Moving around Perth.

I just returned from Perth where I attended the AITPM 2013 national conference. While I spent most of my days there attending the conference, I had a day and a half to visit the city centre, the beach and Fremantle.

Perth is a magnificent city that supports a high quality of life for its residents. Perth was ranked as the 9th most  liveable city in the world at the Economist Intelligence Unit's latest livability ranking. This ranking assesses living conditions in 140 cities around the world for 30 indicators across five broad categories: stability; healthcare; culture and environment; education; and infrastructure.Perth is the 4th Australian city in this ranking bellow Melbourne, Adelaide and Sydney and above Brisbane.

Focusing on mobility management, Perth ticked all the right boxes in terms of public transport, street calming and livable streets. I really liked the traffic calmed streets in the CBD, around the main pedestrian streets (or malls as they are called in Australia). The use of pavers for the surface of pedestrian crossings creates a pedestrian friendly street environment.

In Fremantle this idea goes a step further. Pedestrian streets and traffic calmed streets with street furniture and landscaping along with well preserved heritage buildings create an atmosphere that goes beyond a typical port town and place Fremantle at the top of Perth attractions and places worth visiting. On a Saturday with the market open and everyone enjoying a coffee or a beer under the sun, you feel so relaxed that you start thinking that Perth is definitely a place worth considering moving to.

 Street artists painting in the street or playing music enhance this atmosphere.

  

 

Unfortunately as a typical Australian city there is a lot of work to be done when it comes to cycling and cycling infrastructure. Perth has very low percentage of people cycling to work at 1.3 %. The percentage of people using public transport for their every day trip to work is much higher at 12.7 % lower than Brisbane but on a upward trend which is expected to further rise in the near future thanks to the new free for all CAT (central area transport service) bus lines. Perth operates a Free Transit Zone ( FTZ ) where within the Perth city centre travel on public transport is free. 

To travel within this zone you can simply hop on any train, bus or CAT. You are not restricted to the amount of times you can use this service and no tickets are required. The FTZ includes City West and Claisebrook on the Fremantle, Midland and Armadale train lines, the start and finish of the FTZ are clearly marked, on the train stations and bus stops.

My tour around Perth ended at City Beach where looking at the sunset over the Indian Ocean on a clear and warm winter day I thought that won't be long before the day that I will return there to explore further this wonderful part of the world. 

Discussing countdown timers on Linkedin

Linkedin is a professional network on the Internet with more than 187 million members in over 200 countries and territories. It is like the Facebook of professionals. One interesting aspect of Linkedin is the groups which are a forum that some very interesting discussions take place. It is also a valuable source of information. I posted my previous blog entry on countdown timers at pedestrian traffic signals on Traffic Engineer and Transportation Planner Network group with a question whether this is an idea worth investing on or should we look for a totally different approach when it comes to pedestrian traffic in busy CBD intersections. I was very pleased to see that this topic sparkled a very interesting conversation. Traffic and transport professionals from around the world posted their comments on the issue. Some of them shared links to study reports on countdown timers’ trials on different countries. The majority of the responses were in favour of installing such devices on traffic lights. Here are some of the comments:

Ray Guarino, Transportation Planner at Old Colony Planning Council, Brockton, Massachusetts: “Yes, they are worth the investment. In busy urban areas these countdown timers work great. If you want to see them in action at busy intersections, and you are the USA, go to the corner of Boylston and Tremont in Boston, Massachusetts.
                                                                                                                
Jim Lizzi, Senior Transportation Engineer at City of Irvine, Orange County, California: “I support the use of countdown timers simply because the information transmitted to pedestrians is of value.” and “With countdown timers, at least pedestrians know for sure when they should definitely NOT start crossing. The bottom line for me is that safety--of all kinds--is enhanced through understanding.”

Jakob Helmboldt, Pedestrian, Bicycle & Trails Coordinator at City of Richmond, Virginia: “In the US countdowns will soon be mandatory (end of 2013 is the current compliance date). Countdowns do have benefits, and FHWA wouldn't be requiring their use if the experimental use showed significant impaired safety. More information is always better than less when it can be conveyed with ease which is the case with a countdown signal. That said, there are always negative externalities possible, but on balance they are an improvement.”

