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.

Pedestrian signals countdown timers. Time to move on.

Just a few weeks ago Brisbane City Council installed pedestrian signal countdown timers at five CBD sites for a trial period until 26 October 2012.

 Adelaide Street and Edward Street

• Adelaide Street and Albert Street pedestrian crossing
• Eagle Street and Wharf Street and Queen Street
• George Street at Queen Street pedestrian crossing
• Charlotte Street and Edward Street

All these intersections are located in Brisbane's CBD and have a high number of pedestrians using them. 

The countdown works during the Flashing Don’t Walk interval. This is a time between the Green Man and the Red Man when the Red Man is flashing.  That interval is not used in Greece and most European countries. Under Australian and Queensland road rules (231) the pedestrian is not allowed to start crossing during the Flashing Don’t Walk interval. 

The operation of the countdown timers during the flashing red interval raised a lot of questions and especially whether this actually results to pedestrians crossing illegally. This same choice was made in a similar trial case in Sydney in 2010 where the specific choice was made simply because this type of countdown was most compatible with adaptive traffic control, used in Sydney (SCATS traffic control). I don't know exactly why the same choice was made in Brisbane but I guess that the fact that SCATS is also used here, played some role in this choice.

The basic conclusions of the Sydney trial research were:

• Safety: There was no net change in pedestrian safety–while late starters were more successful finishing crossing (prior to the start of the SDW interval) where PCTs were installed, the late starters were offset by a reduction in pedestrians starting during the Walk interval.
• Compliance: The level of compliance by pedestrians appears to have decreased at wider crossings where PCTs were installed. There was an increase in late starters that started crossing during the FDW interval, although non-compliant vehicles may have contributed tothis effect.
• Amenity: Results suggested that pedestrian amenity may have been improved due to the reduction in the number of pedestrians required to wait until the next Walk interval to cross.

Probably the results of the trial period in Brisbane would not be much different and this may result in Brisbane CC not going through with the full programmed installation.

But the evolution for pedestrian traffic in cities and especially in the CBD areas has just started. And traffic signal countdown timers is only a small part of it. The plethora of different solutions for counters across the world is amazing. There are even some that are animated as this one in Auckland.

But the real issue is to prioritize pedestrian traffic over to vehicle traffic in the CBD areas. After all, the research has shown that after a period of 30 to 45 seconds of waiting, pedestrians become more risky, impatient and were more likely to cross whenever they could regardless of the pedestrian signal displays.

So we have to start thinking for pedestrian traffic similarly to how we think for cars when we programming traffic signal operations. How about green waves for pedestrians across roads linking major railway or metro stations to the core of CBD for example? Or even restricting vehicle turning movements at intersections during pedestrian traffic peak hours. We have to be more brave and pilot projects and trial periods are tools that allow us to.

Pasadeiras

Just found a nice piece of traffic artwork by a Portuguese advertising agency Draft FCB Lisbon.
It is pedestrian (zebra) crossing painted in a street in Lisbon, Portugal as part of a "safe street week" campaign  in cooperation with The Association of Self-Mobilized Citizens ACA-M.

Source: http://cargocollective.com/filipegraca/Passadeiras-ACAM

The pedestrian crossing stripes consisted of names of pedestrians killed by cars.

Source: http://cargocollective.com/filipegraca/Passadeiras-ACAM

In both ends of the crossing is is written that 1/4 of all victims in car accidents are pedestrians.

I am sure that a lot of questions are raised regarding the actual safety of this pedestrian crossing as people may stop in the middle of the road to read the names but reports from Portugal say that no accident happened there since it was installed.

And this zebra crossing is not the only piece of pedestrian crossing artwork. Everyone knows the famous zebra crossing on Abbey Road, London that made the cover of The Beatles Abbey Road album.

Abbey Road studios that was the place that The  Beatles recorded that album has now a web camera pointed on that crossing. Check it out to see tourists reproducing the famous cover photo.

Other famous crossings that can be found around the world and around Internet:

 Salzburg, Austria.

South Africa.

Qujiang District, Xi'an, China

 Canada.

April Fools’ Day traffic.

Although this is not one of my favourite days of the year I must admit that I found rather funny and amusing the following stories with urban traffic themes.

The first one comes from Philadelphia USA. Watch the Mayor announcing the E-lane initiative where pedestrians can walk and use their mobile at the same time safely.

The second one comes from Vancouver Canada where Vancouver Observer online newspaper announces the province's new mandatory pedestrian helmet law. This one if it was on Brisbane Times it would be more believable since Australia has already the mandatory cyclist law.
 

The first really interesting April fools’ day story about traffic and transportation that made world headlines was the Copenhagen’s new subway. It looked as if one of its cars had an accident, and had broken through and surfaced on the square in front of the town hall.

 

April Fools ’ Day presents a great opportunity to draw peoples attention to sustainable mobility and humour is quite an effective way to reach behavioural change.

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.

Pedestrian scramble

 Yesterday in Brisbane I saw a simple but successful example of this type of pedestrian crossing named pedestrian scramble. The basic difference from regular pedestrian crossings is that vehicle traffic is stopped in all directions so pedestrians can cross the intersection in every direction they want, including diagonally at the same time. This type of crossing is used mainly in areas with high pedestrian volumes like central business districts or main commercial areas. This traffic management scheme has two main objectives: To enhance pedestrian road safety by setting a clear pedestrian priority and to facilitate pedestrian mobility in general by allowing diagonal movement that some times is more desirable.

The picture above from Edward and Adelaide Streets intersection shows that most of the pedestrians cross the streets in a diagonal direction. The difference in Brisbane’s case from other examples like the famous one in Hachikō Square in Shibuya, Tokyo is that both Edward and Adelaide Streets are one way roads so the red light waiting time is shorter making the intersection work safer.

Even though traffic engineers and planners seem to disagree about whether pedestrian scramble is success or not as the different decisions of two major Canadian cities show with Vancouver adding them and Toronto ripping them off, I believe that they are a useful tool not to be underestimated. Pedestrian should always come first when setting mobility priorities. Not everyone is a car owner, a car driver or a car passenger but everyone is a pedestrian even for the slightest part of his trip.