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Better Streets Quarterly Update: Building Bridges with NSW Politicians

3/9/2023

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We're excited to share with you the progress we've made in our recent meetings with key New South Wales politicians. Our advocacy efforts are gaining momentum, and we're at the forefront of conversations that will shape the future of our streets. These conversations are pivotal in encouraging our politicians to make decisions that ensure streets are not just roads but vibrant community spaces.

Regular Engagements with Minister Haylen's Office

We've successfully established a regular quarterly meeting with Minister Haylen's office, the Transport Minister. Our most recent discussion was both productive and promising. We delved into the potential of launching an active travel to schools program for NSW. This initiative is close to our heart as it not only promotes healthy and safe access for our children but also reduces traffic congestion during peak school hours. We provided a range of options for a program in the short to long term, and examples of successful pilot projects throughout NSW.

Furthermore, we discussed setting mode share targets and provided advice on rallying community support for the Oxford Street streetscape upgrade and cycleway in Paddington. 

Meeting with Dr Marjorie O'Neil MP
Our advocacy for active travel to schools found a passionate supporter in Dr Marjorie O'Neil MP, the Parliamentary Secretary for Transport. As with Haylen's office we provided further insights on this topic and gave practical advice on how such a program would roll out to councils and schools. Joining us in this meeting was Safe Streets for Schools, along with members experienced in Sydney's Northern Beaches and Eastern suburbs. Their insights and experiences added depth to our discussions, ensuring a holistic approach with practical advice.

Workshop with Transport for NSW
In collaboration with Bicycle NSW and BIKEast, we participated in a workshop led by Transport for NSW on the Oxford Street streetscape upgrade and cycleway. Our role was to guide them on collaborating with us and our coalition members to rally community support. We also provided feedback on the proposed street design layout and offered suggestions on framing messaging and timing for maximum impact.

Upcoming Meeting with John Graham
We're scheduled to meet with John Graham, Minister for Roads and Arts, this week. We're eager to discuss our vision and gain his insights on roads, outdoor dining and the 24 hour economy.

Our Commitment
One of our core purposes at Better Streets is to consistently engage with key decision-makers and politicians in government. We believe in supporting them in making bold and necessary steps to improve streets for people. Our goal is to ensure that our streets are not just thoroughfares but spaces where communities thrive.

Thank you for being a part of this journey. Together, we can make our streets better for everyone.
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Slip lane party in Fairlight

3/9/2023

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Fairlight community members and businesses have partnered with Northern Beaches Council to host a street party in the village centre on Sydney Road. The slip road opposite the main shops will be closed to cars and traffic speeds reduced from 60 to 40km/h, allowing the village to come together and celebrate local artists, makers, musicians and community groups. There's a packed agenda with yoga classes, salsa classes, and a DJ. Come and join in the Fairlight fling. 
Event Date: Saturday 9 September 2023
Time: 10am to 2pm
Location: Fairlight Village Centre, 147 Sydney Road, Fairlight NSW. 10 minutes walk from Manly Wharf or the 144 bus drops you in the heart of the village
​Event website: link

The installation of temporary infrastructure such as artificial grass, planters, outdoor furniture and garden games on the road (often referred to as  tactical or guerilla urbanism) will be a great opportunity to highlight the benefits of creating additional space for people and improving the safety of our streets.

Better Streets will be launching a new online mapping tool on the day that will allow community members to highlight opportunities to create safe, healthy, people-friendly, climate-friendly streets.

Call to action: Better Streets are looking for volunteers to help with the event. We need:
  • 3 - 4 people to be at the  Better Streets stall and show people how to use the mapping tool (don’t worry we will show you what to do)
  • 2 people to help with crowd management and directions (no qualifications required)
  • 1 first aider (qualification required)
  • Photography and videography
  • Assist with Better Streets social media posts
If you'd like to be involved, we'd love to hear from you on contact@betterstreets.org.au.
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Street improvement Public consultation by vote

1/9/2023

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The City of Stonnington (Victoria) is seeking public input to their once in a lifetime Chapel Street Transformation project and they're going about it in a most interesting way. Chapel Street is renowned for its shops, cafes, liveliness. To help council prioritise they are asking you to vote on what matters most. You have 100 points to allocate to the different options presented. 

