Yarra has long history of supporting actions to address our climate crisis, as can be seen by Yarra’s Climate Emergency Plan and our new Mayor and Councillors launching a mural to raise awareness:
The Australian Institute of Traffic Planning and Management (AITPM) has published a Policy Issues Paper with recommendations on how to decarbonise Australia’s transport system, most of which align with Streets Alive Yarra’s proposals. In this article, we describe how to apply the AITPM’s recommendations to Yarra.
AITPM’s main message is to ‘avoid and shift’; avoid the need to travel by integrating land uses, and shift to sustainable transport modes, such as public, shared, and active mobility, and with pricing mechanisms:
Recommendation 2 is to support integrated transport and land use planning, highlighting 15-minute neighbourhoods – in Yarra this can be done by revising the Yarra Planning Scheme to define Paris-style mixed use zones within 800 metres of each train station or within 500 metres of each tram stop.
Recommendation 3 is to remove costly parking mandates, which will reduce the cost of housing and reduce the growth of car dependency – in Yarra this can be done by revising the Yarra Planning Scheme, as was proposed for Cremorne.
Recommendation 5 is to disincentivise the appeal and convenience of short car journeys – in Yarra this can be done by adding modal filters and other traffic calming elements, such as kerb outstands or slow points, within each neighbourhood.
Recommendation 6 is to allocate a best-practice budget for walking and biking – in Yarra this can be done by allocating $10 million per year for active transport, and using it to build a network of wider bike lanes, wombat crossings, protected bike lanes, and bike or e-scooter parking locations.
Recommendation 8 is to provide specific parking allocations for shared vehicles – in Yarra this can be done by providing 1,000 mobility and access zones across the municipality, each with a space for a share car, and a space for share scooter and share bike parking.
Recommendation 9 is to use pricing to incentivise mode shift, in particular by looking at kerbside parking – in Yarra this can be done by charging commuters $10 per day to park all-day, i.e. the same as a daily public transport fare.
Council can do a lot to reduce carbon emissions from transport – and doing so would improve freedom and access for everyone, both those who can’t drive and those who can. We urge Councillors and Officers to read the AITPM policy paper and implement its recommendations.
Published 22 December 2024