Her Way: a recommendation report

Her Way is a report from Labor MLA, Dr Marisa Paterson. The report is welcome and appropriately has a photo of her on the cover sitting on a bike. The report does not really say much new about cycling that has not been said in similar reports from other Australian cities. We should celebrate though that active travel is finally thawing after a long period of stagnation.

Access and connectivity: ACT Wellbeing Budget 2021-22

Implications of the Wellbeing Framework from the 2021-2022 ACT Budget. The Wellbeing Framework is made up of twelve domains, of which “access and connectivity” is most important for active travel as it includes transport. Access and connectivity is found across most ACT Government agencies. Not everything in access and connectivity is transport related. We have gather those items that are.

Investigating Minister Steel’s $77 million claim

Minister Steel claims that $77 million is earmarked for active travel in the ACT over the next four years but in the 2021-2022 ACT Budget we find only $20 million, leaving a large discrepancy. The Standing Committee On Planning, Transport And City Services questioned where this difference is to be found during the Inquiry into ACT Budget 2021-22.

ACT Election now a year ago

A year has now past since the 2020 ACT Election (17 October 2020). The last legislative term (2016-2020) was a disappointment for cycling. While in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and other smaller cities there was a swing towards cycling as a result of COVID, Canberra missed the wave. Would it not be wonderful if we hadContinue reading “ACT Election now a year ago”

The Chris Boardman interview – FareCity

The Chris Boardman interview by FareCity introduces cycling leadership. Something lacking in the ACT. Chris is not the first to say such things. Brent Toderian has said similar things. In a leadership void, however, cycling gets nowhere. That is why the ACT needs an Active Transport Commissioner.

Developing an reporting standard for active travel

We do not have an accounting standard for active travel and need one. Here we consider how one could be created that permits 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 Standard.

Low active travel investment: ACT Budget 2021-2025

Few items in the budget are directly related to active travel. The new investment in Active Travel for the period 2021-2025 is just $17.370 million. The analysis of the TCCS Budget Statements. Considering cycling is a congestion buster and has health and wellbeing benefits for both children and adults, one would have expected cycling investment to feature strongly in this budget.

ACT Projects Pipeline 2021-22: selected projects

An interesting list of upcoming projects in the ACT in 2021-2022 (stand 20 Jul 2021), including the new suburbs of Jacka (Gungahlin) and Whitlam (Molonglo Valley), and duplications such as Athllon Drive. The list is sorted by procurement start. Indicative package values are included for most projects (others are marked Not For Publication ie NFP)

Prioritising cycling and active travel

The peak period traffic chaos around Molonglo Valley would indicate that we have made a mistake. The development of this Future Urban Area has demonstrated that we still do not prioritise the development of cycle and active travel infrastructure. Molonglo was chosen as it was close to Civic, however we have not seen the take-up of cycling for transport in the Molonglo Valley but rather car dependency. To move cycling forward, we need to develop the cycle infrastructure independently of roads. What went wrong in the Molonglo Valley?

Shorts: traffic exam for children

Why wait until the driver’s licence? We can teach children safe cycling in school. In the Netherlands, the school children take a traffic exam on their bikes when they are just 11 years old. With a rite of passage on bicycles, are we surprised that the Netherlands is a cycling nation. The nature of a rite of passage is there is something to celebrate!