Active Travel without the spin

Before the ACT Legislative Assembly on the 23 March 2022, Transport Minister Steel spoke about Active Travel. Minister Steel is very good at staying on message and can repeat that message month after month, year after year, and budget after budget. Here is the Ministerial statement 75% shorter – just 800 words – without all the marketing.

We need a reporting standard for active travel

We lack a standardised reporting practice for active travel investment and need one. It would permit comparison of active travel spend across directorates and budget years, and discerning between cycle and pedestrian infrastructure. Canberra.bike calls for an Active Travel Reporting to be standardised. We need to know what the numbers we get quoted really mean and can be trusted.

Submission contents

Canberra.bikes` submission for the Standing Committee on Planning, Transport and City Services. Making Canberra a city where we can cycle safely and easily, at any time, from 8-80 years. Here is the table of contents with links to the text.

Section 5: Active travel

A brief introduction of active travel at a non-technical level. This submission is not about the technical aspects of active travel, which is well documented in the ACT Active Travel Key Documents. Combined with Austroads Standards there is enough there to build a good network. We are not failing because of a lack of standards. Rather the problem lies elsewhere.

Section 5.3 Cycle highways

The idea of “cycle highway” needs to be located within the Active Travel Framework, so that it is not disconnected from the planning mechanism in the ACT.

Cycle highways: Planning for Active Travel in the ACT

The relevant text for cycle highways is scattered throughout a number of key documents. Here, the relevant extracts from Planning for Active Travel in the ACT (PATACT) are gathered together in one place.

Cycle highways: Active Travel Facilities Design MIS05

The relevant text for cycle highways is scattered throughout a number of key documents. Here, the relevant extracts from Active Travel Facilities Design MIS05 are gathered together in one place.

Active travel visual dictionary

Active travel contains an abundance of new terms. Here are some of the more common ones. The definitions are from the Active Travel Facilities Design – Municipal Infrastructure Standards 05 (MIS05).

Molonglo Valley: conflicts between environment and active transport goals

Can the construction of direct and fast cycle highways be reconciled with environmental management? Crossing the Molonglo River is not so easy. ACT Environment is blocking the way. The Reserve Management Plan creates challenges to build cycle infrastructure in the Molonglo Valley.

Section 2.1 The UK approach to network design

We cannot make a baby without a baby-making machine.