Consultation is open until 30 September 2023. Go vote here - link
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Transport equity week 2023

31/8/2023

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Transport equity is the principle that all individuals, regardless of their socio-economic status, race, disability, age, gender, or other aspects of their identity, should have equal access to safe, affordable, reliable, and efficient transportation options.
Friends of the Earth (FOE) is inviting all groups and individuals who are interested and care about accessible and equitable transport for all, to join Transport Equity Week from 17-23 September 2023 with an action to raise awareness for transportation equity issues. You can sign up for an action here and access the fantastic social media pack. ​
​

What does transport equity mean?
Transport equity, also known as transportation equity or mobility justice, addresses the disparities and barriers that certain groups face when trying to access transportation. This can be thought about in 7 broad areas.
  1. Accessibility: Ensuring that people have access to a variety of transportation modes (e.g., public transit, walking, cycling, cars) and that these modes can get them where they need to go in a reasonable amount of time and cost. Being accessible, means being accessible for all, regardless of age, income, or physical or mental attributes.
  2. Affordability: Ensuring that transportation options are affordable for everyone, especially lower-income communities. The recent AAA (Australian Automobile Association) transport affordability index found the typical Australian household's transport costs rose by almost 7.4 per cent in the March 2023 quarter (primarily private vehicles). Public Transport costs in Sydney and Melbourne for a 7-day pass or maximum cap is $50. 
  3. Safety: All individuals should be able to move about safely, whether they're walking, cycling, taking public transport, or driving. In Australia, our major cities ranked poorly in the annual people for bikes survey rating 1733 cities globally. Sydney ranked 735 and 125 out of 163 large cities (26% percentile).
  4. Environmental and Health Impact: This considers the environmental impacts of transportation systems. Low-income communities and communities of colour often suffer disproportionately from transportation-related pollution. For example, having large motorways through the middle of communities.
  5. Participation and Representation: Communities should have a say in the planning, design, and implementation of transportation systems and policies in their areas. 
  6. Reliability: People should be able to depend on transportation options to be available and to operate efficiently. See our example below of the recent Bus Taskforce Report which has a comparison of Liverpool and Chatswood. 
  7. Infrastructure Investment: Historically, motor vehicle infrastructure funding has been prioritised. In Australia, walking and cycling investment has typically been less than 1% of the transport infrastructure budget (ACT has delivered in some years up to 14%). 
Addressing transport equity ensures that everyone, especially those from marginalized groups, can fully participate in society by accessing jobs, schools, health care, and other essential services. It is a critical component of a just and inclusive urban planning and transportation policy.

Case study - Chatswood and Liverpool.
​Same population density, but different bus service frequency

In July 2023, the NSW Bus Industry Taskforce released its first report on the state of buses in NSW. In the report, the inequities in the provision of the bus network and bus services in Sydney was identified. “Over two thirds of Greater Sydney’s bus patronage occurs in the area defined as the Eastern Harbour City.” “Poor bus provision limits access to and from the metropolitan centres of Penrith, Campbelltown, Bradfield, Liverpool and Parramatta, and enforces a higher reliance on cars in these areas.”
The report presented a case study between Chatswood and Liverpool to emphasise the inequality. These two areas have similar population sizes and density but have markedly different bus services and frequencies. Both have rail stations (Chatswood also has a metro connection), health and education centres. However in Ashcroft a low income area comparatively has one bus service to Liverpool 4km away a nearly 50 minute walk from Ashcroft Public school. 

