ITS Monday: Edition 9, 2025
ITS Monday is a small, weekly collection of curated content from the worlds of intelligent transport systems, smart mobility, and associated areas.
Included this week, Melbourne vs e-scooters (again), Lidar, pedestrian-friendly streets, 5-minute EV charging, and more.
The article headlines below are:
- E-scooter operators pull out of Yarra after council imposes drastic fee hike
- Can you fool a self driving car?
- Wales’s 20mph speed limit has cut road deaths. Why is there still even a debate?
- Measuring use of the street space in central city areas
- Pedestrian-friendly streets: How human-ventered urban design boosts communities and local economies
- Twice as fast as Tesla: BYD releases ultra-fast 1 megawatt electric car charging
This week’s articles
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 …
E-scooter operators pull out of Yarra after council imposes drastic fee hike
Continuing trouble in Melbourne’s e-scooter land. E-scooters have already been removed from the City of Melbourne’s streets (or, to put it another way, “… paused its e-scooter program for a reset”), now the City of Yarra will also see these micromobility vehicles removed in April.
Related iMOVE projects:
- Safer cycling and street design: A guide for policymakers
- Road use activity data: Cyclists, pedestrians and micromobility
- Modelling cycling investments in regional areas
Related iMOVE articles:
- Active Transport: Info, Projects & Resources
- Micromobility: Info, Projects & Resources
- Road Safety: Info, Projects & Resources
Can you fool a self driving car?
This 19-minute video takes on a few things. Firstly, it looks at how LiDAR works, and includes a couple of clandestinely-shot videos of rides at Disneyland. It then goes on to demonstrate capabilities of cars in a few safety situations, some cars incorporating LiDAR in their tech, and some that don’t (Hey Tesla!).
Related iMOVE articles:
- Autonomous Driving Info, Projects & Resources
- Autonomous Driving Technology
- Connected Vehicles: Info, Projects & Resources
Related iMOVE projects:
- C-ITS national harmonisation and pre-deployment research
- Environmental impacts of Connected and Automated Vehicles
- Safely deploying automated vehicles on Australian roads
Wales’s 20mph speed limit has cut road deaths. Why is there still even a debate?
“Even with the caveats about limited data and untangling causation and correlation, the statistics are striking: the first year of a scheme in Wales where the speed limit on urban roads was lowered to 20mph resulted in about 100 fewer people killed or seriously injured.”
READ THE ARTICLE
Measuring use of the street space in central city areas
A new academic paper, co-authored by Chris De Gruyter, Liam Davies, Xiao Li, Afshin Jafari, Alexia Yacoubian, and Marco Amati. The abstract:
In central city areas, the use of different transport modes is common and levels of people activity tend to be high. However, existing measures of street space use mainly focus on vehicle flow, with little consideration given to measuring ‘people’. Based on surveys undertaken within the central city of Melbourne, this research developed six measures of street space use, building upon established measures of flow and concentration by incorporating the amount of space consumed by each transport mode.
Application of the measures shows that estimates of street space use can vary considerably depending on the desired function of the street and how priority is given to different transport modes. The results also highlight the potential redundancy of on-street car parking. The findings can help to better inform the way in which street space is allocated, ultimately maximising choice for people to access central city areas.
Related iMOVE article:
Related iMOVE projects:
- Easy and novel ways to engage communities around road safety
- AiRAP automation for Australian road safety
- Speed and safety evaluation of shared spaces in NSW
Pedestrian-friendly streets: How human-centered urban design boosts communities and local economies
“During and after the pandemic, open streets rightfully garnered more attention as a legitimate and permanent public space offer. Here, Julia Day reflects on their benefits.” The focus here is on the USA.
Related iMOVE projects:
- Movement & Place and the design of safe & successful places
- Evaluation and implementation of shared spaces in NSW
- Speed and safety evaluation of shared spaces in NSW
Twice as fast as Tesla: BYD releases ultra-fast 1 megawatt electric car charging
Charging an EV in the same time as it takes to fill an ICE car with petrol is a development that could swing a lot of people the way of EVs on their next purchase. Of course this is a press release about some new tech, it remains to be seen how it plays out when these BYD models hit the streets … and the charging stations.
Related iMOVE article:
- Electric Vehicles: Info, Projects & Resources
- Alternative Fuels: Info, Projects & Resources
- FACTS: A Framework for an Australian Clean Transport Strategy
- The Conductor Series: The electrification of transport
Related iMOVE projects:
READ THE ARTICLEWe used to send out a weekly newsletter, ITS Weekly Roundup, a collection of ITS- and mobility-related news from across the world. ITS Monday is a replacement for that, a collection of links to news and opinion pieces, academic papers, and more. Additionally, you can follow us on Linkedin and Twitter, both of which have a focus on iMOVE news and projects, or subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter.
*Inclusion in ITS Monday does not equal iMOVE endorsement. It’s more aimed at discovery, thought, or discussion … or all of those and more. And while for the most part I expect content to be current, a little age doesn’t mean diminished interest.
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