Vancouver promotes ‘active transportation’
Due to an innovative planning move by the City of Vancouver, the iconic Burrard Bridge handled about 300,000 bike trips per month between September and November last year, as reported in Streetsblog USA. Thanks to a protected bike path lane and an overhaul of the intersection at one end of the bridge, Burrard Bridge has […]
Dump The Pump Day – celebrating 10 years
A community initiative developed by the The American Public Transportation Association celebrated the 10th annual National Dump The Pump Day last week. Dump The Pump aims to raise social consciousness on how to save money (and the planet) by forgoing a visit to the bowser. APTA are encouraging people to take public transport and consider the potential to […]
Sweden’s Vision Zero – benchmark for road safety
What do Stockholm, Rotterdam and Berlin have in common? They are all involved in Vision Zero, aspiring to road safety at its best. The Vision Zero concept first originated in Sweden in 1997. Swedish parliament adopted it as their official road policy. The central theme for Vision Zero is to reduce all traffic fatalities and severe […]
The hidden cost of parking
Have you ever budgeted for the privilege of a car parking space in your apartment block? Probably not, because this cost is usually well hidden into the price of housing, land, construction, and maintenance. Over time this can certainly add up to a large proportion of your rental cheque or purchase price. According to Reinventing […]
BMW unveils “predictive parking”
Take the frustration out of finding that elusive parking spot with BMW’s new “predictive parking” feature (iPark), unveiled during the recent Detroit car show. According to Fortune in the US, “drivers waste an average of 55 hours a year looking for parking, costing consumers and local economies nearly $600 million in wasted time and fuel”. Not […]
US Report Card on State cycling
A pro-active and leading authority on bike riding in the US, the League of American Bicyclists, has released its 2015 State Rankings, highlighting which states are doing the most – and the least – to make bicycling a safe and convenient way to get around. Washington must be doing something right as they top the […]
Transport planning for “Millennials”
A recent US survey, presented by Progressive Railroading, found a majority of forward thinking citizens with an environmentally-friendly vision for the future, want access to public transportation options so they don’t have to rely so much on owning and driving a car. According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), they have defined this […]
Your ride into the future
According to EcoBusiness.com, personal electric mobility devices (PMEDs) are an emerging breed of transportation in Asia. Singapore’s Marina Bay financial district has been trialling the use of “Airwheels” to help drive a shift to more sustainable urban transport. By 2030, Asia will account for almost half of all the vehicles in the world. PMED’s may […]
Hospital Cycling Initiative Reduces Carbon Emissions
Forward thinking, planning and initiative paved the way for the Seattle Children’s Hospital to develop a comprehensive Transportation Plan. According to a well-known American blog – Streetsblog USA, The Seattle Children’s Hospital is leading the way in “Sustainable Healthcare Architecture”. Launched in 2008, “the new target was to reduce the share of commuters who arrive […]
Would London’s Congestion Charging work in Australia?
If you had to pay $20 to enter the CBD by car, would you take public transport instead? Apparently, if London’s experience is translatable, the answer is yes! In 2003, in an attempt to improve the untenable congestion and pollution that plagued Central London, the government introduced “Congestion Charging”. All private and commercial vehicles entering […]
Four days a year stuck in Sydney traffic
The Sydney Morning Herald recently reported a study by the GPS company TomTom which has named Sydney the most congested city in the Antipodes, and ranked it among the world’s worst, coming in at 21st place. Tuesday and Wednesday were determined to be the worst days of the week, and for every half-hour travelled at […]
Mexico City promotes “less parking”
We love this short animated video from ITDP Mexico which provides a simple (subtitled) case for “less parking, more city”. Paul Barter of Reinventing Parking draws a link between the work of recently retired parking guru, Prof Donald Shoup, and the movement away from minimum parking requirements. Makes sense! Here is the link to “Menos […]
Dutch cycling experts offer advice on road safety
There’s no easy answer to the problems of cycling safety in Australia, but the first order of business is a change in attitude toward cycling and cyclists. This was the observation of Dutch experts, Arie Vijfhuizen and Martijn te Lintelo, recently visiting Australia on a national tour speaking about road safety and cycling, reports the […]
Barcelona Police first with green ride
Barcelona Police have taken delivery of a new fleet of 30 electrically powered scooters, giving them efficient, zero-emission mobility around the city. Already a leader in sustainable mobility, Barcelona was the perfect partner to showcase this fleet of fully electric scooters, manufactured by BMW. As reported recently on BMW Blog, this is the first fleet […]
Cost to build a car park- and more!