The areas where it would benefit people the most, they have the least access locking in vehicle transportation costs.
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Image source: https://www.transport.nsw.gov.au/system/files/media/documents/2023/Bus-Industry-Taskforce_First-Report_July-2023.pdf
For more information about transport equity check out these reports and blogs from national organisations and key research publications: 
  • Australian Automobile Association – Transport Affordability Index – March Quarter 3
  • iMove Equity in Transportation 
  • The Fifth Estate - The chicken and the egg: How planning budgets make neighbourhood cycling a scramble 
  • Infrastructure Australia – 2009 - Cycling Infrastructure for Australian Cities
  • Cycling and walking can help drive Australia’s recovery – but not with less than 2% of transport budgets
  • Beck et al (2022) Active transport research priorities for Australia
  • The Conversation, Dr. Sipe (2023) -  Outer suburbs’ housing cost advantage vanishes when you add in transport – it needs to be part of the affordability debate
  • Australian Government (2019) - Relationship between transport use and income in Australia
  • Institute of Transport Engineers (2023) – Webinar – Transport Equity
  • Institute of Transport Logistics Studies (2022) - The growing importance of equity in planning cities: recognising the value of improved mobility for those at exclusion risk
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NSW 30km/h speed zoning standard - better but still room for improvement

13/8/2023

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Better Streets welcomes the new NSW Speed Zoning Standard however there is still room for improvement. 
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For the first time NSW has a policy that  articulates the street design requirements of 30km/h speed zones.
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30km/h speed zones are essential for making urban areas safe for people walking and riding a bicycle. Their implementation is one of the Better Streets’ Key Asks and has been the core work of  30please, a Better Streets coalition member.
The Speed zoning policy includes excellent principles, including: 
  • “Speed zones should be set to minimise harm” and 
  • “Speed zones should align with surrounding environments to support liveability, amenity, and successful places”.
​Unfortunately, in spite of these sensible principles the policy creates a number of requirements for 30km/h speed zones that will slow their widespread implementation. 

The first requirement is that generally 30km/h zones will be “avoided” on arterial routes or where there is more than limited through traffic, this means that main streets on busy roads are likely to be ineligible for safe 30km/h speed limits.
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The main street in Ljubljana, Slovenia is 30km/h. Photo credit: Better Streets
The second is that  30km/h speed zones can only be used where there is only one lane of travel for vehicles in each direction. This will require potentially costly work to be done to typical local streets particularly around intersections. ​
Picture30 km/h zone sign post in New Zealand. Photo: Better Streets
The third is that 30km/h streets must be “self-explaining environments” which may require significant traffic calming measures to be built, such as physical treatments at the entry of streets and speed bumps which will add cost, time and complexity to implementation.  Exactly what a "self explaining environment " is a term of art, and there are numerous examples of 30km/h zones from around the world which do not require special treatments, such as the 20mph arterials of London, or New Zealand.

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Whether this would be accepted by TfNSW remains to be seen.

Presently, speed zones can only be changed by the state government transport agency but we look forward to a future delegation so that Councils can reduce speed limits on local streets consistent with the policy.

Better Streets looks forward to Transport for NSW minimising the barriers to the rapid rollout of 30km/h speed zones by providing clear guidance that most local residential streets should be 30km/h and providing a toolkit of low cost, fast roll-out interventions to support easy and consistent implementation particularly for quiet residential streets that will signal (not enforce) appropriate behaviours to drivers, similar to local low speed red/brick streets used in the Netherlands and Scandinavian countries.
These could be simple entry treatments and/or signage for typical local streets, similar to some shared zones that use threshold paving or asphalt colour and signage to achieve desired behaviour. Preferably such a toolkit would be included in an update to the TfNSW Design of Roads and Streets Guide.

