts to transform communities along the new 24km Sydney Metro line connecting Westmead to the Sydney CBD. The new transport-orientated hubs will be located in Westmead, Parramatta, Sydney Olympic Park, North Strathfield, Burwood North, Five Dock, The Bays, Pyrmont and Hunter Street.”