ITS Monday: Edition 12, 2024

More Australians are looking to ditch their cars. But the alternatives haven’t quite arrived

Interviews with people who have made, or would like to make, the switch away from cars as their mode of family transport. Barriers mentioned include the difficulties of their public transport options, the lack of financial incentives to make the switch, the cost of e-bikes, the economic impacts of access to work, and more.

Related iMOVE content:

• Micromoblity: Info, Projects & Resources
  
• Active Transport: Info, Projects & Resources
  

Related iMOVE projects:

• Safer cycling and street design: A guide for policymakers/
• Modelling cycling investments in regional areas
  

‘Like badly run charities’: How councils get car parking so wrong

Not a headline that minces words! The jumping-ogg point here is the controversial $30 million, two-level car park in Prahran in Melbourne, before moving on to other Melbourne car parks, and comparing what is happening in other places in the world deemed to be getting parking right. Interviewed in the piece is David Mepham, and urban planner and author of the book Rethinking Parking.

Related iMOVE projects

• Free-flow parking for car-sharing
• Brisbane parking management: An integrated, strategic approach
• Real-time data for better informed transport and parking choices

Lime says its e-scooter riders spend less than 30 seconds per trip on footpaths

Personally, and anecdotally, the line ‘lies, damn lies, and statistics’ comes to mind here. The figures given in the article here are from Lime attaching “… cameras and artificial intelligence riding-detection technology to about 100 of its scooters across Melbourne, allowing it to track more than 20,000 rides over six months.

Related iMOVE projects:

• Impacts of eRideables on the transport task in WA
• OneDock: Supercharging e-micromobility

Safer Micromobility: A report

Staying on the topic of micromobility, he International Transport has released a new report, “an analysis of the current evidence base of the most recent micromobility safety trends and risks. It provides safety recommendations for both authorities and micromobility operators in line with the Safe System approach.” The report is downloadable from the article.

Volkswagen to test tech to keep kangaroos off roads

A few years ago I interviewed someone from a car manufacturer who mentioned that it was close to cracking the ‘kangaroo problem’. Nothing came of that, but here we have Volkswagen Australia and the DDB Group in consultation with the University of Melbourne talking about a new device called the RooBadge, “… a circular device developed over three years that can play audio to deter kangaroos from approaching vehicles.”

Related iMOVE project:

• Large Animal Activated Roadside Monitoring and Alert System

On the relationship between free public transport, stop spacing, and optimal frequencies

Lastly, a new academic paper, by Andres Fielbaum of the School of Civil Engineering, at the University of Sydney. The abstract:

Recent years have witnessed a reignition of the debate about free public transport, especially after a wider implementation due to the pandemic. However, most implementations have consisted of eliminating the fare without further structural adjustments, and one of the main reported concerns is that they seem to primarily attract commuters from active modes rather than car drivers. In this paper, we develop an analytical model to investigate how the design of a representative public transport line, situated in a corridor where it competes with both walking and cars, should be adjusted in response to fare reductions. We first conduct a detailed analysis of the effect of frequency and spacing on mode choice, showing that while increased frequencies attract both walkers and drivers, an increased spacing tends to attract long-distance commuters (often drivers) and discourage short-distance ones (which are more likely to walk). Hence, spacing can play a crucial role in inducing a desired mode choice.

Afterwards, we study the optimal response of public transport design under two possible objectives. If the aim is to minimise users’ plus operator’s costs in public transport, a decrease in the fare should be joined by an increased frequency and, potentially, a reduced spacing. If the objective is to induce a more sustainable mode split, the measures are the opposite: increase spacing and reduce frequencies. These divergent findings show that it is crucial to have a clear goal when reducing the fare, as no singular policy can achieve all of the objectives. We remark that an increased spacing and reduced frequency reduce the financial burden of the system, although it is most likely not enough to compensate for the loss of revenue when fares go free.