Perth & Kinross Council Community Links Plus - Book 05

BOOK 5

05 BOOK

PERTH & KINROSS COUNCIL COMMUNITY LINKS PLUS

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COUNCIL COMMUNITY LINKS

BOOK 5

CONTENTS 04 06 10

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BASELINE MONITORING A COHESIVE NETWORK MONITORING & EVALUATION

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COUNCIL COMMUNITY LINKS

BOOK 5

Baseline Monitoring Our bid outlines a vision for Perth built on sustainable, low carbon economic growth and placemaking. This will reduce the impact on the natural environment and deliver infrastructure which minimises social costs, particularly when it comes to the health and wellbeing of our residents, who will be able to live life well.

We want to grow the city of Perth and the surrounding area in a responsible way, reducing car dependency and encouraging the use of public transport and active travel. This approach, has seen the council adopt a new Active Travel Strategy and Perth Cycle Network Masterplan. In addition, our collaboration with Sustrans produced Bike Life Perth, which provides a critical socio-economic picture of Perth in relation to active travel, its associated benefits and the current barriers in place. The most logical is our bid for funding from the Community Links PLUS Programme.

‘We need to supplement our approach with a progressive policy which incentivises people to undertake active travel and rewards them for doing so.’

To date we have undertaken a series of surveys around the core of the city centre to establish a baseline for active travel across the city. This has provided us with data to measure our progress against over the coming years. These will be supplemented with additional data from surveys across a wider area of the city this summer, as we seek to establish a baseline data per mode of transport. For now, we have established there is an average of 807 trips by bike every day.

We want to increase this number into the thousands and we believe the key routes in our CLP bid will achieve this. On top of the surveys, we have also commissioned a number of active travel audits in the Bridgend & Gannochy are and North Muirton/Inveralmond industrial estate.

These will feed into the monitoring and design process.

In terms of investment, we recognise it is not just about high quality active travel infrastructure. While this will remove a significant barrier for the majority, we need to supplement our approach with a progressive policy which incentivises people to undertake active travel and rewards them for doing so.

Table 3.13 - City Centre Cordon Count Weekday 08:00 - 09:00

24-Hour Count

Arrivals

Departures

Two-way

Arrivals

Departures

Two-way

Arrivals

Departures

Two-way

Thursday

40

32

72

41

55

96

512

494

1006

Friday

36

32

68

32

35

67

472

421

893

Saturday

-

-

-

-

-

-

404

370

774

Sunday

-

-

-

-

-

-

427

412

839

Monday

50

47

97

44

56

100

456

416

872

Tuesday

47

52

99

28

42

70

338

338

676

Wednesday

51

26

77

25

39

64

288

301

589

Weekday Average

45

38

83

34

45

79

413

394

807

-

-

-

-

-

-

414

393

807

Day of the week

7-Day Average

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Weekday 17:00 - 18:00

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COUNCIL COMMUNITY LINKS

BOOK 5

A Cohesive Network As a cycle friendly employer, we recognise the benefits of active travel when it comes to the health of our staff. We know from our engagement with SSE, Stagecoach, Aviva and the UHI, that there is a fantastic opportunity to engage with a large proportion of their workforce (and students) and promote active travel.

Between them, their sites employ over 4,000 people. Add that to the number of parents who undertake the ‘school run’, because they feel it is not safe for their children to travel otherwise, and we can start to target a significant amount of commuter trips which can be converted to bike, walking and bus.

The more we address congestion on the wider transport network, the more efficient our city and rural hinterland functions, which delivers increased economic performance and growth. This benefits local businesses and our communities through the safeguarding and creation of jobs.

Our initial focus remains on targeting short journeys fewer than 5 miles, which account for over 60% journeys every day. Of these, more than 70% are less than 3 miles. It is the short trips to the shop or less than a mile to the school by car, not the 20 mile commute from Dundee, which we are targeting.

We believe, however that investment in transport infrastructure (Park & Choose) around the periphery of Perth will allow us to engage with commuters from the rural hinterland and other urban settlements. Investment along the River Tay with the Tay Cities Deal could see commuters use the river as a mode of transport in the future, linking in with cycle routes and bus services at Walnut Grove. This is part of the wider vision for Perth, while recognising the phasing of this infrastructure is a long term vision.

We have traffic models as a result of the development work for the Cross Tay Link Road. These will support our scrutiny of the opportunities going forward, as we aim to re-address the transport network, ensuring it is fit for purpose and aligned with the National Transport Strategy hierarchy of movement.

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COUNCIL COMMUNITY LINKS

In terms of targeting shorter journeys, we seek convenience, which is why we often perceive the car to be most convenient form of transport for all journeys, not just those beyond 5 miles.

