Transportist: July 2021

So much news could not be contained within a single newsletter.

I am spinning off a large section of this newsletter, as we are launching a new Findings newsletter, which will have all of the news about Transport Findings and Urban Findings. If you receive the Transportist as a subscription, you have been signed up. Look for that in your inbox shortly.

Videos

• Elements of Access - Now with Video - We are pleased to report that Elements of Access: Transport Planning for Engineers, Transport Engineering for Planners by David M. Levinson, Wes Marshall, Kay Axhausen is now on YouTube.

30-Minutes

• Towards the 30-Minute City - How Australian Commutes Compare with Cities Overseas which was published in The Conversation, based on our recent journal article: Urban Access Across the Globe, led to several radio interviews.

  • The 30-Minute City on ABC-Sydney Afternoons

  • How Does the Commute to Work in Australia Compare to Overseas? on ABC Radio Perth

  • Reviving Our City Centres| ABC RadioNational Life Matters

Other Interviews

• “Offshared Taxpayer Projects Costing Australians Billions, Research Shows” in The New Daily

Research

• New housing supply, population growth and access to social infrastructure

  AHURI Final Report No.356

  Authors

  • Somwrita Sarkar, The University of Sydney

  • Emily Moylan, The University of Sydney

  • Hao Wu, The University of Sydney

  • Rashi Shrivastava, The University of Sydney

  • Nicole Gurran, The University of Sydney

  • David Levinson, The University of Sydney

This study focusses on the potential to better inform the planning, scheduling, delivery, maintenance, and coordination of social infrastructure in the rapidly growing greenfield areas of major Australian cities through the use of big data sources and techniques. The research focusses on greenfield areas of Sydney, Brisbane and Perth greater metropolitan regions to demonstrate data sources and methods that can be replicated in other locations.

This study used several novel data sources to develop a monitoring and coordination tool that enables mapping of fine spatial scale accessibility for various social infrastructure dimensions. The tool is used to demonstrate accessibility to schools and hospitals, including their hierarchical distributions. The authors also conducted a panel discussion and workshop with several local and state government officials, along with private industry consultants and practitioners, to reveal how the tool could be beneficial in different policy and planning contexts.

Findings indicated that social and community infrastructure is critical to the effective functioning of rapidly growing urban regions, but lag times between population growth and new infrastructure delivery are pervasive in new greenfield development areas. The research also found timely fine-grained spatial data is critical to informing and measuring performance in spatial planning and infrastructure delivery processes, but existing datasets are limited.

This study breaks new ground, as it extends the idea of accessibility to social infrastructure as a critical facility to support daily life.

• See also the related article: Big data not being harnessed to improve infrastructure planning

Research by Others

• Tools of the Trade? Assessing the Progress of Accessibility Measures for Planning Practice by Fariba Siddiq & Brian D. Taylor

NEWS & OPINION

• The excruciatingly slow and drawn out end of office buildings … [Office Buildings: c. 1722 - 2047]

  • The World’s Financial Centers Struggle Back to the Office

  • Data reveals our traditional Monday to Friday work week is disappearing

  • Japan proposes four-day workweek

  • Do Chance Meetings at the Office Boost Innovation? There’s No Evidence of It

• New York

  • Interview with Micheal Replogle of NYC DOT (my former boss at MNCPPC-MCPD, now retiring from NYC)

• Animals

  • Pets on planes: Australians may soon be allowed animals in cabins but airlines are hesitant

  • Many of us want to take our dogs on public transport, but others shudder at the thought — what’s the solution? by Jennifer Kent

• TransUrban

  • Transurban’s Scott Charlton a master of the toll road monopoly

  • ‘Stop the toll mania’: Minns [New South Wales new Labor Leader] makes first pitch to win back Labor voters

  • Tolling giant signals appetite for reform on Sydney motorways

• Pipe-dreams

  • Sydney’s Super Tunnel (Documentary on SBS)

  • Elon Musk’s ‘Teslas in tunnels’ are a $52 million bet on the future of transit

  • The Games (Australian TV series) - The best TV series about Olympic preparations.

  • Why do roads, rail, and infrastructure cost so much to build in the United States?

• Selling ropes to hang one’s-self

  • Toyota leads companies in donations to Republicans who favoured the January 6, 2021 attempted coup.

  • Auditor-general report highlights major issues with federal government's $660m pre-election car park spend

  • Transport for NSW ditches SCATS traffic system commercialisation

• Speed Limits

  • 30km/h Bingo

• Micromobility and Death

  • Actress Lisa Banes dies after getting struck by hit-and-run scooter driver

  • Paris police search for two e-scooter riders after pedestrian killed

• Electrification

  • The Honda Clarity [fuel cell vehicle] is dead

  • NSW to abolish stamp duty [tax at purchase] on electric cars in an effort to boost uptake, but EV drivers will be hit with a road-user tax within six years to fund road and infrastructure spending, as state governments look for ways to compensate for the loss of fuel excise revenue.

OBITUARIES

• Remembering David Hartgen