This new policy represents a big step toward the normalisation of 30km/h speed limits, and, while there are still challenges, it opens the door for future improvements that could streamline the process of making more safe streets and is cause for (cautious) celebration.
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Oxford Street Meeting with Transport for NSW

7/8/2023

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Oxford Street, Darlinghurst NSW is a major route from the East to Sydney City. The safe and efficient movement of people walking, riding bicycles, catching public transport and businesses should be prioritised.
Better Streets met with Transport for NSW to discuss the Oxford Street project, currently known as the Oxford Street cycleway - link for more details. 
​Better Streets proposed the following:
  • The project be called Urban Renewal Plan or Streetscape Improvement - easier and nicer to walk - localised footpath widening and buffer from traffic noise and pollution, trees and shade, outdoor dining,
  • The project integrate with the City of Sydney's City Access Strategy, Woollahra Urban Forestry Strategy (which would improve buy-in with Paddington Society)
  • Limit construction time with minimal disruption
  • The Street be zoned as 30km/h speed zone in order to maximise placemaking benefits for businesses - this is within Transport for NSW guidelines. 
  • Do not support the proposed changes to the lane travel widths. Oxford Street is not an arterial bus route here, 333 is a local bus because of transition to Bondi Junction.

To provide support for the project and suggestions - fill in the survey 
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How to get involved by writing letters

2/8/2023

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Children on pedestrian island outside Randwick Public

Discover the power of sharing your thoughts on active transport strategy in a simple, friendly way! One of our coalition members "Safe Streets to Schools" sent this letter to their local council to comment on the council's active transport strategy. This example and sample letter make it easy to write to your local council. Feel free to use the provided letter, or add your personal touch for an even stronger impact!
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Shout out to Owen from Safe Streets to Schools for sending this email that he sent to Randwick council.

Submission for active transport strategy_-_attention_lachlan_wood.pdf
File Size: 101 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

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Meeting with Australian Government

13/6/2023

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On 13th June, Sara Stace (Better Streets president), Stephen Hodge (We Ride Australia), and Sam Johnson (a Better Streets member) held a series of engagements at Parliament House in Canberra.

Key conversations revolved around:
  • The unfolding active mobility boom in China, particularly in Beijing and Tianjin, where over 3,200km of cycling infrastructure has been upgraded in four years. The figures were absolutely mindblowing, and we recommend you watch the webinar recording.
  • The critical role of the Australian Government in active transport, in particular climate change action and health benefits. It was highlighted that walking saves the economy about $5.30 per km and cycling about $1.80 per km in health benefits, with the Australian Government bearing most of the costs of health care. In addition, the federal government has international climate change obligations, of which active transport has a key role in shifting to sustainable transport.​
  • The importance of providing access to transport for all, considering nearly 40% of the Australian population doesn't drive due to various reasons including age, disability, financial constraints, or choice.
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Following the Better Streets delegation to Canberra, Sara Stace met with Wentworth federal MP, Independent Allegra Spender for a briefing. They recorded a short social media video, so keep an eye out for that soon.

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Welcome Monique

12/6/2023

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Better Streets would like to welcome Monique to the Co-ordinator role. Monique is a cargo bike mum with two little kids. She's lucky to live on Gadigal land in the centre of Sydney near the Bourke Street cycleway.

She loves seeing people of all ages, shapes and sizes can enjoying quiet tree-lined streets on foot or by bike and wishes everyone had access to urban spaces like that. It makes her sad and angry that so much of our public space is dominated by cars.

​Monique says she  joined Better Streets to be part of a positive movement for change. She's here to listen to people’s concerns, find the common ground and weave together a story of our shared values. She looks forward to working together to create better streets for everyone, especially our kids.
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Volunteer. You can change your streets. Robbie tells us how he got Open Streets for his children's school.

30/5/2023

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By the time both of my children were at school I found myself wishing that our bike ride to and from school could be a little bit nicer. For context, it’s already nice-ish. Our school, 
Coburg North Primary School, has separated pedestrian and cycling paths that run right to the main entrance. It’s just that as usual, space is quite contested around school pick up and drop off times, and there is a lot of motor vehicle traffic. We also have to cross a very busy arterial road to get there.

The inspiration to do something about it comes from my family’s lived experience of using active transport every day to school. Putting aside the daily constraints of the weather, it feels like our ambition to make active transport the first choice in our family is working well. But it isn’t exactly easy all the time. The chance came to do something about it when our council, Merri-bek (Victoria), started to directly engage with schools in a Ride and Stride program. As a volunteer on the school council, my first step was to work with the school in applying for this program. In our application we talked about how many children already ride to school, and we felt that this was only the beginning.

