Traffic crashes kill and injure millions worldwide every year and are a major drain on economic development. Improving road safety would produce huge payoffs, especially in lower-income countries.
A global study of 117 cities finds Australian capitals have fairly poor access by car. Public transport, cycling and walking access is better than in the US, but not as good as in Europe and China.
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority was hit hard by a 79% ridership reduction during the pandemic. It needs an extra $8 billion through 2024 to avoid service cuts and layoffs.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Transit agencies could use the money to buy new subway cars, buses and maintain rails. The funding is designed to build on last year’s emergency aid, which kept transit operating through the pandemic.
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.
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.
Iain Lawrie, The University of Melbourne and John Stone, The University of Melbourne
As COVID-19 restrictions are eased, cities face crippling congestion if people shun crowded public transport. More frequent and faster services, using innovations like pop-up bus lanes, can avoid this.
Mass transit ridership in Los Angeles and elsewhere has plummeted during the crisis.
Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images
On-demand public transport has now provided over 1 million rides in 36 trials in various Australian cities. Is the problem of poor suburban public transport on the way to being solved?
Traffic flows into Manhattan from Brooklyn over the Williamsburg Bridge.
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer
Under 10 percent of new Citi Bike and Divvy bike docks are sited where residents suggested using interactive online maps, a new study shows. But that doesn’t mean city officials weren’t listening.
Unloading packages and arranging them for delivery in New York City.
AP Photo/Mark Lennihan
Rising e-commerce means more delivery trucks and urban gridlock. Lockers at transit centers, where carriers can leave packages for people who live or work nearby, are a potential solution.
CRRC’s version of the optically guided bus, now operating in Zhuzhou, is more like light rail than its predecessors.
CRRC
The autonomous rail rapid transit (ART) system developed in China might make buses sexy, but the technology alone won’t resolve the issues of road space and right of way in Australia.
A race to dominate the emerging tech-driven mobility sector is happening in cities around the world.
Jakub Kaminski/EPA
Investment is pouring into urban technology, much of it into innovative ventures that aim to transform how we get around our cities.
CRRC Zhuzhou Institute developed the rubber-tyred autonomous rail transit (ART) system, or trackless tram, which has already been trialled in Zhuzhou, China.
Wikimedia
For 40 years the author has argued that trains and trams are better than buses. New ‘trackless trams’, which take innovations from high speed rail and put them in a bus, have changed his mind.
A dormant ‘cash mountain’ marks a nadir for London’s contactless travel card, but trouble has been brewing for some time.
Cities are growing vertically as well as horizontally, so infrastructure needs to ensure people can move up and down as well as across the city.
Alpha/Flickr
Cities are expanding upwards and downwards, as well as outwards. With urban density also increasing, moving people efficiently around the city, often using ageing infrastructure, is quite a challenge.