Did you know that the period for commenting on the Draft City of Hobart Transport
Strategy 2018-2030 closes tomorrow? You can find the document at the Your Say Hobart page, and you can enter your comments in the online form there.
WHEN has forwarded some feedback to the Council, on several aspects of the plan that relate to how we would like to see transport evolve in our neighbourhood. Here are some of our comments:
It has been a generous consultation process.
We support the general directions and
actions of the Strategy, in particular the stated hierarchy of transport modes,
led by walking, cycling, public transport and lastly single occupancy cars.
40 km/h speed limits on residential roads
is supported; this will make for safer access to the streets for everyone.
In addition to this, we would like to see additional
protection around schools, with speed limits in school zones set at 30 km/h, in
line with trends interstate and overseas.
This will better support initiatives to help children to walk and ride to school.
We encourage Council to support the
continued rollout of Ride2School and Safe Routes to School initiatives. We also support strategies to make
the road environment around schools safer, especially during the peak dropoff and pickup
periods. For example: establishing
protected cycleways leading to schools; eliminating car parking close to
schools (allowing “kiss and ride” zones some distance from the
door).
WHEN is very proud of its Walking West
Hobart map and supports the idea of having equivalent maps developed for other
neighbourhoods.
The Strategy identifies the development of
a detailed bike plan. We think this needs to incorporate a “minimum grid” of
safe separated cycleways on core routes, such as commuter routes into the CBD. Safe cycling routes, whether separated or
simply marked, will challenge the widespread practice of on-street parking for
both residents and commuters walking into the city.
We welcome the City’s support of the Love Our
Streets activities in West Hobart and elsewhere. This was a great example of a
little corporate leadership providing a positive focus and some seed funds. It resulted in the energising of usually disparate community groups to jointly create a series of inspiring community events. We believe that ongoing and sustained community engagement
really requires a sustained line of assistance from the first level of government. It is
a real way to give the Strategy ‘heart’.
We like community engagement models such as
that used by the City of Yarra (also Portland Oregon and in New Zealand), which
involve defining community areas and establishing an ongoing community forum in
each of them. Through these
forums, people get to know each other, and Council initiatives and
community ideas are discussed and developed, and the community feels greater ownership of the outcomes.
We support the phasing out of
fossil fueled vehicles. Council’s contribution could include developing a
network of fast charging points. The
PlugShare App shows how few of these charging points are yet available in our
municipality. These charge points could be operated by a commercial entity,
with Council cooperating through providing access to power and communication
infrastructure.
