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Active Transport is walking, cycling and using public transport. Active Transport is encouraged for economic, environmental, social and health benefits.
The potential sustainability benefits of Active Transport are maximised by ensuring they are addressed at key development stages by looking ahead at how they will be used over their life.

This perspective ideally provides both short and long term benefits. Changes to existing values, practices and fashions will probably be required for some stakeholders. Such changes in practice will evolve as stakeholders grow their capabilities, and deploy them.

The sustainability perspective provides both reasons for change, and a framework to help comprehend the issues, relate to specific circumstances and apply to decision-making. Organisations and Employers are key stakeholders in shaping of developments and the end uses activities will occur over time. Corporate involvement can act as anchor for the area and affect customer and staff activities, for example.

Developer - employer liaison

Development can occur in many forms including residential, educational and commercial. The wide range of circumstances is outlined below. There are also many ways developers can liaise with ‘employers’ to provide for, and encourage, ‘greener’ travel behaviours.

These concepts are also applicable to brownfield sites, where previous industrial land uses are replaced by residential and/or commercial uses. This may involve remediation as well as providing street and path networks, for example the forthcoming Barangaroo redevelopment of the former East Darling Harbour wharf areas.

While domestic activities predominate in residential areas there will be some local employment at times. The original and subsequent building works provide employment over varying construction periods, sometimes a year or more in the same locality. There may be some home based employment, while local shops, schools, child care and other community facilities will also have people working there.

There are also other situations where organisations purchase dwellings with a range of features they are seeking. These include employer-provided housing, organisations purchasing private and public rental stock. Other situations include mixed-use developments, common in busy inner suburbs; campus situations for example Sydney Olympic Park.

All these situations are cases where organisations, with staff, students and visitors, will occupy the development, and because of how they will use it, the developer will need to consider broader uses than only general residential. Common area configuration and facilities may be affected - with some cost allocation issues for mixed-use developments.

The Developer is a direct and indirect employer during construction phases, and workforce access will need to be considered for any businesses in the development.

While residential developers may be unlikely to directly participate in carbon trading they may be exposed in several ways to future policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These include increased costs of embedded carbon content of materials and policies to deliver improved environmental performance of both buildings and suburbs.

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Broader forms of residential development

Transit Oriented Development is an approach integrating land use and transport factors to provide benefits to both transport patronage and the viability of adjacent developments. Active Travel is major transport behaviour in such developments. Hong Kong's Mass Transport Railway and Washington DC Metrorail provide distinct examples.

Aged housing is another specific case. These are customised with low maintenance and accessibility design features, often located near health facilities and living support services. This higher density housing form may be in any suburb, including greenfield sites in outer areas. Supportive planning regulations and Aged Care policies can make Aged Housing attractive for developers, especially with care provider participation.

Infill developments tend to reduce vehicle kilometres travelled as they are generally located closer to destinations, and are more likely to have mode choices available. The TDM Encyclopaedia reports reductions in travel from 14 to 55% over the six US projects examined.

The ‘Complete Streets’ concept is all users are recognised, at planning, design, construction, operation and maintenance stages. The aim is to produce places suitable for all users and unsuitable for none.

Redevelopment ('brownfield') developments usually have attached building forms - townhouses, flats and apartments. The area where a site is located reflects current travel options, so mobility management measures need to address each sites context.

Redevelopment site constraints include established lot boundaries, adjacent buildings, traffic, values held by local residents, local capacity, and life remaining for utilities. Transport patterns will already be established, with public transport operating and possible traffic capacity constraints.

One example is ‘The Quarter' complex on the site of the former Sydney Children’s Hospital, Camperdown. Some buildings have been converted to residences, and additional structures built. Traffic is busy around the complexes' inner suburb location. Part of the project was direct promotion of the frequent (3 minutes peak frequency), 7 days and evenings bus service. This included a customised printed timetable, showing the adjacent bus stops, ticket outlets and other nearby routes. The buses give ready access to local shops and cafes. A car is optional with adjacent cycle routes, buses and taxis.

