Actions

Streets Alive Yarra calls on local, state and federal governments to provide sustained long-term investment in walking, cycling, public transport and place making; and to update laws and regulations to deliver better outcomes for health, transport and land use.

Local Government

Funding

• Allocate an annual budget of $10m for walking, cycling and place making.
• Expand the developer contributions plan to provide recurring funding.
• Ask the state government to transfer revenue from the congestion levy back to the City of Yarra for reinvestment in walking and cycling.

Policies and plans

• Develop, adopt and implement an Integrated Transport Plan.
• Review all 21 Local Area Place Making (LAPM) areas within each 4-year term of Council.
• Enable active transport within 20-minute neighbourhoods by establishing 30 km/h superblocks.
• Decrease the number of on-street parking bays in Yarra by 5% per year.
• Re-locate metered car-parking from shopping streets to the first 5-10 bays on each side street to free up space for wider footpaths, protected bicycle lanes, protected intersections and level access tram stops.
• Invest in mobility counters that can measure people walking, cycling, using public transport or driving in Yarra, to guide the re-allocation of budgets and street space.
• Alter Council’s organisational structure so that:
  • Local Area Place Making is managed by the Planning & Placemaking team, not the traffic engineering team; and
  • Parking design, including the quantity, location, type and pricing of on-street parking bays, is managed by the Planning & Placemaking team, not the Finance & Compliance team.

Laws and regulations

• Eliminate parking minimums from the planning scheme or change them to parking maximums.
• Convert free on-street parking to paid parking, by using permit zones and selling digital permits.
• Reduce the number of on-street parking permits per household by one, if the a property has a crossover.
• Increase the minimum price for an on-street parking permit to $1 per day.
• Use demand responsive parking charges for parking meters.
• Update the “Standard Concrete Vehicle Crossing” drawing YSD601 to match best practice from the Netherlands.
• Increase the target for car sharing vehicles to 2,000 by 2030 and permit them to be located on residential streets.

Learn more in our Manifesto for Reform.

State Government

• Allocate 100% of the revenue from the state government congestion levy back to local government councils, to provide a stable revenue stream to support investment in walking and cycling.
• Allocate 50% of the state transport budget to walking, cycling, and public transport.
• Allocate 5% of the state health budget to active transport, trees and place making.
• Expand the off-street parking levy to cover the southern half of the City of Yarra.
• Develop and implement an Integrated Transport Plan for greater Melbourne.
• Construct the Melbourne Rail Plan 2018-2050 and the VicRoads Principal Bicycle Network.
• Revitalise arterial shopping streets with wider footpaths, protected bicycle lanes, protected intersections and level access tram stops.
• Speed up trams by using smart traffic lights to clear intersections as trams approach.
• Manage congestion with demand responsive driving charges.
• Support 30 km/h for local, non-arterial streets.

Guidance on the above actions is offered by the ‘Transporting Melbourne‘ report from the Committee for Melbourne:

Federal Government

• Allocate 50% of the federal transport budget to walking, cycling, and public transport.
• Allocate 5% of the federal health budget to active transport and place making.
• Manage congestion on federal highways with demand responsive driving charges.
• Support 30 km/h for local, non-arterial streets.
• Link federal road funding to state governments with requirements to upgrade all roads in their jurisdiction to a 5-star safety rating, defined by AusRAP.
• Redirect funding from commuter car parks at train stations toward walking, e-biking, bike parking, and buses.

Guidance for the above actions is offered by the Gear Change report from the UK Government Department for Transport:

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