By 2010, transport will be the largest single contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. SMILE

In the News
Open Source eCar
A bike often gets you there quicker

What is Sustainable Mobility?
Sustainable Transport is a subset of Sustainable Mobility - do we think transport when we think walking? We’ll use both terms imprecisely.

Sustainable Transport

Sustainable transport is a term used to describe transport which has little or no environmental impact over the whole life cycle of the technology - manufacture, fuel, use and disposal.

Truly sustainable mobility basically comes down to cycling and walking as these have minimal impact on the environment.

But sometimes we can’t walk or ride - we need alternatives:

Lower Environmental Impact Transportation

• Public Transport - VLine
• Car pooling
• Electric cars - locally produced BEV - recharge using Green Power
• Tesla Roadster - electric thrills for two
• VW Fuel Miser
• Vehicles powered by more environmentally friendly fuels
• In Melb/Syd commercial car sharing - Flexicar and GoGet
• Horse and buggy/coach - available in Swanston St
• Reindeer and sleigh - possibilities for sleigh pooling around Christmas?

Remodelling our minds and streets for humans and sustainable mobility

• Shared Space - pedestrians, cyclists and cars courteously sharing the road - yes, when the environment is conducive, humans usually look after each other
• Effective Cycling education
• Driver education
• Bicycles and health - ABC Radio National 9th June
• Bike Paths and Lanes - a more complex issue than you might imagine - see separate heading below
• Make helmets optional for adults? - more ride, less drive
• More fun, less rage; more fit, less fat; more quiet, less noise; more friendly, less frantic; more fresh, less foul; more life, less CO2

What remains clear is that sustainable transportation mainly refers to human behavior, not to technology. In that sense, a behavioral approach considers not only a set of non-polluting and human scaled travel behaviors, regardless of the means and technology used, but also a set of reinforcers both individual and social to promote those sorts of behavior. Wikipedia

Shared Space
An approach to urban design that takes away the monopoly of cars, and so moves the community towards both sustainable mobility and a slower, saner lifestyle.
Walking and cycling are best - Shared Space in Bendigo CBD

Bendigo Shared Space - first stage under construction - the following photos show widened footpaths, parking changed from angle to 90 degree, lack of traffic signs, use of cobble stones for traffic calming. Cars are definitely traveling slowly due to the narrower road and the sections of cobblestone.

Cycling Paths and Lanes
The provision of segregated cycling lanes on the edge of roads plus separate bike paths is often seen as an essential first priority for the promotion of cycling. We have the perception that this cycling infrastructure provides safety; however research reveals that although it does help riders feel safe, if it is done inappropriately it can actually increase the incidence of injury and death to cyclists (which is a very low incidence in either case - cycling is not a dangerous activity - mandatory helmet laws have given us the impression that riding is dangerous). Other factors can be more effective in increasing actual cyclist safety. Please read the following to become acquainted with the issues involved (these Wikipedia articles may be biased):

• Cycling infrastructure
• Segregated cycle facilities
• Cycle path debate
• Bicycle Victoria on bike lanes etc

Our Vision
This is a first draft of our vision for a Mt Alexander Shire with more sustainable mobility and more space and time for living:

The streets are primarily for the residents with people’s lives spilling out into their front yard and onto the street. People choose to sit on their front verandas and yards or on their doorsteps, chatting to neighbours and passers by. Children play cricket out in the street and younger kids have chalked hopscotch squares under the shady street trees. When balls roll out onto the road children chase them and parents smile. It’s been a while since most parents drove their kids to school, they make their own way there.

Cars are still here but they do not dominate the road-scape, they move slowly and carefully because the road has calming devices and is designed as shared space - drivers know that the street is not primarily for them; they are a guest in these streets that are there for living.

Cars are not just slower but fewer. Local trips are more pleasant and less expensive by foot, on bike or by public transport, so locals don’t use their cars as much. In fact many people have got rid of their car or at least their second car; some locals are involved with car sharing arrangements and a car with only one person in it is a rare sight.

This dramatic reduction in private vehicle use has freed up much of the space that had been allocated to on-street parking. This space is now used for wider foot paths, more planting and street trees, more open public space and better bike riding and parking facilities …

As you walk along the street you enjoy the generous footpath and find that rather than dipping down and up every time you come to an intersection the footpath crosses the road at the same level, giving pedestrians priority at every crossing point and slowing traffic. You also notice how many more people there are out in the street. People of all abilities are using the street and those with wheels (prams, pushers, wheelchairs, bikes) and aids (walking sticks and frames) meet little resistance on their journey.

Shared Space, European style - Haslach, Germany.

The content of this page is volunteer produced and views expressed herein are not necessarily masg policy.