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Mechanisms to increase Active Travel

There are a variety of tools to increase Active Travel if infrastructure and policies are present and applicable in the employer or other facility managers’ places. As these pre-requisites will affect travel behaviours the quality and appropriateness for purpose need to be addressed. The measures below can be used as a toolkit, with most appropriate ones selected from the categories for the situations in question.

Information and promotion

Developers can prepare and distribute transport access information, for staff, clients and contractors (including deliveries and inspections). Elements include:

• Transport Access Guides, known as TAGs, which collate the key transport options available, including parking restrictions.
• Identifying facility location as 'near station’ or other landmark, supplementing the street address.
• Sketch maps on the rear of business cards.
• On-line map or trip planner links (especially for sites around major cities) on their web sites.
• Ticket availability information (where local transport operator sells through agents)
• Local timetables can be distributed as part of site induction and as part of ‘welcome pack’ for arriving businesses.
• Local services guide – lists local suppliers of goods and services, including addresses and phone numbers. These encourage short trips to local shops, often suitable for walking or cycling.

Employer policies

• Standard trip modes, for example trips for city meetings will be mostly by train.
• Periodical public transport tickets procured by Human Resources section, which are repaid by salary deduction
• Office entrances located to provide direct access for pedestrians and public transport users,
• Cycling allowance paid for business travel
• Corporate bike fleet, and/or Bicycle User Group sponsorship
• Corporate passes for business travel on public transport
• Flexi time, providing employees and employers flexibility and recognising variability in travel times. This policy also reduces the size of the peak demand, both on the transport network, and for accessing facilities, for example lifts.
• Telework reduces the amount of travel needed and can be very suitable for development industry with multiple sites in different locations without ‘hard-wired’ connections.
• GRH (for example reserve Cab Charge) Guaranteed Ride Home provides reassurance urgent trips can be made for domestic emergency, or finish work after public transport services finish.

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Integrating employer /facilities management and development

Where an organisation is likely to purchase dwellings in a development it is sensible to discuss their needs with them. In the 21st Century many organisations and most governments are concerned about environmental sustainability.

Developments for non-owner occupier dwellings can occur in a range of ways:

• Private rental stock
• Public rental stock,
• Company housing, or
• Defence quarters.

Their needs are similar to everyday community, as they will use driveways, footpaths and seek access to public transport. Some organisations have codified their requirements that rental stock can be customised to satisfy; others are not seeking to provide attractive living environment for personnel in required locale cost-effectively.

The pool of prospective tenants and purchasers is larger if the available public transport options allow car-free households to consider moving there. This includes housing for visiting executives and other staff. For public housing managers some group of clients have low car ownership levels, while some have low licence holding levels. Quality public transport access supports access to health and employment opportunities, including for spouses and young people.

For aged housing, expect lower distances travelled by car, with trip numbers falling for the highest aged brackets. Visitation may increase however. Health and leisure destinations will be important, with walking for pleasure and exercise likely with attractive infrastructure. Detailed design needs to serve people who may be using mobility aids, at risk of falls and who may travel slowly.

Facility managers need to advise developers of provisions required for community transport buses, with possibly ambulance and shift worker standards. Detailed design needs to provide legal standard of accessibility and cater for people who may be using mobility aids, at increased risk from falls, and who may travel slowly.

Meeting end-user needs and integrating environmental considerations with these approaches seeks to improve construction and end-use sustainability throughout the development process.

One example of the complexity involved is the Sydney Olympics Athletes’’ Village, which met the Olympic accommodation needs, their demand for exemplary environmental performance, increasing construction industry skills and demand for attractive dwellings for permanent use as the suburb of Newington.

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Construction workforce access

The Developer is direct and indirect employer of construction workers, whose access needs to be considered. The developer also controls site access and activities.
Some ways employers can expand travel options for their workers include:

• Car-pooling, park & ride and/or public transport can be encouraged. On large sites running a bus is an option to help address awkward access or site safety issues.
• Some flexibility with start/finish times can make public transport a more practical option.

