Election Policy Platform 2024
Bustling streets you can walk or ride down while breathing clean air. Thousand more children cycling and walking to school, while their parents ride on to work after. Reduced carbon emissions and lower congestion on our roads. A healthier city, with more people building physical movement into their daily lives.
This is our vision for Canberra, but one we won’t see happen unless the Government invests more in active travel. This is one of the cheapest and most effective health and environmental interventions a Government can make, and we know it will be effective.
Research shows that more people want to get on their bikes or walk more often, but they don’t feel it is safe or convenient to do so. Active travel is the perfect option in particular for short trips under 5km, although the rise of ebikes is extending the distance people are willing to ride.
The ACT Government has made important strides in advancing active travel in the last term of Parliament, including releasing the Active Travel Plan and Design Guide, building important new links such as the Belconnen Cycle Way and Bowen Drive Pop-Up Lane, and investing more money into path maintenance. However, there is a lot more we need to do. Investment into active travel is still far too low, and projects are taking too long to roll out.
The next Government needs to step up the ambition, providing a real, practical and forward-thinking plan about how we can encourage thousands more Canberrans into active travel.
This is Pedal Power’s plan for the next four years of Government. The policies outlined below are cost effective, fast to deliver and proven to work. They tackle multiple challenges and would help the next government achieve a broad range of important objectives – including tackling climate change, improving public health, boosting the economy and easing congestion
Active travel can transform our city – improving people’s health, reducing carbon emissions, battling congestion, and creating more vibrant communities. Pedal Power’s election platform presents what we need to do to truly make Canberra an active city.
Pedal Power has created a four-point plan to re-invigorate Canberra’s status as Australia’s cycling and active travel capital. This plan guides our election platform.
Invest to design, build, upgrade and maintain our active travel network
Many Canberrans are likely to be interested in taking up active travel regularly, but do not feel our network is safe or convenient enough to do so
We must also invest heavily in path maintenance and secure, monitored, end-of-trip facilities, which will increase the utility and use of our network
1. Build a city-wide connected, safe, and convenient cycle network, as proposed as priority two of the ACT Government’s Active Travel Plan (2024), within the next five years. Improve this network with community feedback.
2. Commit to setting a target that at least 90 percent of cycle lanes, shared paths, and footpaths be maintained in good condition and invest sufficient funding to achieve this target. The Government must report on how it is achieving this target to the community on a regular basis
3. Invest to build a series of bike cages or other secure, monitored bike parking facilities and other end-of-trip facilities in each of Canberra’s town and group centres
4. Invest in maintaining accurate, consistent, complete, viable wayfinding signage, both on paths and accessible through digital tools
5. Re-prioritise our transport budget spend by committing to building no more road duplications or additional lanes as a traffic congestion reduction strategy and instead to invest that money into active travel.
The next Government must focus on designing, constructing, upgrading, and maintaining an extensive active travel network, which separates people riding bikes from motorised traffic.
Create pedestrian and cycle-friendly neighbourhoods
While separated infrastructure is core to increasing active travel participation, we do not expect separated cycle lanes or off-road cycle-only paths to be built on every road. We must therefore make our neighbourhoods more pedestrian and cycle friendly, through reducing speed limits, changing design, upgrading lighting and more
1. Reduce speed limit to 30 km/hour for all people precincts, local and urban streets and in town centres. This is in line with World Health Organization recommendations Ensure streets and intersections are redesigned with temporary and then permanent physical infrastructure to prevent drivers from speeding
2. Trial the implementation of Low Traffic Neighbourhoods (LTNs) in several Canberra suburbs and tweak them based on feedback from local communities and businesses.
3. Upgrade lighting across all active travel streets and separated bike paths
4. Make the sustainable travel street party an annual event to encourage those who can, to give up their cars for a day to experience the numerous benefits of active travel.
5. Investigate transforming town centre streets into pedestrian-only or shared roads – suggestions include Wooley (Dickson), Hibberson (Gungahlin), Lonsdale (Braddon) and Ankertell (Tuggeranong) Streets.
Invest in recreational cycling
Bikes are a great tool for recreation and thousands of Canberrans get on their bikes on the weekend to make the most of our beautiful city. Cycling can also be great for tourism. We want to continue investing in our recreational cycling assets, and boost cycling tourism to Canberra
1. Continue to invest money in Stromlo Forest Park to maintain its reputation into being a world-class facility
2. Build and upgrade active travel recreational routes across the city to boost cycling participation rates.
3. Commit to complete the ACT’s share of the rail trail through the ACT from Canberra to Cooma
4. Invest in a cycling tourism campaign to attract national and international tourists to Canberra and the capital region.
Build a highly connected, diverse, medium-density city
In addition to specific active travel infrastructure, Pedal Power calls on all parties to commit to developing more vibrant, walkable, and rideable neighbourhoods, through increasing density and improving public transport connections.
1. Commit to the idea of Canberra being a walkable ‘fifteen-minute city’ with excellent public transport, integrated with active travel
2. Reform our planning laws to embrace missing middle housing, creating a denser Canberra that allows more people to access services and employment via active travel.
3. Commit to growing our public transport services linked to an appropriate active travel network.
4. Ensure all public transport stops are accessible via active travel, that major public transport locations have secure bike parking, and that all mass public transport vehicles carry bicycles. Construct secure bike parking facilities at all public transport interchanges.
The ACT Government currently funds environment, social service, and other non-government organisations to conduct vital policy work and provide essential services to community. Active travel and transport-related organisations, however, do not receive such funding, often leaving them in a precarious position.
To ensure ongoing sustainability, a future Government should fund Canberra’s transport organisations through service agreements, consistent with how environment and social service organisations are currently funded