Jeff McMullen, Chief Engineering Technician ITS/TOC at City of Fresno, California: “I agree that the countdown timers are great for pedestrians however, although I have no data to back this up other than observation, motorists are using the countdown timers also. When they see that the time is about to expire they (the aggressive drivers) tend to speed up to ensure they can make it through the signal.”  

Chuck Weaver, Senior Designer at Brudis & Associates, Baltimore, Maryland: “I've been designing intersection in MD for years....we are upgrading to APS/CPS almost everywhere”

Tony Earl, Head of Network Performance at Transport for London, Redhill, United Kingdom: “I am currently rolling out Pedestrian Countdown at Traffic Signals (PCaTS) to 200 signals with all red to traffic Pedestrian Stages in London following a study undertaken on behalf of Transport for London by TRL. This is now approved for use in the whole of England. You may find the study report of interest.”

Martin Huang, Traffic Engineer at Tauranga City Council, New Zealand: “We have also installed some countdown timers at one of our signalised intersections in our city. From my observations and previous research undertaken in New Zealand, it appears that the benefits from the device are more qualitative than quantitative. About 90% of the interviewees are positive about the installation while only several percentages of crash and compliance rate have changed. To me personally, I see it as enabling to provide clear messages for pedestrians to make an informed decision. Teenagers can dash across the road with less than 10 seconds but the elderly would be safely to wait for next cycle even if it is 15+ seconds left.” and “Just for your information, there are 2 research reports about trials of countdown timers application in Auckland and Wellington and their links are shown below.
http://www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/research/reports/428/
http://www.ipenz.org.nz/ipenztg/papers/2007/C4a_HooperVencatTse.pdf

Pravin Dayaram, Director at Traffic and Transportation Engineers Ltd, New Zealand: “n Auckland, the countdown timers seem to have been implemented only at (or in conjunction with the change to) what we term locally as 'Barnes Dances' (all traffic stopped pedestrian movements cross at the same time and named after the developer). My observations indicate that there is significantly less non-compliance (crossing during the short flashing-red man phase)…”

 District Department of Transportation Columbia

Glenn Cole, Manager, Technical Information Programs at Transportation Association of Canada, Ottawa, Canada: “The Transportation Association of Canada (Traffic Operation and Management Standing Committee) put together a small study: Informational Report on Pedestrian Countdown Signals. It's available on line at
http://wiki.tac-atc.ca/twiki/pub/ChiefEngineers/PedestrianCountdown/Project_253_-_Optional_Use_of_Pedestrian_Countdown_Timers.PDF

The story Rob Klug, Traffic Signal Engineer at Clark County Public Works Portland, Oregon shared with the group was very interesting: “My favorite citizen interaction was with an elderly person who approached me at an intersection we just installed the countdown timers at, where I was working on the cabinet. She told me that she really appreciated all the extra time that she was given by these new countdown heads. She never got across the street within the flashing don't walk, but all the extra time we gave her with the new heads made it so that she could get across the street with 4 or 5 seconds to spare. I explained that we did not change any settings on the control equipment, but she was probably adjusting her walk speed based on the time she saw was left on the countdown.  She crossed her arms, and said in a very stern voice "I know you changed the timing. I never was able to cross within the time, now I can". I told her the only thing that made sense. "You are welcome", and went back to work.”

Image from 7 News video

We are living in a new era of professional and scientific communication and dialogue. The duty of mobility practitioners is to make an effort to be part of this new world, use the available means in a responsible way and share knowledge and experience.

The online mobility management toolbox goes on a ride.

The Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management (AITPM) is an organization that aims mainly to promote the positive aspects of traffic & transport planning and management for the benefit of the whole community and to increase members' knowledge within the field. Since I came to Australia, more than a year ago, and being member of The Hellenic Institute of Transportation Engineers (HITE – ΣΕΣ), I became also member of AITPM.

 

The AITPM 2012 annual national conference was held in Sydney from 9 to 12 October at a fantastic venue Luna Park and it was a great honour for me to be selected to present my work on the on line mobility management toolbox.