Possible advantages for Greenfield and Brownfield developments include:

• Labour recruitment and retention.
• On-site traffic control for construction equipment and staging of excavations facilitated.
• Reduce parking demand.
• Facilitate access where no staff parking is available, for example inner city sites.

Support is available from the TravelSmart program and comparable State agencies. See Marketing Mass Transit seminar for papers and contacts.

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Development features supporting sustainable transport

In managed developments space is tighter and buildings are in use, for one purpose or another, for the greater part of the day. If the whole building is not used facilities such as parking can be shared with neighbours.

Designs should provide effective access for each user group. Ideally these include deliveries to/from businesses, undertaking removals and removing rubbish and recycling. If there is more than one street frontage available, design may be easier.

The development’s ‘product offering’ will be enhanced with pedestrian and cycling friendly access. This may be of particular importance for some occupying businesses and residents, or enrich the set of features prospective buyers are able to consider.

There are a range of Active Transport friendly features for employers and facilities managers to specify in developments. Depending on development sizes and formats these include:

• Location choice
  Selecting locations readily accessible with multiple modes of transport, for example Sydney Olympic Park.
• Car share ‘pods’
  These are parking spaces directly accessible from the street, ideally un-gated, where both building occupants and local carshare members feel comfortable driving in and out at anytime.
• Cycling facilities
  Cycle parking in handy locations for visitors, with cages if residents don't have individual suitable storage. End-of-trip facilities for commuters can include showers and lockers.
• Ticket outlet
  A public transport ticket outlet for commuter passes and information to serve local businesses and occasional travellers. This could be part of the developer’s community development activities and later becomes a local business or neighbourhood centre offering. The local transport operator needs to utilise ticket sales through agents.
• Dual and complementary parking
  As parking demands for residences and businesses usually have different peak demand times, developments can use a ‘dual and complementary’ approach. This where, for example, business parking can also serve as visitor parking at other times.
• Flexi time
  This type of policy provides staff with variable starting and finishing times. This reduces the start/finish peak, so footpath crossings, driveways, lifts and stairs can be sized to meet less intense flows at the start and end of the working day.

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Key Issues

Benefits

Employers and end-users that build sustainability elements into developments will achieve more effective Active transport outcomes than by retrofitting. Key issues for development stakeholders are outlined below.

Developers can reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions and pollution from transport associated with their projects by ensuring Active Transport options are considered for construction workforces and end-users.

Developers

• Better business cases by meeting employers’ needs, positioning and product differentiation in marketing plans, should be reflected in speedier sales or lettings.
• Risk management advantages as fuel prices can increase if land banks are held for future development.
• Development industry becomes better prepared to meet future and current planning system sustainability requirements and for negotiating implementation details.
• Demonstrable preparation for climate change, both by reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from construction and use in comparison with 'conventional' suburban developments.
• Help gain 'green building' accreditation - companies and investors may be seeking ‘sustainability’ recognition and/or potential Carbon Credits to trade.

A by-product of a transport system oriented to walking, cycling and public transport is that if it is well designed and built there are opportunities for additional profit for developers through higher land values, reduced infrastructure and land development costs.

Employers and Facility Managers

• Employers can expect recruitment and retention benefits from better accessibility, as well as a larger labour pool.
• Clients should find easier to access
• Encourages sustainable travel for business travel.
• Facilities are more ‘Climate Change’ ready – both for updated building standards and ‘triple bottom line’ accounting.
• Facility Managers can cater for wider user base, for example teenagers or others without current access to cars.
• Reduced parking demand can reduce car park construction costs, if planning approvals permit.
• Parent companies and investors may be seeking ‘sustainability’ recognition and/or potential Carbon Credits to trade.
• Managers have some extra options to address transport budgets.
• Employers should benefit from healthier and happier physically active staff.

