Session 1: Small Transport Wins in Regional Victoria: Support Properity

Session: 1

Room: Supper Room

Session Title: Small Transport Wins in Regional Victoria: Support Properity

Format: Presentation and Group Discussion

Presenter Name: Benish (DoT)

Summary

• When transport is funded, the geographic disadvantage is not considered.

• Elderly populations are recognised, but not appropriately. Overall, we need bus services to capture these gaps in regional areas.

• Emphasis on systemic interventions, and single projects are not viable.

• Regional connections are often from direct A-B links to the CBD. This does not reflect the complexity of individuals’ transport needs. Consider medical services, do they need to travel to the CBD for these services? How can this be localised?

• Regional buses: Often only run in the morning and afternoon, but there is a gap in the middle of the day. The absence of a holistic timeframe means the service only services a small group of the community. Buses during just 'school-time' peak hours limit the capability of the service.

• Hyper Local, Flexible, Frequent, Integrated Towns and Cities are arranged as a 20-minute neighbourhood, but the infrastructure does not support these short, quick, and active trips.

• Consider old regional towns, these were established before cars and therefore inherently were pedestrian spaces. We can revisit this approach. We can look to the future, but sometimes we can look to the past.

• Responsive transport / On Demand: This is a new innovation. Barriers to access can affect the elderly. A case study (unnamed) moved away from fixed services, and the ridership decreased by 80%. Good in theory but needs to be carefully implemented. If additional care is focused on people with special needs.

• Challenges: The regional centres have services, but what about people who live in more rural areas. How can transport serve people who live "in the sticks"?

Session 1: Congestion Pricing

Session: 1

Room: Yarra Room

Session Title: Congestion Pricing

Format: Discussion

Presenter Name: Harry Barber

Summary

• What is congestion? How & where congestion should be priced?

• Car parking can have congestion prices.

• Congestion should be priced when vehicle load is within acceptable limits of the road capacity

• Data is a critical factor for analysing congestion and the optimum level needs to be established.

Session 1: Money Revenue Generation

Session: 1

Room: Portico Room

Session Title: Money Revenue Generation

Format: Discussion

Presenter Name: Simon and James (Stantec)

Summary

• The focus of the discussion is how to increase revenue from transport facilities. Public transport will be assisting movement for people and be free to use.

• Public transport expenses are significant for operation and maintenance.

• The primary opportunity lies in congestion pricing, proper pricing for parking, and fare payment encouragement.

• The City of Melbourne receives a significant proportion from on-street parking, and shared car facilities. Encourage Public transport use has been provided by reducing discounts on particular days of the week, and discounts for a group of people.

• Maximising asset utilisation.

Session 1: Car Dependency

Session: 1

Room: Melbourne Room

Session Title: Car Dependency

Format: Discussion

Presenter Name: Sebastian Aurisano

Summary

• Main Problems: Traffic jams, pollution, climate change. 25% of emissions come from transport.

• How to tackle it? Public transport, active transport, infrastructure. The pedestrian-oriented built environment is most critical. Autonomous and electric vehicles should also be considered. Electric vehicles tend to tackle pollution and climate change, but congestion will still remain.

• AVs might improve traffic jams but they may encourage urban sprawl.

• Car dependency has a gender impact, mothers need cars to take kids around. We can only use happy wheels if the urban built environment supports it.

• Minimum parking requirements based on floor area ratio should be reconsidered.

• Car sharing is important to diminish the parking issues related to autonomous vehicles.

• Private e-scooters should be allowed and encouraged in Melbourne.

Session 1: Transport strategy for Non-human and sustainability

Session: 1

Room: Regent Room

Session Title: Transport strategy for Non-human and sustainability

Format: Discussion

Presenter Name: Hayley Timmers (RMIT)

Summary

• How do we identify the key species or understand local biodiversity as one neighbourhood?

• How can we plan for non-human connectivity?

• Community advocacy reclaiming streets: Consider how people reclaim nature strips. Gorilla street trees on the upfield line.