Read the 2019 updated version of this post. Occasionally, people inquire as to what it costs to build a car park (this week, in fact). This is not an easy question to answer quickly, as there are many variables to consider — Is it at-grade or multi-storey, CBD or regional, number of bays, which […]
Amsterdam runs out of bicycle parking
It’s a problem that most cities can only imagine…to have exhausted the supply of bike parking! It could only be Amsterdam, a city of 800,000, whose inhabitants own an estimated 880,000 bikes — four times the number of cars in their garages. The ridership statistics are impressive – reportedly 58% of the population use a […]
School Traffic: Looking at reduction options
In the last of our school traffic series, we are taking a look at some of the school traffic congestion alternatives being put forward locally and overseas. The alternatives relate not only to traffic congestion but also how school communities can encourage more active alternatives for children travelling to and from school. In Mosman, Councillor […]
Wayfinder signs encourage sustainable mobility
In several towns and cities in the UK, wayfinder signs aimed at making it easier for pedestrians to navigate and explore are being installed. The new look signage encourages sustainable mobility by helping residents and tourists to navigate their way around town centres and to local landmarks on foot. The Wayfinder system consists of six-foot […]
London: Cycling now considered mass transport
Transport for London’s new Cycling Design Standards Policy begins with the words “Cycling is now mass transport and must be treated as such”. Councils in London boroughs are now requiring developers to integrate this approach into their development plans. A recent example is the 250 City Road project which was required to include ample parking […]
New York: Parking Grand Central style
So you’re spending a lazy Sunday in New York browsing through the options for an apartment upgrade and you come across 443 Greenwich in Tribeca, New York offering (among the “amenities”) a car park inspired by Grand Central Station complete with valet parking, convenient bike racks and a dedicated entry ramp for cyclists. The following […]
Adding HEAT to transport planning
Photo Credit: For best results, ride hot and slow. (Getty Images) via Bicycling.com For planners and politicians convincing the public of the need to expand cycleways and walking paths is not always an easy sell. For various reasons be it cost, impact on road users or inconvenience in public spaces, urban and transport planners often […]
Smart mobility can make cities sustainable
Image: www.cleanmpg.com According to the World Resources Institute and World Bank, 2015 presents a great opportunity to work towards making cities more sustainable. Helping put cities on the right path will require investment in sustainable, low-carbon urban transport systems, infrastructure and technology. “We can either continue to build car-orientated cities that lock in these unsustainable […]
Turning New York City’s parking lots into affordable housing
Photo Credit: Stefan Georgi/Flickr With New York City facing increasing pressure on housing affordability, the NYC based Institute for Public Architecture called for creative ideas and solutions for affordable housing. One of the most intriguing ideas came from fellows of the Institute Sagi Golan, Miriam Peterson and Nathan Rich, which targets the abundance of parking […]
Toyota working with the World Business Council for Sustainable Mobility
Photo credit: Volvo Traditionally achieving sustainable mobility in city centres has been the purview of town and urban planners in the employ of local, state and federal governments. However, citizens around the world are becoming more concerned with the environment and mobility. As citizens and governments become more focused on the achievement of sustainable mobility, […]
Paris plans car free city centre
Photo credit: Christopher Thomond for The Guardian The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo has announced plans to reduce traffic and pollution by converting the city centre to a primarily pedestrian and bicycle zone, in an interview with the Journal du Dimanche. Hidalgo wants to tackle the level of pollution in Paris with a view […]
2014 Australia and New Zealand Green Building Market Report
Photo Credit: Sourceable.net The 2014 Green Building market report for Australia and New Zealand has just been released. Between March and May 2014, 133 developers, architects, builders and subcontractors in Australia and 110 in New Zealand provided feedback on their views and experiences with green building. Findings include: In Australia: 90% of respondents have been […]
Repurposing roads and cycleways for renewable energy
In the Netherlands the first SolaRoad will open this week. The SolaRoad experiment is using a 100 metre stretch of cycleway to test whether solar power generated from these types of roads could “eventually be used for street lighting, traffic systems, electric cars and even households.” With 35,000 kilometres of cycleways and over 18 million […]
Focus on car park design
A recent architectural competition in the US by Combo Competitions has brought attention back to “parking garages”. Combo’s premise is to introduce an additional element to the competitions it organises (another structure, a new function tied to the main one or something completely different, as long as it adds value to the project). Combo recognised […]
A Parisian car park challenge
The Peninsula Hotel, situated in the heart of Paris was built in 1908, one of its many claims to fame being the site where George Gershwin wrote “An American in Paris” in 1928. It took two years to build and has recently undergone a four year restoration to bring it back to its former glory. […]
Honda’s new safety technology protects pedestrians
Honda has announced a new driver-assist technology which has the capacity to avoid collisions with pedestrians. The new “Honda Sensing” will be available on the Legend in Japan later this year, as reported by Hybrid Cars. The system utilises a millimetre-wave radar in the front grille and a camera mounted inside the windscreen to forecast […]