ITS Monday: Edition 39, 2020

Is not having a car worth it? Yes, for our family it is — but that doesn’t mean it’s easy

First up, an interesting tale from a Sydney family, that over the course of 12 months lived life as much as possible without a car. As much as possible? Yes: ‘To be clear, I don’t mean we went completely car-free. We’re not that hardcore. We had to figure out what’s practical for a family of four.’ This family’s experiment was made even more difficult as it co-incided with both the extreme bushfire conditions experienced over the summer, and then, of course, the COVID-19 pandemic. How did they do? Click through and see!

New York City Connected Vehicle Pilot uses an innovative approach to verify location accuracy in the city’s urban canyons

This article is on the US Department of Transport site, but involves Australian technology from an Australian company. That company is Cohda Wireless, also an iMOVE participant. ‘Location accuracy is a key requirement for the Connected Vehicle (CV) Pilots as Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) and Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I) technologies are deployed into the field in larger quantities. The New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT) CV Pilot team is working hard to ensure that the in-vehicle devices can establish their locations with sufficient accuracy to utilize their CV applications.’

Rozelle North – improving safety and managing traffic

The suburb of Rozelle in Sydney is densely populated, located on the edge of the Sydney CBD, and has one of the city’s busiest roads, Victoria Road, cutting right through it. So it’s a prime candidate for having a close look at improving its road safety and managing its traffic. This ‘Have Your Say’ page offers a look at what proposals authorities have in mind, and for the public to provide feedback.

Cycling groups welcome 12-month bike lane trial in Brisbane CBD

‘Brisbane City Council has announced the plan to install fully separated lanes along Elizabeth, Edward and Albert streets, with future links down North Quay and across William Street to Grey Street in South Brisbane. This will be a 12-month trial.

Melbourne councils push to slash speed limits to 30km/h

‘A group (the Metropolitan Transport Forum) representing 26 Melbourne councils is pushing for speed limits to be reduced to 30 kilometres an area in highly pedestrianised areas.’ Googling this topic I couldn’t help but notice this has been something that has been an oft-appearing notion in news stories over the past 10 years or so. But in times such as these, with authorities looking to make roads safer for pedestrians and micromobility, does it stand a higher chance of actually succeeding?

Are hydrogen trains the future of UK travel?

With the Australian Government’s announcement of its energy roadmap a couple of weeks ago, hydrogen has (re)emerged as an option to seriously investigate and discuss. This short video is from the BBC, and looks to Germany where trains are already using hydrogen as fuel.

London’s latest protected cycleway now open

Transport for London has been successfully pumping up the tyres of cycling as a commuting mode for some time now, and it now has added another cycleway to its collection, covering 3.6km from Tower Bridge Road to Rotherhithe. ‘“Schemes like these are vital to ensuring London becomes the greener, healthier city the Mayor is committed to achieving, and to create zero carbon, Climate Safe Streets by 2030.’

COVID-19: a golden opportunity for the e-bike

Thus article is by transport geographer Paul Plazier, and appears on the University of Groningen website, and is derived from work in Plazier’s PhD. He does say that, ‘But I think it’s always a pity if someone swaps a regular bike for an electric bike,’ but qualifies that by noting that, ‘They can persuade people who would otherwise never cycle to try getting on a bike.’

Jet suit paramedic tested in the Lake District ‘could save lives’

We haven’t as yet in ITS Monday included a story on jetpacks, so let’s right that omission! A jetpack has been tested by the Great North Air Ambulance Service (GNAAS), in the Lakes District of England. ‘Andy Mawson, director of operations at GNAAS, came up with the idea and described seeing it as “awesome”‘. You can judge the awesomeness yourself, as the article includes an embedded video of the trial in action.