• Community planting VicTrack: tracking which species pass which route in their everyday lives to reflect on the transport planning.

• How do we tackle KPI while making enjoyable connectivity for humans and non-humans?

• How should we assess possible environmental impacts on the site when we plan the strategy?

• There are important grasslands along the Sunbury line, these narrow strips of vegetation should not be managed without engaging Traditional Owners.

Session 3: Zero Traffic Growth with Increasing Population

Session: 3

Room: Portico Room

Session Title: Zero Traffic Growth with Increasing Population

Format: Presentation

Presenter Name: Lisa (DoT)

Summary

• The community complains about inadequate parking, yet people are aware of the traffic congestion.

• Consider a defined restriction for parking per household.

• Policy needs to be specific.

• Considered the opportunity of car sharing.

• How can we support younger generations and public transport use?

• We need to allow for time to see the behavioural change as infrastructure and restrictions will not radically change the car-dependent scenario.

• Restricting owning a car until a certain age could also be a way to ownership control.

Session 4: How can we reduce parking with car sharing?

Session: 4

Room: Portico Room

Session Title: How can we reduce parking with car sharing?

Format: Discussion

Presenter Name: Darcy (GoGet)

Summary

• Carshare facilitates placemaking and intermodal transport.

• Consider Peel Street where curbside parking slots were replaced by bike lanes.

• Users drive 50% less than before they joined the service. Increase access, and reduce costs/VKT. Car-sharing to tackle last-mile issues.

• 4 Key Benefits of onsite carshare -> reduce project costs (1 parking space $50k-$100k), improve project delivery timelines, reduce environmental impact and provide amenities to the local community.

• Requirements for onsite carshare -> a parking bay, mobile signal for the carshare vehicle, 24/7 controlled access. In front of/behind the security barrier. They provide different types of vehicles to meet different demands, such as vans to allow people to move houses.

Session 5: Cultural Landscape

Session: 5

Room: Portico Room

Session Title: Cultural Landscape

Format: Presentation

Presenter Name: Heather (Geelong City Council)

Summary

• Aboriginal people have settled in Moorabool and Barwon Rivers, but those lands were not preserved based on their cultural landscape.

• Evidence of heritage is limited to tangible things, however, consider the intangible method of First Nations Storytelling. First Nations' cultural heritage and identity are often framed through the western planning system and the inclusion as stakeholders.

• Strong People Strong Country Policy- developed and led by First Nations People. Introduces a re-framing where inclusion is explored through how the identity of the Traditional owners is dependent on the health of the Country and their environment.

• This is a shift away from policies that looked at inclusion from a stakeholder perspective, that in a way forced First Nations people to engage with the western/colonial planning system. How can policies support First Nations individuals that do not live in their Country, this is particularly common as a consequence of the Stolen Generation.

Session 6: Reducing Carbon Emissions

Session: 6

Room: Portico Room

Session Title: Reducing Carbon Emissions

Format: Discussion

Presenter Name: William McDougall

Summary

• North East Link, emissions saved only account for 3% of total emissions over 30 years of running the road.

• Coal exports are not being taken into account in our 'net zero' goals.

• Transport solutions: Currently planning for a sharp decline in emissions rather than linear descent. Where is the electricity coming from for electric transport?

• There is a lack of implementation ideas and no actual plan for emissions reduction.

• The AGL early closing of coal plants was an early win.

• Consider, Carbon pricing, and greater transparency in scope in emissions and materials (how they travel, where they come from). Onsets vs offsets. Incremental timelines rather than just 30 years.

• We need to encourage people and behaviour change and actively work towards emissions reduction. E.g. taxes and disincentives for driving SUVs in Norway or France.

• Educate about where super is investing in. Tangible and teaching people how they are affecting emissions. Small personal education campaigns. Who do you bank with etc.

• Private enterprise is likely to drive innovation more than government.

• Repurposing of EV batteries once reached the end of their ability to power vehicles.

• Priority should be making public transport the first choice.

• No money in behavioural change and a decrease in consumption is needed, that is where government needs to step in.