Presentation Part 1

 Presentation Part 2: Conclusions

Camera Director: Pam Andritsakis.(thank you Pam).

Overall it was a great conference with many very interesting papers presented. I found most interesting the presentations on alternative and sustainable modes of travel like walking and cycling. In the same session as me, there were two colleagues that I think they are very good ambassadors of Brisbane transport professionals. Rachel Smith was passionate as always, suggesting that we should trial the closure of some CBD streets for a couple of hours at lunchtimes to experiment with giving pedestrians priority and creating new economic opportunities. Michael Roth  commented on ways that we can convince more drivers to drive ecologically improving this way both their environmental impact and their weekly spending on fuel.  Both presentations were within the philosophy of mobility management and sustainable mobility. 

On the second day of the conference there were also quite interesting presentations and at times it was difficult to choose between the two different sessions taking place in different halls. Matthew Harridge presented the work on a carpooling system implemented at Tally Ho Business Centre, Victoria. Again carpooling is a solution that can reduce congestion and air pollution in cities with intense problems as Melbourne. Matt Tilly's work on Improving the walkability of Brisbane's City Centre was also very interesting. This work on the Brisbane City Centre Active Transport Study was part of the new Brisbane City Council Master Plan.

The last day of the conference I participated in the official multi modal tour of Sydney. Even though the weather that day was not so good the participants had a chance to learn about the new transport projects that are planned for North and West Sydney. But Sydney's transportation system is a very interesting story of it's own and something tells me that in the near future I will have the chance to share it.

Olympic Games traffic

I am watching the Olympic Games 2012  opening ceremony and as always my mind goes to transport and traffic. 

The Games being such a huge event, involving thousands of participating athletes, coaches and spectators are such a great challenge for the transportation planners and traffic engineers of each hosting city. 

Even in the hosting city selection procedure, transport and traffic is the second most important aspect of the candidate cities’ proposal after venues. Cities are struggling to persuade the “immortals” that they can manage traffic during the Olympic games in a way that not only will be effective but also sustainable. The games provide the opportunity for the cities to build new transportation system like the Athens Metro and tram. 

But even big transport infrastructure projects like public transportation systems and construction of new motorways and arterials are not enough to ensure that athletes would not need two or three hours of travel to get to their Olympic venue. Transport planning, traffic management and mobility management plays a big role in this task. After all, transportation network capacity is not designed to support all this additional demand for travel. 

One of the traffic management measures used, is sending a significant percentage of the Olympic city’s residents away from the city or having them stay at home. Usually this is achieved by giving civil servants mandatory leave and generally by making it so much more difficult for people to travel to their usual every day destination, so they will prefer to go on holidays or stay home. Again Athens was an example for this with so many Athenians spending their days during the Olympic Games in the islands.

The objective is to enable athletes and officials to get to their events on time. This is accomplished by installing Olympic lanes. Roads or traffic lanes reserved for accredited Games vehicles – athletes, officials and of course sponsors – as well as emergency vehicles. In London there are 30 miles of Olympic Lanes installed mainly on some of the city’s main arterial roads, marked by white Olympic rings painted on to the road. 

No one else is allowed in these lanes, not even black taxis or bicycles and this raises discomfort, protests and even extreme police actions that don't exactly promote the Olympic spirit.  

Trying to achieve optimum traffic management is not an easy task as some of London’s biggest traffic engineering gaffes show. 

Olympic Games have blown out of proportion during the last decades thanks to the commercialization spirit. The sponsors and the often greedy national Olympic committees push to include more sports and more athletes to the Olympic Games and finally cities that host the games do not benefit from them overall.At least it seems that they benefit from some improvement to their transport systems and the added experience in mobility management.

Charming cycling? Not in a helmet!

Riding a bicycle is one of the most sustainable mobility choices. Cities and people can greatly benefit, if they can raise the mode share of cycling. Australia in general and Brisbane specifically has a very small bike share even thought the last few years a lot of effort has been put in increasing bicycle use. You can see all the bikeways  and shared paths on Brisbane in the maps that provide information on on-road and off-road bicycle lanes, bike shelters and cyclepods to make your ride or walk safer and more pleasant.