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The Ride and Stride program brought a range of new initiatives to our school. It enhanced our existing engagement in ride to school day, and also helped the council collect data on how many families used active transport to get to school, and how often. A centrepiece of the program was trialling “Open Streets”, where for a period of time before and after school the street is opened to humans by closing it to through motor vehicle traffic. 

As I’m sure many readers will appreciate, schools are busy places. We are fortunate in that our school supports these programs, but it is quite clear that they need to be community run to succeed here. Teachers have to teach. So the trick was to find a way to make this run with volunteers, so that we could deliver better active transport to the children, without putting any more burden on the school. The Open Streets trial events were carried off with great success, but quite a lot of work from the school, the council, and support from Bicycle Network. The trials revealed three things: that open streets can be carried out; that they have a huge impact on the amount of active transport used to get to school, and that an overwhelming majority in the community supported the idea.

A successful trial needs to lead to something else, and in this case, it was establishing a fully fledged program. More than the trial, the program has to rely on volunteers. So in the background, I took on the role of lead volunteer in the program, which meant undertaking traffic management training, so that I could implement a traffic management plan. A traffic management plan is the sort of thing you see when roadworks are undertaken, we put signs out to advise of road closures in a safe way. These plans are drawn up by professionals.

Another role of mine as lead volunteer was to build a team of willing adult volunteers who would help on the day. While I have to be present, as the person implementing the traffic management plan, each time we open the street, we also rely on other volunteers. We’ve got one person at each end of the street and another person roving the area. We provide advice on how to detour motor vehicles around the space, and we also help residents gain access to their homes if they need to, during the event. There’s even a building site in our area, and I often help the builders get their materials on site.

An Open Streets event is a happy event. By opening a stretch of side street, only 100m long, we create an entirely different look and feel. The space becomes human centred. We close the road to motor vehicles from 8:15 to 9am. During this time, it’s wonderful to see how the space fills with families, and the children have lots more space to play, walk, ride and scoot – both to school and around the street once they arrive. The street becomes a social space, before the school bell rings. Lots of people hang around, the children play and chat to each other, and frankly the parents do the same. It changes the dynamic of the school drop off. In the afternoons from 3:15pm to 4:15 we do it again. When school ends at 3:30 pm, it fills up with people who sometimes hang around for a short time, and sometimes as long as they can! The afternoons have more of a relaxed feel, perhaps because of being on a Friday.

Being a volunteer on the school council was no doubt a part of getting this initiative started. It also has to be said that the leadership from Merri-bek has been superb. Naturally, our school principal and leadership team have been instrumental as well. They understand the educational benefits of children using active transport to get to school, so the whole program is in their interest.
So far this year, we’ve been running open streets on the first Friday of every month. We launched with a celebratory feel, and now have ingrained them as kind of normal. Every event isn’t a party, it just feels like a little slice of somewhere else, happening here in suburban Melbourne. In the beginning, I fielded plenty of questions from locals, but these have become much easier to answer as the evidence - that is, happy children playing - becomes visible. If you’ve ever had curiosity about what can be done at your school to improve active transport, then my suggestions are straightforward. 

First of all, contribute to your school council by volunteering. 
Secondly, make the time to explain the educational benefits of active transport to the school. Thirdly, engage with your local government on active transport. This last step for me was easy, but even if it’s difficult, I think it is always worth trying. 

For more info about the program and to read the reports visit:
https://zerocarbonmerri-bek.org.au/travel-smart/ride-and-stride/
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Robbie Napper

Robbie Napper is a parent of two primary school aged children and lives with his family in Coburg, a Northern suburb of Melbourne. When not volunteering, Robbie is a Senior Lecturer at Monash University and sustainable transport expert. He is Deputy Director of Monash's Mobility Design Lab, member of the Australasian College of Road Safety, and holds a PhD in Industrial Design specialising in mobility. He is co-author of the book: Urban Mobility Design.

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