Community

• Reduced energy consumption, particularly with modal switches to walking and cycling away from single occupant vehicles.
• Reduced carbon emissions from walking and cycling compared to motorised transport modes.

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Risks

Development entails various risks. There are commercial risks where development costs end up being much higher than was originally budgeted for; there are market risks whereby there is a lack of demand for the development; there are environmental risks where the impact of the development may result in unacceptable impacts on the environment; and there are risks that the transport functionality of the development falls short. In developments where there is greater use of Active Transport modes, there is a reliance on behavioural change from people. People tend to choose what they feel is the easier option, and it may be people’s perception that single occupant vehicles are the most time effective and convenient. Part of a successful design of a new development will be that people should perceive walking, cycling and public transport as the easiest ways to get around. There are a range of commercial, market and participant risks. Potential ways to minimise risks include:

• Investors, builders and authorities can be at different levels of knowledge and willingness to pay any additional up-front costs. Land use planning instruments may prevent cost savings being realised.
• Detailing the logic applied for improving suitability of developments for Active Transport beyond usual practice when preparing proposals for investors and Development Applications.
• Ensuring professional advisors keep knowledge and skills updated.
• Economic factors may change, these include higher Interest rates, fuel prices and interest rates fluctuating, inhibiting buyer affordability. Such factors will also be reflected in access to development and mortgage finance.
• Additional incentives may be required to achieve the desired sustainability benefits. Parking space levies or Pay as You Drive insurances and registration may be required to achieve sufficient benefits from shifts to Active Travel modes – measures beyond developers’ control.
• Timing issues - ideally all options are available and offer practical choices when buildings are occupied. For example the public transport level of service initially available may not be perceived as a viable choice.
• Other changes - for example government planning reform processes, Queensland’s 2007 Local Government amalgamations - mean stakeholders may not only hard to engage, but changes within stakeholders may be occurring.
• Developers may find accessibility features are not valued by subsequent building occupants or smaller occupants.
• Employees may be uninterested in changing their workplace location or travel behaviours.
• Altered Occupational Health and Safety risk profile may require specialist skills and management time to balance against health benefits.
• Land Supply, rezoning and utilities access may not be available at desired time for potential development sites.
• Planning rules may not support providing effective infrastructure for Active Travel.
• Environmental performance falls short of expectations because the mode shift to walking and cycling rather than driving is less than projected. Programs such as TravelSmart and Travel Demand Management measures. These can be based in individual buildings, Council areas or in Transport Management Associations.

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Savings

Capital and operating savings may be obtained by development designs catering for Active Transport. These will accrue to developers, employers, facility managers and users.

Developers

• The lower traffic expected means less space and construction materials are required for roadways and parking. This reduces embedded carbon, while reduced car park excavation requirement can reduce construction time, lessening operating capital pressures.
• Depending on local topography there may be opportunities to share easements and connection to local area cycleways, parks etc. This includes utility easements, and overflow drainage.

Employers and facility managers

• Reduced transport costs - walking, and cycling have low ownership and operating costs, much less than motor vehicles. See the Best Workplaces for Commuters Business Savings Calculator.
• Reduced parking costs, both at their premises and at other destinations.
• Good transport access should also reduce time spent travelling – to work and at work.
• Healthier staff should reduce lost time due to sickness.
• Happier staff should reduce recruitment and retention costs.

Community

• Asset management advantages for local government include cost effective and transport effective infrastructure investment, for example bicycle parking and bus stops compared with adding car parking, especially accounting for value of land.
• Any net reduction in constructed roadway area lifecycle costs are less than providing solely for motor traffic.
• Transport and utility topologies - synergies from shared easements may be possible, reducing land take and improving access for utility servicing.
• Health cost savings from cleaner air and healthier communities.
• Significant change towards Active Transport will reduce both fuel consumption directly; and by improving vehicle efficiency from congestion relief.

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Costs

A range of costs is incurred to invest in ensuring Active Transport is intrinsic to the project’s facilities and is in place at the right time and to the right standard.