Yesterday there was a very interesting event in Brisbane – which unfortunately I was not able to take part. Brisbane Bike Over Speed. Cyclists in their normal cloths, their work outfit or their best suits cycled through the City and South Bank just to make the point that cycling is not only for the “hardcore - lycra wearing – Tour De France looking” cyclists. See the video of their playful ride:

Some of them were riding CityCycle bikes. CityCycle is a very good initiative that can help raise bicycle use across the city. When I first saw the yellow bikes, similar to those in Paris and in Dublin, I thought: Way to go Brisbane. The next couple of days I subscribed to City Cycle and now I use the yellow bikes regularly. That is, I try to use them every day but it seems that quite a few days I am not able to do so because I can not find a bicycle with a helmet in the bike rack. That is one of the biggest reasons that the overall daily trips of CityCyle remain so low. Dublin Councillor Andrew Montague shares his experience about the bike share system in Dublin and compares it to the one in Melbourne which is so similar to CityCycle in Brisbane. The video is from MikeRubbo artist devoted in promoting "the beauty of the body of the bike".

And then browsing about cycling and the city I found this TEDx video of   Mikael Colville-Andersen, filmmaker, photographer and urban mobility expert from Copenhangen, Denmark explaining with lots of research and data “Why We Shouldn’t Bike with a Helmet”. Interesting comments, especially those concerning Australia.

I moved.

 It’s been a while since my last post in this blog. The reason for that is that I moved. That is, I changed the house that me and my family lives. We now live in Brisbane, closer to my workplace so no more three hours commuting every day. This is a big upgrade for my quality of life just from this move.

But then when I started thinking of the word move in English I remembered my last project back in Greece – Mmove and the mobility management toolbox.

So I found it interesting that it is actually the same word that has all those different meanings. Wiktionery has listed the following:

move (third-person singular simple present moves, present participle moving, simple past and past participle moved)

1. To change place or posture; to stir; to go, in any manner, from one place or position to another

A ship moves rapidly.

I was sitting on the sofa for a long time, I was too lazy to move.

2. To act; to take action; to stir; to begin to act; as, to move in a matter.

Come on guys, let's move, there's work to do!

3. To change residence; to remove, as from one house, town, or state, to another; to go and live at another place. See also move out and move in

I decided to move to the country for a more peaceful life.

They moved closer to work to cut down commuting time.

4. (chess, and other games) To change the place of a piece in accordance with the rules of the game.

The rook moved from a8 to a6.

My opponent's counter was moving much quicker round the board than mine.

5. To cause to change place or posture in any manner; to set in motion; to carry, convey, draw, or push from one place to another; to impel; to stir

The waves moved the boat up and down.

The horse moves a carriage.

6. To transfer (a piece or man) from one space or position to another, according to the rules of the game; as, to move a king.

She moved the queen closer to the centre of the board.

7. To excite to action by the presentation of motives; to rouse by representation, persuasion, or appeal; to influence.

This song moves me to dance.

8. To arouse the feelings or passions of; especially, to excite to tenderness or compassion, to excite, as an emotion.

That book really moved me.

9. To propose; to recommend; specifically, to propose formally for consideration and determination, in a deliberative assembly; to submit, as a resolution to be adopted; as, to move to adjourn.

I move to repel the rule regarding school obligatory school uniform.

10. (obsolete) To mention; to raise (a question); to suggest (a course of action); to lodge (a complaint).
11. (obsolete) To incite, urge (someone to do something); to solicit (someone for or of an issue); to make a proposal to.
12. (obsolete) To apply to, as for aid.

And there is also a big list of different meanings for the word move that you can find in Wikipedia.

Greek language is a lot different. So in most cases by the word move you will mean the word Μετακινώ but for moving from a house to another you would say Μετακομίζω or Μετοικίζω. But since I am traffic and transport (or should I say move) engineer I leave it for the linguists to move it further.

