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 3: Has Covid Killed Public Transport?

Session: 3

Room: Supper Room

Session Title: Has Covid Killed Public Transport?

Format: Presentation

Presenter Name: Phillip Mallis (City of Yarra)

Summary

• Covid has a significant decrease in PTV patronage. This is ongoing post-covid. Surprisingly, bus ridership has performed better. Consider the buses that service hospitals, and places of employment that cannot be completed by working from home.

• Infrastructure Victoria outlined that CBD employment has decreased. WFH has increased working in suburban areas.

• Trip purpose: Important to consider, however, the shortfall of the census is that it captures travel to work. The VISTA data set is more robust, and this is taken every 2 years.

• During COVID, car transport increased for work, recreation, and services.

• Cycling: The bike counters have shown LOWER bike use in 2022. In the lockdown, cycling ridership managed to remain consistent, which is impressive considering fewer people were commuting to work. With the overall drop in cycling volume from 2018-2022, we are returning to 2010 levels.

• Challenges: There are blind spots in the data collection. Trip purpose is limited. The data is not consistent, symmetry is essential. The frequency needs to also be increased. The data also needs to be accessible, in a spreadsheet form, why is data presented in a pdf in 2022?

• Data Gaps: We do not collate PTV crowding, vehicle crowding, tram patronage by line, or PTV journey purposes.

• Classpass format: We need better options to purchase Myki use. A deal when you receive ten passes and it is cheaper. The people who least afford it cannot. New York has a weekly cap, this would incentivise. Weekly deals could really help shift from car dependency. Instead of annual deals, look for weekly. Off-peak transport is a great deal, but people did not really know about it, it needs to be communicated best.

• The lack of tolerance for incomplete data has impacted the release of patronage data. Tense conversation! What happens when places do not have the resources to navigate the criticisms? We need a better picture of patronage and there are many behind the scene challenges that affect how data is circulated and presented.

• Privacy concerns towards Governments collecting qualitative data.

• How can we capitalise on the post-covid interest in getting back in the community. Should we encourage people to WFH or come into the office? Who gets to make these decisions?

• The message needs to be spread, if we say nothing driving will continue to increase at default.

• Congestion charging: Will this work, or will people continue to drive and accept the costs? Generally, individuals are resilient to change, therefore intense advocacy and education are essential.

Session 3: Victoria Transportation Integration Plan

Session: 3

Room: Yarra Room

Session Title: Victoria Transportation Integration Plan

Format: Presentation

Presenter Name: Catherine McNaughton

Summary

• Call on the Victorian government to work with councils and communities to develop metro and Victoria regional transport and land use plans.

• Create the places communities want.

• Assess infrastructure proposal to demonstrate maximum community and environmental benefits.

• Prioritize equity and people.

• Achieve net zero greenhouse gas emission transport and land systems.

• Include traditional owners’ perspectives, knowledge and country plans.

• Include full community engagement. As required under the transport integration act 2010 and climate change act 2017.

• Ad hoc projects have demonstrated limited community benefits, lack of integration, and limited linked benefits.

• Consider the scales of challenges that arise with population growth; changing commuting and living patterns, technology, climate and biodiversity emergencies.

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 3: Active Transport Integration

Session: 3

Room: Melbourne Room

Session Title: Active transport integration

Format: Presentation

Presenter Name: Danny Davis

Summary

• FLAIR: Flexible, local, accessible, integrated, and responsive.

• Accessibility in stations should be increased.

• High patronage for better bus stops.

• App-based information needs to be reliable.

• Multimodal journey app timetable should be user-friendly.

• Sharing data between companies will increase journey reliability.

Session 3: Political advocacy for better transport service

Session: 3

Room: Regent Room

Session Title: Political advocacy for better transport service

Format: Presentation

Presenter Name: Peter Parket (Melbourne on Transit)

Summary

• Transformed transit for Melbourne Political volatility has both positive and negative impacts.

• How to decrease the number of vehicles in outer suburbs to introduce public transport systems with high frequency and good connectivity. Is poor frequency why car use remains widespread?

• Recommended book: The making and unmaking east-west link.

• Bus services are the key to establishing an integrated transport network.

Session 5: Gender, Transport, and its Numerous Intersections

Session: 5

Room: Melbourne Room

Session Title: Gender, Transport, and its Numerous Intersections

Format: Open Discussion

Presenter Name: Zoe (Merri-bek), Elise (CrowdSpot), and Adam (Merri-bek)

(Photograghed by Benish

Summary

• Highly skewed and underrepresented numbers of women and non-binary people in cycling in Melbourne and Victoria. Removing the barriers to entry of bicycle riding

• The gender gap in cycling (Elise): Absence in policy for people that do not identify as men or women. We need to shift the conversation from increasing cycling opportunities for women to increasing the opportunity for anyone facing barriers. Some barriers include: safety, and raising children. Transport data should be provided with a gender breakdown.

• People ride to train stations when the alternatives are poor.

• Designing cross-community routes rather than just 'journeys to work'. There is no data on these journeys because they are currently not catered for. No safe infrastructure that allows women to give things a try and have the opportunity to "fail".

• Safety exists in many forms, including injury risk and the perceived safety of other people using the space.

• Lighting is a concern in footpath safety. Roads have lights, but footpaths do not. However, lighting is not the only concern for gender inclusion.

• Findings: Girls stopped using bicycles when moving from primary school to high school. Boys are given more freedom to travel to school independently.

• It's about pushing that market, activating new infrastructure, and making sure people are aware. Consider micro-mobility as a mitigating solution for last-mile, after-dark trips.

• Many people in typically female-dominated jobs will use scooters and won't cycle -

• E-cargo bike trials (Zoe): - Doing persona route mapping, rich heat map of trips women are choosing. Most people who haven't cycled or used cargo bikes are returning to cycling after having children. Mapping is showing routes taken, routes being avoided, and what streets young families and women are riding on. If we do more of these trials, we can target infrastructure and show where we should be investing it.

• Need quantitative and qualitative data - the stories of community members

Session 6: Parking Minimums

Session: 6

Room: Melbourne Room

Session Title: Parking Minimums

Format: Discussion

Presenter Name: Lachlan Burke (Movement and Place Consulting)

Summary

• Parking minimums are set by the council and are resisted by the business owner.

• Parking is most of the time provided more than requirements.

• Making people use active transport would make parking opportunities for the people with issues.

• We need some kind of management if accessibility is being impacted by the lack of parking. The car parking minimums have also made some businesses apply for waivers to their complexity and expense for small businesses.