That perception is often a reality due to a lack of appropriate, safe, comfortable, attractive infrastructure, which provides people with a viable alternative to the car. Our proposals aim to address this, by delivering a cohesive network. This will provide people, whether they live in Perth or out in the rural areas, with direct access to key trip generators i.e. Park & Choose sites, large employment sites, industrial estates, schools, the UHI, retail parks and the city centre.

BOOK 5

‘We seek to encourage A to B trips, providing appropriate storage and the end point.’

THE ISM (INDIVIDUAL, SOCIAL AND MATERIAL) WORKSHOP HIGHLIGHTED ISSUES WITH THE CAR CULTURE AND THOSE OUTSIDE IT BEING ‘MARGINALISED’. TO DELIVER THE MODAL SHIFT, WE NEED TO BUILD THE APPROPRIATE INFRASTRUCTURE INTO OUR PUBLIC SPACES SO IT BECOMES THE ‘NORM’ AND USE OF THE CAR BECOMES MARGINALISED. AS A RESULT, WE HAVE INVESTED IN NEW CYCLE RACKS IN A NUMBER OF LOCATIONS ACROSS THE CITY CENTRE, AS WE SEEK TO ENCOURAGE A TO B TRIPS, PROVIDING APPROPRIATE STORAGE AND THE END POINT. THE NEW SECURE STORAGE UNIT FOR BIKES AT PULLAR HOUSE, WHICH HAS POWER TO CHARGE EBIKES, IS PART OF OUR COMMITMENT GOING FORWARD, AS A CYCLE FRIENDLY EMPLOYER, SETTING AN EXAMPLE TO OTHER ORGANISATIONS ACROSS PERTH AND KINROSS.

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COUNCIL COMMUNITY LINKS

BOOK 5

Monitoring & Evaluation To monitor the usage of the lanes when we construct them, we will implement a series of counters, which will link to a master counter in the city centre. The data will help monitor usage levels, as we target growth towards the 25% modal shift by 2030. Creating a modal shift with active travel requires momentum and exposing the benefits associated with it.

When the public start to see the usage going up and people on their bikes passing cars stuck in congestion, it will generate a powerful message that cycling is an efficient and convenient form of transport.

• undertake extensive community engagement with our partners – CILPK, PKAVS, Bike Station Perth, Perth Active Travel Hub – as we seek to promote the social benefits associated with active travel.

To summarise our approach for monitoring and evaluation, we will:

• work with our elected members to continue our collaborative approach to placemaking and delivering spaces and places for people.

• install a network of electronic counters along each route • deliver a series of way finding measures and branding, which will promote the routes as a viable transportation network and help create generate places of interest along the routes.

• provide monitoring and evaluation reports to the Council, as well as public and private sector stakeholders via the Perth City Development Board and Perth Traders Association on changes in modal shift within the city to allow review of designs, policy, funding support and to evidence behavioural change and participation.

• create specific social media channels which will be dedicated to the project, promoting key messaging around active travel and the investment taking place.

• formalise the CLP bid Steering Group, to build on the work undertaken to date and continue our accountability during the design and planning stage, as we engage with the wider business community on our proposals and how they can benefit from increased economic activity associated with active travel.

• undertake annual surveys and on-street questionnaires to establish what the impact of investment with active travel infrastructure has on the city and whether the perception of cycling ‘not being cool’ changes.

• continue to create better active travel networks for our communities, as we link in with the upgrading of the Lade, National Cycle Networks and wider green networks across Perth and Kinross.

• continue to work with elected members to develop a 20mph strategy for Perth and Kinross.

• continue to engage with large employers and undertake a series of workshops with their staff to promote active travel, and the opportunities associated with ebikes for journeys to their site of employment, as well as investment in facilities.

• continue to engage with schools, Perth UHI and young people, as we aim to build on the good work undertaken to date and create a culture of active travel for Perth and our rural communities.

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COUNCIL COMMUNITY LINKS

BOOK 5

Usage Counters • support a recycling scheme in partnership with Bike Station Perth, similar to the successful scheme in Stirling – RecykeA-Bike – as we provide active travel opportunities to those in our most deprived wards and reduce the transport poverty gap in the city.

• continue to identify and trial school exclusion zones, as we work with head teachers to promote the impact of poor air quality on the health of young children • continue to engage in initiatives with primary schools, such as WoW (Walk Once a Week) and Big Pedal.

• continue to liaise with housing developers to ensure future development masterplans outline high quality infrastructure and links to existing networks, as we seek to create a culture of active travel and ensure the future growth of the city region is not to the detriment of our communities or the natural environment.

• continue to work with our partners Miconex and Stagecoach to develop the Mi Rewards initiative, so it includes bus, bike and walking in the future.

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