Keep left

Coming to Australia from Greece I had the problem to adjust to left side driving. Today about 66.1% of the world's people live in right-hand traffic countries and 33.9% in left-hand traffic countries. About72% of the world's total road distance carries traffic on the right, and 28% onthe left.

source

It took me about a month to get comfortable on driving to the other side that I used to drive for 20 years. 

Australia drives on the left. The decision to drive on the left side of the road was made in the early 19th century in the early period of the British colony of New South Wales.

Keep left sign on the Great Ocean Road, Victoria

Thankfully roads in Australia are well signed, equipped also with pavement markings and lines making it real easy for the foreign driver to drive here. The most helpful sign is without doubt the KEEP LEFT sign.  

The sign is used near the start of a central island, median or similar device where traffic can physically pass on either side but it is necessary for all traffic on the particular approach to pass it on one side only.

The sign and the left arrow is also used in other occasions. It seems that the last days everywhere I go I find one of this in front of me.

Bermuda Road, Gold Coast

Q1 Gold Coast

Australia Fair Parking, Gold Coast

Gold Coast Highway

Gold Coast Highway

Victoria Bridge, Brisbane

No parking odd sign.

While discussing parking restriction signs and regulations with my colleagues I realised that European parking signs are a lot different than those in Australia.

Take a look at some of the most common parking signs in Australia:

 

Here, parking signs are more like the USA signs:

In both countries you will find some differences between the different states (and territories).
But in Europe, parking signs are a lot different,. This is how the no parking and no standing sign look like.

Also there are some odd signs. Because of the mixed land uses in city centres and the narrow width road network there are the no parking on odd months and even months signs in Greece that look like this:

One sign I haven't found in Australia

The above sign is quite common in Europe. Most of the European countries have it and in Greece the official name translates to “Start of residential area marked as traffic calm”. 

In Netherlands is called “woonerf” which is the most used international term from the Dutch words wonen 'reside' + erf 'premises, ground'.

Historically this scheme originates from Holland. The Dutch government developed traffic regulations for woonerfs in 1976, though the first woonerf was built in the city of Delft a decade earlier.

In the UK they have the “Home Zone” sign which is much similar. 

In Australia we have the 10 Km Shared Zone which is a quite different in colours. 

 Maybe we need to rethink about not only the sign design but the sign usage as well.

Road safety: A tale with a dragon with big teeth.

The other day I was discussing some road safety issues and a treatment with the name of “Dragon’s teeth” was mentioned. To tell you the truth it was the first time that I heard of the term so I asked myself “What are Dragon’s teeth?”

By the term Dragon’s teeth in traffic management we mean one of the following three things:

1. Triangular road markings that have been installed at the entry points to all 10,000 school zones across New South Wales up to 32.5 metres at the start of each school zone, to improve road safety for students. The Dragon’s Teeth markings further increase the visibility of school zones for motorists and provide a constant reinforcement to keep to the 40 km/h speed limit around schools.

 

2. Calibrated edge and centre line markings used as a secondary method to check vehicle's speed manually by calculating its speed between them when using a road side speed camera.

3. Road surface mechanical devices used to enforce one way traffic. They are mostly used on private road.

Shared Bikes – Way to go Brisbane

Brisbane is the one of two Australian cities with a bike sharing scheme. It is the newest in Australia and the biggest regarding the total number of bikes with 1000 operating and 1000 more soon to be offered. The bicycles in CityCycle look a lot like those of Velib in Paris where the bike sharing scheme is a huge success with more than 20000 bikes on Parisian roads. CityCycle bikes can be found in 104 (soon to become 150) stations in the city centre and the surrounding neighbourhoods. In order to use CityCycle you need to subscribe and then you can ride for free for a period of 30 minutes. As long as the bikes are returned to a station within half-hour intervals the user can ride all day for free. If there is a need for longer usage then there are usage fees.

Bike sharing is a great idea for the cities aiming at providing an alternative to private car use in the city centre, thereby reducing traffic congestion, noise, and air pollution. It is a great practice for cities with parking supply problems. It also aims at supporting the use of public transportation and especially for commuters as it provides the means to the last part of the home to work trip.  Besides the obvious advantages of moving by bike like benefits in health and cleaner urban environment, bike sharing schemes are great for tourists as they provide an easy way to visit more city attractions and reach more city businesses.

