Frequently asked questions
By 2027 we will:
1.Adopt 30 km/h speeds on all local residential streets and town centres.
Q: Why 30km/h?
Q: How can we make this happen?
3.Improve and expand beautiful streetscapes for local businesses
Q: How will businesses benefit?
Q: That seems like a lot. Where did this number come from?
Q: Why 1000kms?
FAQ - Timing
Q: How fast are we planning to do this?
FAQ - Funding
Q: What’s the best way to pay for Better Streets?
Q: I’d like to help!
Q: How can we work together to reduce the pressure on parking in cities?
FAQ - Kids
Q:How do I ensure that my kids are safe when they bike to school?
Q: How can install bike charge stations at schools and shops?
Q: How will Better Streets benefit me as a walker?
Q: Should e-bikes use the road or pathways?
1.Adopt 30 km/h speeds on all local residential streets and town centres.
Q: Why 30km/h?
- More people, including kids and the elderly, walk or ride their bikes on streets with safer speeds. Research shows that a fatal injury to a person walking is at least twice as likely to occur in a crash at 40km/h than at 30km/h. Regardless of the cause of a crash, speed is the difference between someone being unharmed or being seriously injured or killed. 30km/h in local streets is the global best practice for neighbourhood streets.
- On busy main roads, separated infrastructure for people walking and cycling is needed to keep people safe. In local residential streets, people driving at lower speed is safe for everyone.
- Town centres that have calmer car traffic experience increased business. We all enjoy walking to streetside cafes and shops and bike riding along pleasant streets.
- Calmer streets will make it easier and more pleasant for people to walk or cycle to their nearest shops. This should make shopping locally more attractive, rather than driving to shops further afield. There is plenty of evidence that good walking/cycling access to shops is good for business.
- Studies have shown that too much traffic puts people off spending time on a high street. And people walking and cycling spend more money in local retailers than drivers (The Pedestrian Pound), so we need to make it easy for people to access shops on foot and by bike.
Q: How can we make this happen?
- Kids tell us they want to walk, scoot or bike to school, especially with their friends. And we know more people, including kids, walk or ride their bikes on streets with safer speeds.
- Our local roads were once playful streets, where 3 in 4 children walked or rode to school – and parents felt safe to let them.
- Nowadays, just 1 in 4 children walk or cycle to school, despite more than half of children living within 1km of school in urban areas.
- It’s easy to carry stuff on bikes these days and bikes with electric assist are more common.
- Investment in quality public transport that works well for everyone is needed too.
3.Improve and expand beautiful streetscapes for local businesses
Q: How will businesses benefit?
- Towns across NSW have already benefited by creating inviting places people want to visit and linger. We all enjoy walking to cafes and shops along pleasant streets, that’s what becomes possible by creating inviting places people want to visit and linger.
- Studies have shown that too much traffic puts people off spending time on a high street. And people walking and cycling spend more money in local retailers than drivers (The Pedestrian Pound), so we need to make it easy for people to access shops on foot and by bike.
- Calmer streets will make it easier and more pleasant for people to walk or cycle to their nearest shops. This should make shopping locally more attractive, rather than driving to shops further afield. There is plenty of evidence that good walking/cycling access to shops is good for business.
- There are examples of Business Improvement District schemes where revenue from converting free parking to paid parking is invested back into the Business District for streetscape.
- We want elected officials to prioritise funding these works, so you should talk to your local representatives about green investments.
Q: That seems like a lot. Where did this number come from?
- More than 1,500 people walking are struck in NSW each year. If we build 20 crossings in each LGA, that’s 2,560 crossings. And one for every 3,000 of us. We want crossings in residential areas where kids want to go to the park or school or sports. We want people to easily and safely access shops and businesses on both sides of streets in shopping areas.
- We want elected officials to prioritise funding these works. Please speak to your state member.
- Safe pedestrian crossings are estimated to reduce pedestrian-vehicle crashes at intersections by 40%. Pedestrian crossing protection may result in small traffic delays but can provide significant safety benefits.
Q: Why 1000kms?
