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 […]
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 […]
Creepy car parks – no thanks!
In terms of parking structures, it is likely that every person who drives will have at least three ready examples of “really bad car parks”, because unfortunately, they are commonplace. Whether they are “bad” in terms of design, signage, ease of use, traffic flow, safety or amenity (sometimes all of the above), these are the […]
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 […]
Decluttering Confusing Signage
The City of Sydney has been presented with a motion to simplify parking and traffic signage across the city. As reported in The Daily Telegraph, Cr Jenny Green presented the motion asking the Council’s CEO to investigate what other cities and local councils are doing to simplify signage. Mosman Council is undergoing a plan to […]
Will infrastructure planning be compromised?
Australian planners may face working without the benchmark information and guidance supplied by the Australian Census. On 18th February the Australian Federal Government announced that it was considering abandoning the Australian Census in favour of smaller sample surveys. The Australian Census has been held every five years since 1911 with the last census being held […]
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 […]
School Traffic Safety: why won’t parents learn?
In NSW the Police and school principals are appealing to motorists and parents to refrain from dangerous driving behaviour in and around schools. In just the first four days of this school year, there has been a 17% increase in the number of motorists caught speeding and a 24% rise in illegal parking infringements issued […]
School traffic targeted by Brisbane City Council
Brisbane City Council plans to target school traffic in 2015 by deploying parking officers in school pick-up and drop-off zones. The Council has commissioned eight marked cars for use by parking officers to enable them to enforce school zone traffic rules and deal with parking issues around the city’s schools. Council will also work with […]
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 […]
School Traffic: How much can Sydney take?
During school terms it is not only traffic which increases but also pressure on public transport systems, localised congestion around schools and particularly at drop off and pick up zones. All of this equates to an added strain on resources such as roads, public transport, police and local government and consequently to a drain on […]
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 […]
Australian Road Safety
2013-2014 Road Toll by State/Territory Image: www.museumvictoria.com.au During the twelve months ending December 2014 there were 1,153 road fatalities in Australia. Overall this is a 2.9% reduction on the 2013 road toll. However, state by state analysis is showing concerning increases in Victoria (2.5%), South Australia (9.2%), Western Australia (11.7%) and the Northern Territory (5.4%). […]
Welcome to Parking Australia’s new president – Cristina Lynn
Photo credit: Parking Australia We would like to welcome the new President of Parking Australia, Cristina Lynn. At the Parking Australia event in Sydney on Wednesday 10th December, long standing President Larry Schneider announced his retirement from the role. Cristina is the Managing Partner at Parking and Traffic Consultants and has been actively involved in […]
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 […]
Are more roads the solution to Sydney’s traffic congestion?
By Cristina Lynn Yesterday I attended the first day of the NSW Major Projects Conference and listened with interest about all the infrastructure projects being planned for our state. Whilst the issue of traffic congestion on our roads was mentioned in pretty much all the presentations, there was no information about how this is going […]
Victoria Decides – Traffic congestion and public transport high on the agenda
In the days counting down to an election the promises and future party policies are announced in rapid fire as last ditch attempts to persuade the undecided. Every speech is an attempt to impress the overall electorate with the “trust us – we know what you really really want” persona of political parties. This process […]
Journey to a Better Block
An enthusiastic group of Dallas residents recently transformed a busy intersection into a pop-up pedestrian plaza. The notable feature of the event, reported in Treehugger, was not just that they found yet another use for duct tape — the weekend event was actually an effort to revitalize a stalled community redevelopment project that had come […]
London Congestion Charge to rise
London is also grappling with its pollution problem and is considering changes to its Congestion Charging scheme. Currently imposed on every non-exempt vehicle entering the chargeable district, the levy is slated for a general increase commencing June 2014 from £10 to £11.50 per day. According to the Transport for London website, this increase is […]
Controversial plans for transport overhaul in Melbourne CBD
The Napthine government has announced major changes to the transport system in Melbourne ahead of the November election, including the capping of fares at Zone 1 level, and the commencement of free trams in the CBD from Jan 1, 2015. As reported in The Age, the scheme is expected to cost $100 million per year, […]
Congestion to cost economy $15bn per year by 2030
According to an article last week in the Australian Financial Review, the Abbott government was unmoved by the arguments of the Tourism and Transport Forum, whose members are urging the government to reconsider its position not to invest in public transport. The Tourism Transport forum is an industry group of the CEOs of 200 companies […]
Beautiful engineering creates cycling heaven in The Netherlands
There’s no shortage of cycle-friendly stories coming out of Europe, and we love sharing them with you. This recent post from Treehugger should provide both inspiration and aspiration for other cities and urban planners that are working on cycling solutions. The Hovenring is the first elevated cycle roundabout in the world. Commissioned by the Dutch […]
Bogotá leads the way with a car-free week
This story from Treehugger is a great follow up to our recent post featuring former Mayor, Enrique Peñalosa and his inspiring TED Talk on creating cities of the future. Peñalosa was responsible for Bogotá’s first car-free day back in 2000, which was subsequently approved as an annual event. Last week marked a new first in […]
The Greening of Hamburg
A team of 30 city planners in Hamburg, Germany are working on a massive project that is sure to keep Hamburg in the list of one of Europe’s most sustainable cities. A previous winner of the European Green Capital award in 2011, Hamburg has recently announced ambitious plans for reshaping the city centre over the next […]
Equality the goal in planning cities of the future
We came across another great TED talk in December, featuring the former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, Enrique Peñalosa, who suggests a new yardstick by which to measure our cities of the future. “An advanced city is not one where even the poor use cars, but rather one where even the rich use public transport.” Peñalosa […]