There is some criticism about CityCycle especially regarding that is not so successful in attracting users. Major reasons for this are the initially high daily subscription which was 11 $ and the mandatory helmet use. The first issue was recently addressed by setting the daily subscription to 2$ which had an instant effect on rising casual hires. But the mandatory use of helmet is not. Australian bike sharing schemes are the only known bicycle share schemes that operate under a mandatory helmet requirement. But who would carry with him a helmet at all times just to use it on his last part of the daily trip to work? Also who will carry a helmet on the chance that he/she might want to borrow a bike for a quick trip to run an errand? Netherlands and Denmark are the countries with the highest percentage of bicycle use and very low percentage of accidents and no mandatory helmet use. Maybe we can learn from the best.

Smart Parking

The other day  I took a trip to Robina Town Centre and while parking there, I had the chance to view the quite advanced parking management system they have installed. As they say in their website it is “arguably the best parking on the Gold Coast with approximately 6,000 free of charge car parking spaces”. The basic advantage of this car parking site is a system that helps you quickly find available parking spot and closer to where you really want it. That system addresses the foremost needs of a driver in a car parking. With a series of detection sensors, overhead led lights and variable message signs the system directs drivers to the vacant spaces. 

 

Parking management is another sector of mobility management aiming in a more efficient and fair use of mobility resources, in this case parking space. Even though on street parking management is more crucial to cities, in the case of cities like Gold Coast where shopping is separated from residential areas, off street parking management is also critical. There are a lot of ideas and approaches for parking management. From shared parking to park and ride and from parking & charging to parking metermaids innovative solutions make parking and thus mobility easier for everyone.

Shared Space – Streets for everyone

By the term “Shared space” we define the design approach that seeks to change the way streets operate by reducing the dominance of motor vehicles, primarily through lower speeds and encouraging drivers to behave more accommodatingly towards pedestrians. In addition the use of level surface tends to remove a physical and psychological barrier to pedestrian movement. It can also indicate to drivers that pedestrians are not confined to the footway and that they can expect to encounter them in the whole of the street.
The other basic measure in shared space is reducing demarcation. Removing almost every road sign like speed limits and traffic lights increases the amount of interaction taking place between pedestrians and car drivers. Reducing demarcation indicates that the street is meant to be shared equally by all users of the street. Implied priority for vehicles is reduced, as are physical and psychological barriers to pedestrians using the street.

Shared space is not a solution for every city street. But is a great solution for streets with high leisure activity, historical importance and small commercial shops. Shared space enhances a street’s sense of place. As it is an idea based on sustainability all the basic principles of sustainable mobility must be considered. Successful shared space streets do not have to use costly materials, and their maintenance requirements are low.

Such proposals can benefit especially tourist destination cities. All that is needed some open minds and some political support.

European Mobility Week

The European Mobility Week participation report came out a few days ago with interesting facts about this top European action on promoting sustainable mobility. European Mobility Week and the Car-Free Day are major awareness raising campaigns aiming at sensibilising citizens to the use of public transport, cycling, walking and at encouraging European cities to promote these modes of transport and to invest in the new necessary infrastructures.

 This year 2.268 cities participated with an estimated population of more than 156 million people. The tenth anniversary edition of the European Mobility Week set a new record again in terms of participation – the sixth consecutive one!

As in the previous year, the cities mainly focussed on:

•       Mobility management, such as launching awareness-raising campaigns, elaborating educational materials, or developing urban mobility plans.
•       Accessibility, such as lowering and enlarging pavements, removing architectonic barriers, or creating wheelchair ramps.
•       New or improved bicycle facilities, with enhancements to both bicycle networks and facilities such as bicycle stands in public areas.

Even though it is a European event, a lot of cities from countries outside Europe participated: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Taiwan, USA where amongst them. Unfortunately no city from Australia participated in this promotional event. Let’s hope next year Gold Coast will be the first Australia city to support Mobility Week.