Developers

• Time during design phases to integrate additional details for sustainability objectives.
• Cost of specialist expertise and working capital for Active Transport infrastructure.
• Possible financing delays if knowledge of investors and buyers are mismatched.
• Increased complexity, with greater details to include in plans and standards to meet, may increase site supervision costs.
• Additional costs if have to provide full scale car facilities as planning authorities and/or purchasers don’t recognise infrastructure scaling back possible with significant Active Transport usage.
• Costs of ensuring infrastructure for Active Transport options is in place and ready for use on handover.

Employers and Facility Managers

• Time needed during design phases, cost of experts, and possible delays if negotiations with investors and authorities are needed.
• Time for different user groups needs to be accommodated, and resources to make deliver compatibility, eg separate access to different parts of building, shift work suitability, staff involvement and relocation disruptions to operations.
• Initial cost of infrastructure for Active Travel facilities :
  • Showers
  • Locker space, and
  • Cycle storage

Community

• Purchasing 'footpath' scale equipment, for example pavers.
• Incurring infrastructure and operating costs to ensure developer provided Active Transport facilities are connected to local destinations, regional networks and are in early operation.
• There may be costs of updating planning controls, staff training and reissuing publications.

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Barriers

When developers seek to include Active Travel features in the complex they face barriers to change, some are rules related, some site related, and some are business process related:

* Planning constraints.
These can be a lack of controls, or don’t envisage need to integrate Active Transport into the area of the development site. There are also scale issues, with major public transport infrastructure planned on a metropolitan scale and relatively infrequent timing.

• Company car provision is built into some salary packages, are seen as a symbol of corporate status, and the Fringe Benefit Tax scheme provides a perverse incentive to drive further.
• Not all organisations are ready to deal with uncertainties and change their policies to achieve benefits from Active Transport.
• Shape, size and topography factors can make development sites marginal or unattractive for Active Transport modes.
• Attitudes of superiors, staff or financiers to Active Transport concepts.
• Expectations within the community of new developments replicating earlier practice.
• Employment market ranking attractiveness of Active Travel features behind other job attributes.
• Path networks in the area being developed may not extend far enough to be widely useful.

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Benchmarks

Benchmarks are not necessarily standards, rather they inform developers, employers and the community what can be achieved and of current best practice. isolated design responses in can in an absolute sense include elements of best practice, but if they do not encourage the community to walk, cycle or make use of public transport because the wider environment or policy settings are unsupportive, then identifying projects that constitute best practice may be difficult. Over time, benchmarks have to be reviewed, revised and possibly upgraded to continue improvements and apply innovations. Benchmarks imply selecting projects that demonstrate excellence in desired outcomes. Professional journals, conference papers and experts are places to seek expertise, with key government agencies and the internet providing contacts.

• There are a variety of benchmarks that can be used to measure sustainability of developments from a transport perspective. Some are stand –alone, while others are measures across multiple aspects of sustainability.
• Facility Managers as tenant  - an employer voice should advise developers with details of how they propose to measure their travel behaviours, so any counters can be readily installed and can reallocate space if needed, for example adding showers or converting car parking spaces to bike racks.
• Facility Managers’ policy and practice should include measurements with periodic surveys and published usage statistics for Commute Trip Reductions and use of Active Travel, including for at work trips. Integration into the organisation’s Environmental Management Systems will ensure consistent measurement – AS / ISO 4000 series refer.

There are some predictive tools developers should examine and be aware planning authorities may use. These include:

• Accessibility measures: for example 50% of residences are within 200m walk of a weekday bus service, or average travel times to major centres .
• Walkability score - see www.walkscore.com.au
• Bikeability score – see TravelSmart Australia - Toolkits
• Home-based Telecommuting Cost-Benefit Analysis
• Dodson & Sipe (2006) have developed the VAMPIRE indicator of ‘Vulnerability Assessment For Mortgage, Petrol And Inflation Risks And Expenditure’. Fuel expenditures reflect location, especially where driving is principal commuting mode.
• Land use impacts - land area used by transport infrastructure.
• Equity - proportion of household budget for 'adequate' transport detailed by demographics.
• Selected measures from the Transportation Research Board (TRB 2008) include:
  • Travel activity - mode shares, vehicle ownership, kilometres travelled, disaggregate by trip purpose, place and demographics JTW available for metro areas, in NSW HTS.
  • Traffic risk - crashes, killed and seriously injured detailed by mode, place and demographics.