- It’s a start. NSW has 209,000 kms of roads. If we build 1,000 kms per year for a decade, it will only match 5% of our road network. The City of London has 15,000km of roads, and its separated network will be 10% of its length.
- Footpaths are for people walking. It’s safer to have separate spaces for people to walk, ride and drive.
- Painted bike logos have little to no effect on driver behaviour. Drivers become impatient with people riding a bicycle or scooters in their lanes, even though people riding a bicycle are allowed there by law. Bike lanes next to car doors are also a low-cost feel-good measure that can compromise safety. The best solution is separated walkways and bikeways.
FAQ - Timing
Q: How fast are we planning to do this?
- A long term strategy to implement our Asks could take a decade. However even this time frame will require immediate and simultaneous planning, designing and implementing hundreds of sections of separated path each year plus tens of new crossings and concerted work on testing and implementing 30km/h limits.
- The rate limiting factor on the implementation of micromobility improvements is unlikely to be resources. It’s more likely to be organisational capabilities at a local level. So it will come down to which communities will be able to form coalitions that can overcome objections, create cohesive plans and execute them against inevitable resistance to change.
- There is no reason why regional areas should lag cities in the implementation of Better Streets. NSW is more tilted towards the urban than many other locales - 5.2m of NSW’s 8.2m residents live in Greater Sydney, but regional towns can benefit from Better Streets as much as large cities.
FAQ - Funding
Q: What’s the best way to pay for Better Streets?
- Better Streets make economic sense in many ways. Improved safety for kids, people walking and riding a bicycle lower our healthcare costs and increase longevity. For every person killed, hundreds are seriously injured at great cost to themselves and society. For every person seriously injured, hundreds suffer cuts and scrapes and wrecked clothing or equipment. Better Streets are more productive streets for the people who shop there and the merchants who sell to them. Better Streets are those in which we can reduce the number of polluting vehicles, which pays a dividend in cleaner air and lower emissions. Better Streets are an investment for the medium and long term, even while there are short term costs needed to arrest current trends in safety and pollution.
- Councils choose what to do with their budgets and currently spend large proportions defending and expanding the on-road hegemony of cars and trucks. The investment we have made in accommodating vehicles while moving and parked is astounding. Councils also fall prey to a strong resistance to increasing rates to pay for our mutual benefit. If ratepayers correctly perceived the benefits to all of investing in a better, more engaging built environment, they would not be as self-centred in resisting community spending. The Better Streets campaign can also help councils by providing best practices that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of infrastructure changes.
- NSW is unusual in the degree to which the State Government controls road and path infrastructure. The role of councils is diminished compared to most other countries. Local councils still play a major role in gathering citizen preferences and needs and working with consultants and contractors on local strategies, plans and projects. However a degree of state funding is generally expected for significant improvements in streets. Many key roads in major cities are completely under State control, and funding for projects along them will flow entirely from State coffers. The role of the Federal Government is limited.
Q: I’d like to help!
- Your town may well have a Better Streets chapter already - reach out to them and ask what they need that suits your skills, experience and contacts. If not, you can start your own group using templates available from Better Streets - they have ample examples on how to set up and organise a chapter. There are many roles to play. Organising and channelling the energies of other enthusiasts is important, but there are also roles in data analysis, marketing, outreach, fundraising, speaking at meetings, writing, surveying, photography and many others.
- Councils and State bodies have many demands upon their resources. They are beset by requests that may not be mutually opposed but are certainly not channelled or organised. They put their energies where they perceive the greatest return for their constituents will come from and they benefit greatly from coherent, comprehensive actionable requests with clear community-wide benefits. The materials, methods and toolkits from Better Streets help citizens press their case for change and help councils and the State prioritise their plans and actions.
- As we have seen recently, social media platforms come and go, but the fundamental need for us to say what we feel and understand others’ views remains. Regardless of the platform, there is a need for energetic participants who can spread the good word about Better Streets in a logical, empathetic way, and listen to others' views so that we can adjust our journey and build a better, wider coalition. We have materials, ideas, evidence and imaging that you can leverage and share.
