REALISING EMISSION
REDUCTIONS VIA ACTIVE
TRANSPORT STRATEGIES
Jane Waldock, City of Yarra
MAV Smart Urban Futures Conference, March 2014
Today’s subject
 Subject was initially proposed as “realising emission
reductions via promoting passive transport strategies”
 In the white heat of pre Christmas, mid analysis of
hundreds of pages of documentation for a major piece of
infrastructure which was strongly opposed by Yarra, mid
development of two major strategies on the CEO’s KPI list,
I probably did not give the title my full attention, and took
it to mean “promoting active transport”
 So having had time to think long and hard about it, I am
going to shed my bureaucrat skin for a short while, and
behave like a politician, and answer the question I thought
was posed!
I’ll cover
 Context:
 Sustainable transport strategies
 Environment strategy and targets
 Bike fleet case study
Active transport
 involves physical exercise: cycling, walking, jogging,
skateboarding, even rollerblading, although Sir Cliff
Richard (mentioned mainly because we are now back in
the business of creating our own Dames and Sirs)
probably stopped doing this in the mid 1980’s
 includes using public transport, as most people have to
walk some distance from their home or work place to
their nearest PT stop
Yarra’s Active Transport Strategies
Yarra has adopted several active transport strategies:
 2005 Encouraging and Increasing Walking in Yarra Strategy
 2006 Strategic Transport Statement
 2009 Bicycle strategy
The focus of these strategies is to increase active and
sustainable transport use and decrease car use, with an
additional benefit being emission reduction for both Council
operations and the community.
Yarra’s Active Transport Advocacy
We also advocate for public transport improvements
such as
 Supporting Doncaster Rail
 Supporting Melbourne Metro
 Improving the DART service frequency and reliability,
along Hoddle St and Victoria Pde
 Improving tram reliability and frequency eg Route 96
 Piloting new DDA tram stop designs in Bridge Road
 Opposing the extension of Clearways in 2009/10
Yarra Environment Strategy 2013
The vision of the new Yarra Environment Strategy adopted in
December 2013 is:
“Yarra is a resilient and sustainable city where current and
future populations enjoy a high quality of life within our
fair share of the earth's resources, whilst ensuring we coexist harmoniously with the natural environment.”
Yarra Environment Strategy 2013
(YES)
Of the four themes included in the strategy, the
Sustainable City Infrastructure & Lifestyles pathway
includes
 Sustainable Transport - Community infrastructure and
programs that provide for safe, efficient, affordable
and low-carbon mobility.
 Carbon Neutral Yarra - Reduced greenhouse emissions
from across the municipality, towards carbon neutral
by 2020
Targets for Sustainable transport
modes to work in Yarra (community)
Baseline Measurement
2017
target
2020
target
41% Residents using
Sustainable Transport to
work (2011 census)
50% (2016 census)
60% (2021 census)
29% non-residents use
sustainable transport to
work in Yarra (2011 census)
35% (2016 census)
50% (2021 census)
Emission reduction targets
(Council organisation)
reduction
Emission (tCO2)
2000/01
baseline
16,820
2014/15
50%
8,410
2017
55%
7569
2020
60%
6728
YES: Cycling and walking actions
 The City of Yarra is very well served by public transport has
excellent walking and cycling opportunities and is centrally
located in Melbourne.
 Yarra City will encourage those visiting Yarra (for work and
leisure) to use sustainable transport to access the city.
 The Yarra Bicycle Strategy includes continuing construction
of bicycle infrastructure improvements in Yarra, such as
separated bicycle lanes, and bicycle parking infrastructure.
 .
YES: Road management actions
 Trial 30km speed limits in LATMS precincts
 Improve road safety in Yarra
 Develop a phased plan of priority public transport
projects that will help people travel from, through
and to Yarra
YES: Sustainable transport actions
 Integrate sustainable transport improvements with
local economic and urban realm improvements.
 Increase the number of staff travelling to work and
for work by sustainable modes
Public transport advocacy
Council will also:
 Advocate to improve conditions for sustainable
transport modes.
 Advocate against road projects that increase the net
traffic capacity for single occupancy vehicles, unless
the scheme produces an overall significant mode shift
towards sustainable modes by improving conditions
for pedestrians, cyclists, disabled people and public
transport.
Active transport
 We know that the only way to get more people into the city is to
provide them with safe alternative transport options. The travel
time/cost equation is what shifts people out of their cars faster
than any other motivator.
 We know that more and more people are choosing active
transport to get to the city. VicRoads car volume data shows a
slight decrease in numbers of people on the arterial roads
travelling to the city.
 Our residents tell us that using public transport is getting harder
due to trams and trains being full by the time they get to Yarra.
 Year on year we see more cyclists and pedestrians.
Bicycle projects
As with its emissions reduction strategy, Yarra started with
bicycle projects which are easy to achieve.





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Clifton Hill – Abbotsford
Elizabeth Street
Pigdon Street
Lennox Street
Gertrude Street
Heidelberg Road
Largely these were win-win projects; bicycle lanes could be
improved with little loss of parking.
Bicycle projects
 Projects underway.
 Wellington Street
 Brunswick St/St Georges Road
CASE STUDY
 Council’s staff bicycle fleet
Council’s bicycle fleet
 We have 24 bicycles in the Council fleet.
 To be eligible you must travel a minimum of 20 km per
week for work purposes.
 Most riders would easily exceed this distance.
 This results in a (conservative) reduction in the
number of fleet/pool cars Council owns by 12 vehicles.
$ savings of having a bicycle fleet
 Up front cost of a small car is $18 k each; cars are replaced
every two years; $108k
 Annual running costs for Council’s fleet cars of the order of
$8k; $96k
 Total cost $204k
 Up front cost of a bicycle is $1000 each; replaced every 6
years: $4k
 Annual running costs of order $24k
 Total cost $28k
 Annual saving $176k
Emission reductions of bicycle fleet
(direct)
 Average gCO2/km for medium sized car: 183g
 Avg gCO2 saved per week (based on 20k/wk): 3660g
 Avg gCO2 saved per year per car (48wks/year):
175,680g
 Avg gCO2/km for bicycle: 0g
 Avg annual CO2 saving per bike: 0.18 tonne
Emissions reduction (direct)
less conservative assessment
 Include kms saved for travel to and from work: avg
50km/wk
 Include kms for private use: avg 25 km/wk
 Kms for work use 25 km/wk
 Total 100 km/wk
 Avg annual CO2 saving per bike: 0.88 tonne
 For 24 fleet bikes: 21 tonne
Conclusion
 The emissions savings from having a bike fleet are
modest
 The $ savings from having a bike fleet are significant
 The ease of achieving these saving is high (especially
when compared to stationary emissions reduction
projects)
Embodied emissions (indirect)
Camry
1.28 tonne/car
Bicycle
0.013 tonne/bike