How far can you get in 30 minutes?

How many opportunities you can reach depends on where you live and how you travel. A new report maps accessibility for our eight capital cities by car, public transport, cycling and walking.

Parcel deliveries aren’t to blame for clogging urban roads

A rise in online shopping is often blamed for an increase in the number of parcel delivery vehicles clogging up our busy city roads, but research from Europe suggests they’re a small fraction of the problem.

Would you let your car do the driving?

Australians think automated vehicles would great for the elderly and people with disabilities, and would cut accidents allow commuters to multi-task, but the remain worried about malfunctions and hackers.

Smart tech can get traffic moving

Smart technology can improve traffic flows on existing roads at a fraction of the cost of building new infrastructure.

The hidden traffic impacts of private schooling

The costs of road congestion are expected to exceed A$30 billion a year by 2030, and so the heavy traffic generated by parents ferrying children to distant private schools should be fully calculated, costed and included in assessments of their costs and benefits.

Lost in transit

Australian cities have seen a considerable increase in the work commute since 2002, but the 2019 HILDA survey suggests we have finally reached peak travel times.

Planning the “20 minute” cities of tomorrow

Melbourne is growing fast, and planners hope it will become a network of connected “20-minute cities”, where people will be able to walk or cycle to shops and services, reducing traffic while increasing population density.

Are solar powered cars on the horizon?

Electric cars have been the ‘next big thing’ for decades, but they may finally become a reality in the next few years, and solar panels could help to boost the battery range which has long been their Achilles heel.

We subscribe to movies and music, why not transport?

For Australians, “Mobility-as-a-Service” may still be on the distant horizon, but subscription scooter services may be a sign of how we will soon approach urban transport solutions.

Driverless buses could boost suburban public transport

Automated services in the form of expanded and frequent fixed-route services feeding major transit hubs, or flexible mobility-on-demand door-to-door trips could stop the downward spiral of suburban public transport.

Faster railways could halve inter-city travel times

Air travel between Sydney and Melbourne is increasingly congested. High speed rail links could cut the travel times, but despite many studies, these plans remain stuck on the drawing board.

Will Sydney’s “3 x 30 minute cities” become a reality?

When a city gets to a certain size, it starts to make sense to have multiple centres of activity, and three are planned for Sydney. So what needs to be done to bring the city closer to this goal?