Q: How can we work together to reduce the pressure on parking in cities?
- An outcome of Better Streets is to reduce the need for car journeys. This will directly reduce the need for cars and the space needed to park them when they aren’t being used. Not every family can use share-cars, but 30% may be able to eliminate their second car. Not every family can use a cargo bike, but maybe 30% can use one to do local shopping and take the kids to school. Not every family can walk to school, but maybe 75% can. Not every commuter can walk to the train or bus, but maybe 40% can. Each of these actions dramatically reduces the need for parking near homes, schools, businesses and transit hubs.
- Merchants understandably worry that every shopper wants to park directly in front of their store. However this is seldom actually the case in practice. The experience of Sydney and other cities and towns in building bike paths is that traffic is improved by an increase in walkers and cyclers. Examples also abound across NSW of innovative ways of weaving handicap access, electric charging, public transport, deliveries, walkers and bikers all within people-dense precincts.
- By designing spaces and routes to suit the preferred travel speeds of each mode of transport
- By keeping vehicle speeds below 30 km/h where people walking and riding a bicycle are common
- By keeping lines of sight open and well within human reaction times
- By providing shade and shelter
- By including all these factors and more in standard design code handbooks that all levels of government use to design and implement Better Streets. These handbooks not only guide best design practices but also specify and constrain contractors who implement and repair our Better Streets
FAQ - Kids
Q:How do I ensure that my kids are safe when they bike to school?
- We have become conditioned to kids being dropped at school, but this is a recent phenomenon. Historically, Aussie kids walked and biked to school. In other countries they do today. The current situation is an anomaly and we are paying for it with pollution, congestion and increased accidents. As we implement Better Streets, particularly near schools and homes, the very streets themselves will guide kids as they ride to school and guide motorists as they approach them.
- Bike and scooter parking at schools is often inadequate and poorly monitored. A key ask for Better Streets is improved parking for bikes, e-bikes, scooters, prams and strollers. This includes good lighting, easy use of locks if required, and high visibility. Schools should also conduct brief lessons on how to care for bikes and scooters and spot common issues. Better Streets has resources to help.
- Good biking and walking infrastructure are friendly to the differently abled. Too many pathway ramps have dangerous lips, are too narrow, require sharp changes in direction, and have steep gradients. Many of the council toolkits in use treat good design as an option, not a requirement, and the sample toolkits from Better Streets can improve this. Better Streets are better for everyone.
Q: How can install bike charge stations at schools and shops?
- E-devices are a recent phenomenon and needs are shifting. The cellphone and electric vehicle charging stations of a decade ago are obsolete now with changes in plugs and adapters. It’s understandable that councils will wait for defined standards before proceeding, but the provision of metered standard electric outlets adjacent to bike parking is a good start.
- In some circumstances, shared pathways are the best short or long-term solution. However the best approach is always to separate cars, people riding bicycle and people walking from each other. The tradeoffs should not be between people walking and riding a bicycle but between humans and moving or parked cars.
Q: How will Better Streets benefit me as a walker?
- For our own health and safety and the good of the planet, we should walk and ride more at the expense of vehicle trips. The bikers and walkers of the future will be a mix of crazy lycra nuts, mums and dads going to school, shoppers, exercisers and ordinary folks like you and me.
- Riding a bicycle is most comfortable in the speed range from 10-20 km/h. Walkers are more comfortable at 4-8 km/h. When there are few of each, mixing them can work, but in many circumstances it’s best to create separated paths for walkers and wheelers. Whenever people walking, riding a bicycle or a scooter mix, the faster humans should defer to the slower ones. Better Streets are streets where we can all be our best selves and be gracious to those moving more slowly or unsteadily than we are.
Q: Should e-bikes use the road or pathways?
- Current rules for e-bikes in NSW outlaw unassisted bikes, although this rule is sometimes flouted in practice. E-bikes are assisted up to 25km/h, which is too slow to travel in car lanes while our speed limits remain high. When we cut road speeds to 30km/h on our local streets we can reconsider mixing cars and bikes.