Other measures may be more suitable for post occupation use or at a regional scale. Some examples are:

• 'carbon footprint' size
• Greenhouse calculator - to assess overall impacts and assess reduction measures.
• Ecological footprint calculators
• Transport access information is prepared and widely disseminated.

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Development phase actions

Feasibility

This is the initial stage, so broad consideration of all project elements including Active Transport, is needed.

The project planning should consider the degree Active Transport features are feasible, and if can be used to distinguish the project. This includes whether the prospective sites are in locations that have suitable terrain for cycling, walking and public transport, the current degree of accessibility by different modes, to a range of facilities; such as shopping centres, medical infrastructure, the city centre and the handiest major public transport node.

Key site data and topography, easements, utility availability, major infrastructure capacity and strategic growth areas are used to formulate project concepts and start considering land use planning.

Market research should assess the types of property that may be in demand. Prospective classes of end-users/facility managers can be identified, for example major employers or institutional investment programs, for the scale and location of available sites. London’s Canary Wharf is an example where developer has played a major role in ensuring Active Transport is provided, initiating the Docklands Light Railway.

The initial project costing should take account of infrastructure required and prospective marketing advantages from integrating Active Transport concepts.
A clear idea objectives and aims for the development, together with measurable performance targets, should mark the completion of this stage.

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Planning

Developer’s project planning should examine Active Transport considerations. This includes reviewing zoning, and applicable building regulations.

Formal planning applications require range of factors to be specified and be public exhibited. Master Plans with subsequent Development Applications may be appropriate process for developers to deal with level of detail as end-users are found and their building needs specified. Likely elements include:

• Site analysis – physical suitability and commercial feasibility.
• A review of planning controls and planning issues.
• Setting overall project aims.
• Identifying project objectives and accompanying performance indicators.
• Setting planning principles and identifying applicable planning controls.
• Locating major public transport corridors in the region.
• Locate Transit Oriented Development opportunities.
• Identify rights of way for walking, cycling and public transport.
• Forecast resources.

Councils should include Active Transport suitability when assessing development applications. A Transport Access and Mobility Plan may be required where the development is large scale, and/or there is major local air quality or traffic congestion issues.

This enables likely impacts to be assessed and mitigation measures be investigated. Resulting conditions of consent, including parking requirements and travel demand management measures, will become a legal requirement when Development Applications are approved.

The process should produce a Project Plan with tasks, actions, timings, broad human and capital resource requirements, with outline dependencies
On complete of this stage it could also be timely to alert public transport operators to the development.

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Design

Architects and engineers develop responses to design issues within the site context. Developers work with customers to ensure end-user requirements, both management and staff, are integrated with the design. Active Transport should be one of the actions in the project plan.

‘Design ‘ operates at several levels. The Active Transport access framed in a Master Plan, through centrally locating communal facilities and spatial relationship of transport facilities, needs to be carried through to serve all the buildings with adequate quality and quantity cycle parking.

Mixed use development ensures that a greater range of travel destinations can be reached by people walking or cycling, so that these travel modes are functional, and not only for recreation. Pedestrian, bicycle and public transit routes need to be as direct as possible. It is essential that designers aim to have pedestrians, cyclists and public transport trips quicker, or as convenient, than cars for short trips.

Development configuration should include assessing Transit Oriented Development and mixed use opportunities. Pathways should be well lit, with drainage and aligned as necessary to enable all weather day and night use.

