Advertisement

Bike-friendly sites a must

Best option: The RAC wants to encourage cycling to work. Picture: The West Australian

All new developments should be required to have travel plans that would discourage occupants from single-occupancy car use, a RAC discussion paper has recommended.

The plans could include bicycle parking, end-of-trip facilities, car-pooling databases and discounts for cycling stores.

In the first of several bulletins to be released this year, the RAC said travel plans were designed to encourage use of alternative transport for journeys to and from the site.

It said that integrating travel plans within normal planning for a new development was becoming common in several countries around the world, including in Britain and the US.

And they were being developed and implemented with increasing frequency in Australia.

By requiring travel plans for new development, physical infrastructure could be developed as part of the design of the site.

This would avoid the need and expense for retro-fitting facilities.

It would also allow time to develop marketing initiatives that promoted transport alternatives.

"This therefore provides a significant opportunity to influence the travel behaviour before a tendency towards single occupancy car travel is entrenched," the paper said.

It said travel plans could also deliver direct benefits for developers.

"Travel plans can reduce demand for car parking spaces, enabling the more cost-effective use of land that would have otherwise been required for parking," it said.

"They can also increase the value of property as a result of the provision of enhanced services such as high-quality cycle parking and end-of-trip facilities."

The document said the RAC had prepared a travel plan for its West Perth and Joondalup Pass offices - and the 1039 staff - with the aim of reducing single-occupancy car travel by 8 per cent by the end of this year.

The plan included a number of initiatives, including an electric bike pool scheme, a car-pooling database, a cycling club, Bike to Work day and staff discounts for cycling stores.

Doctor seeks safer cycleways
Push in Freo
Perth built for cycling
Spending hump
Helmet saved me