ITS Monday: Edition 32, 2020

Why changing how we pay for transport is a good move

An important piece, on an important topic. It’s written by Michel Masson, the CEO of Infrastructure Victoria. ‘Our findings showed that by changing the way we pay for transport, we could reduce the amount of time people spend in congested peak traffic by eight per cent and increase traffic speeds by up to 25 per cent within inner Melbourne. In this example, up to 85 per cent of people could be better off, paying less than they do today for transport.’

In a similar vein, Professor David Hensher wrote Attacking road congestion on multiple fronts is a must for us back in 2018.

New bike lanes among changes planned for post-COVID Melbourne commuters

Adding bike lanes, pop-up, permanent, or passing fad could well have been THE topic in ITS Monday since mid-March. This piece in the NineFax press is generated from the inquiry into the Victorian government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and the Minister for Transport Jacinta Allan speaking at the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee last week.

Sydney’s bike network stuck in the slow lane

Meanwhile, in Sydney the topic of bicycles and infrastructure is apparently less, ahhh, rosy. ‘Committee for Sydney policy director Eamon Waterford said many cities were moving faster than Sydney on bike lanes despite the economic, health and employment benefits of a bicycle network.’

This article also quotes David Levinson, the University of Sydney’s Professor of Transport Engineering. Have you met David?

Walking space guide: Towards pedestrian comfort and safety

This was published by iMOVE partner Transport for NSW in July just passed. ‘This Walking Space Guide provides a set of standards and tools to assist those responsible for Walking Spaces on streets, to ensure that sufficient space is provided to achieve comfortable environments which encourage people to walk.’

New smart tool to step up walkability in rural Australia

Moving along from NSW in general in the story above, at a walking pace, we move to rural Australia. This article is from the RMIT University website, and is about a new project, led by RMIT, the University of Tasmania, and Deakin University (all iMOVE partners!). The project will explore and assess rural walkability in order to develop a smart online tool, supporting regional Australians to live healthy, active lives.

We need to admit that cycling and walking are completely different activities

Moving away from Australia, this article is from the UK. Bristol to be specific. Author Dr Suzanne Audrey is a public health researcher at the University of Bristol with an interest in walking as transport. The statement in the article title is inarguable. But as Dr Audrey argues, it’s perhaps not being treated as fact in transport planning in the UK.

How to get cycling on the agenda? Bikenomics!

As I clipped this for inclusion this week, I wondered if I had already linked to it in an earlier edition of ITS Monday. If I have, apologies … but then I’m not that concerned if I did. It’s a good piece. It was published by the Dutch Cycling Embassy in April this year, and looks at the benefits, physical, fiscal, community and more, of enabling more people to use cycling as a mode of transport.

Sydney Metro Trains Facility update

Powering on, we move to powered transport, and back on track(s) to Australia. What’s happening in the land of Sydney Metro and the new driverless train network and stations? Click and learn!

We wrote about the Sydney Metro in early 2018, in Sydney’s new Metro driverless train undergoing track tests.

Why owning your own car vs. participating in MaaS is a false dichotomy

Boyd Cohen is co-founder of Iomob. He recently published this article on Linkedin. The article grew from a recent conversation Cohen had, relating to the ‘… ongoing appeal of private car ownership and that until MaaS proves it is better than car ownership to the masses, MaaS will never really take off.’ He doesn’t agree.

On the topic of Mobility as a Service, we’ve put together a pretty comprehensive page about MaaS in Australia.

CCTV monitors how many are wearing masks on trains

Sadly, COVID-19 and transport. The pandemic is still very much with us, and still very much affecting our lives, and the ways we get around. In Sydney the NSW government is ‘… using CCTV to monitor the number of people wearing face masks at five of Sydney’s busiest railway stations, with Transport Minister Andrew Constance warning they could become mandatory if rates don’t increase.’ Sigh.