It has happened with software, computing and entertainment, but we’re still waiting for the platform needed for mobility as a service to reach its full potential.
Instead of free parking, our post-COVID CBDs need a big vision to become attractive destinations that aren’t car-friendly at the expense of being people-friendly.
Electric vehicles would lower emissions, but if their lower running costs lead to increased car use that creates a whole lot of other costs for our cities.
COVID led to commuting time savings worth over $2,000 a year for each driver and $5,000 per public transport user. But as workplaces reopen, we may need road user charges to keep traffic flowing.
Conventional transport infrastructure planning has been based on wholesale commuting to and from the city centre.
Taras Vyshnya/Shutterstock
Coronavirus has changed population projections and behaviours across society. With fewer commuters we need to shift transport planning based on a hub-and-spoke network to focus on more local travel.
Investing more in cycling and walking would boost both physical and economic health, with a typical return of $5 for every $1 spent on cycling infrastructure.
Car use and cycling have soared to above pre-pandemic levels in our biggest cities (Melbourne is an obvious exception). Walking is not far behind, but public transport is being shunned.
A high-speed rail network in Australia would create many benefits by reshaping cities and regional communities along its route.
NSW Minister for Transport and Roads Andrew Constance announces a move to the next stage of planning for the Western Harbour Tunnel and Beaches Link project in November 2019.
Dean Lewins/AAP
Once again, the state looks intent on pressing ahead with a huge road project without releasing a business case. Among the many concerns is the failure to look at lower-emission alternatives.
E-scooters are increasingly used for urban transport, but the road rules treat them as recreational devices and their users as pedestrians.
haireena/Shutterstock
Are debates about e-scooters too narrow? Perhaps it is time to focus more on revitalising urban spaces and retrofitting road infrastructure.
Demonstrations against freeway construction in Melbourne included a street barricade erected in protest at the F19 extension of the Eastern Freeway.
Barricade! – the resident fight against the F19
Public protests eventually forced the scrapping of some proposed freeways in 1973. Today, we have another round of projects and people are protesting again, with good reason. Government should listen.
When politicians use selected modelling results to justify their decisions on contentious projects like Melbourne’s North East Link, the credibility of transport models suffers by association.
Vic Govt/AAP
Transport modelling has been tarnished by its use to justify the predetermined projects politicians favour. But, if used more transparently, it’s a valuable tool for planning our future cities.
The Melbourne Transportation Plan included every freeway and major arterial road built in the city since 1969.
Shuang Li/Shutterstock
While called a transportation plan,
it was heavily skewed towards roads. We need the type of city-shaping thinking that underpinned the plan, but today’s plans must match 21st-century priorities.
Many rarely used bikes end up languishing in the shed.
peace baby/Shutterstock
Where bikes are kept is a strong pointer to the place of cycling in the owner’s life. Effective active transport policy starts with understanding what stops people using their bikes instead of cars.
Smart transport solutions make better use of existing infrastructure and reduce the need to build expensive new roads.
AdobeStock
Faced with the eye-watering costs of building infrastructure, it makes sense to turn to much more cost-effective smart technology to get traffic flowing.
Trials found that 5% of offending drivers used a mobile phone with both hands while the vehicle was moving.
NSW Transport
Installing light rail is costly, as Sydney has found, but it’s the gold standard for public transport along road corridors. What trackless trams can do is rapidly expand such services at low cost.