A grid arrangement for the street layout should provide the most direct and unimpeded routes to pedestrians and cyclists, in comparison with lesser connected crescents and cul-de-sacs layouts encouraging driving. In detail design the street and path network accessibility needs to be measured and standards met to ensure easy to use and attractive conditions for walking, cycling and public transport users are delivered.

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Construction

This phase involves major construction of transport and utility infrastructure.
In situations where major services relocation/installation is needed and where there would be major community disruption through the construction process, it is preferable to complete civil beginning for major transit routes (e.g. bus ways, cycle/pedestrian paths) prior to the construction of residences and other structures. As workforce access may be difficult at this stage, car pooling and shuttle buses are options for the last leg into the site.

Most large developers, planners and local government recognise the importance of construction being complete before residents move into each precinct. If future residents are to be discouraged from using private motor vehicles, then it is imperative that new residents recognise that the area facilitates walking, cycling and public transport for many trip purposes. Major works should be constructed first, with staging to avoid plant driving over facilities designed for pedestrian/cycle use. This may involve delaying final surface paving until all trenched services are laid and planning staging so heavy equipment doesn’t having to drive over cycleways or footpaths already completed.

Employers and facilities managers also need to plan their transition of personnel and activities from existing premises. This includes developing policies and education program to ensure everyone is encouraged to use Active Transport at the new location.

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Lot Creation

This phase is a key phase for implementation of the prior planning. The relevant public transport planning authority should be advised when lot creation has commenced, to indicate size and timing of lot releases for sale.

Sales material needs to promote the development’s attractiveness for walking and cycling, and should be fed into employers’ transport access policies and information.

Transport infrastructure construction should be completed just prior to development occupation to manage cash flows efficiently and minimise timing risks. Where pedestrian and bicycle routes require some ‘vacant’ lots, it is essential that the boundaries be revised to ensure incursions or revocation don’t occur at a later date. Enlarging adjacent lots, invoking a right of way easement and/or running utility easements adjacent to the pathways to ensure the permeability of the area while quickly identifying in street directories and local transport information. These measures should ensure permanency and quality of access for the designated Active Transport modes into the future.

Ideally precinct completions should be sequenced to support matching extensions in public transport services. Staff should not be dispersed amongst construction sites, such that public transport can’t be effective.

Community facilities and parkland landscaping are sometimes delivered by developers as agreed with the local council, or the Council may subsequently complete these works themselves. This may delay completion of the planned pathway network.

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Completion

A range of activities is performed in this phase, including:

• Post construction evaluation: finished to specification, including wearing seals, signage, landscaping and line marking.
• Repairs and rectification to manage risks and fulfil quality controls.
• Handover of facilities from builders to asset managers, with plans and supporting documentation.
• Networks connected to available regional network where available.
• Install directional signage to main destinations and cycle network connections.
• Authorities informed that responsibility for facilities has transferred from developer to employer (or sales division).

To ensure commercial viability of projects where less car use has been designed for, it is critical the walking, cycling and public transport infrastructure are provided in a timely and integrated way to ensure the necessary functionality and travel efficiency so people can use for their daily activities with ease. This phase also completes the detailing to ensure required visibility, legibility and practicality of Active Transport modes are delivered.

Orientation activities should engage with staff and visitors to inform and promote Active Transport for the new development occupants. Such information should include:

• Cycle network and end-of-trip facilities
• Walking trails
• Local public transport information: service commencement, timetables, maps and ‘how to find here’ information.
• Nearby services and amenities, for example local shops, post office etc.

When a development has reached full occupancy a local public transport ticket outlet should be operating, perhaps through the nearest convenience store.

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Victoria Transport Policy Institute, TDM Encyclopaedia

T. Litman, Pavement Busters Guide, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, 2007

MTR Properties, Hong Kong

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Joint Development Program

Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center (PBIC) Image Library

National Heart Foundation of Australia, June 2004, Healthy by design: a planners' guide to environments for active living

Transport Canada, Urban Transportation Showcase Program