The ‘active transport’ ideas from around the world that could make Australians healthier and our cities cleaner

It’s time for a major rethink of transport in Australia, experts say – and, while some new ideas may meet resistance, “these are not ideas from radical left Scandinavian pot-smoking greenies”, Prof Matt Burke says.

Policies lumped together as “active transport” include proposals to offer rebates for people who ditch their cars for public transport, or cash payouts for people who cycle to work.

“This is happening in cities like Denver, Montreal and Washington DC,” Burke says.

Burke, the deputy director of Griffith University’s Cities Research Institute, is an expert on transport planning and policy and, in particular, on how towns and cities could get more people out of their cars and into their walking shoes, bike saddles and on to electric bikes and scooters.

He cites policies already implemented elsewhere in the world, such as major investments in walking and cycling infrastructure and importantly, Burke believes, lowering speed limits in local streets.

Australia is one of only four countries globally where the speed limit for cars in local streets is as high as 50km/h. “The others are Qatar, New Zealand and Saudi Arabia,” he says.

“Australia is the world’s number one car owning democracy. We still regulate our streets to be hostile to cyclists.”

The progressive thinktank the Australia Institute released a report on Monday calling for a major rethink of Australia’s transport policy to boost active transport and bring the country into line with policies in place around the world.

“We know our cities are growing really quickly and we need to look at other places that have dealt with congestion and pollution problems that come with millions of people,” says Dr Morgan Harrington, research manager at the institute and one of the report’s authors.

The report looked globally for polices that encouraged active transport, bringing all the knock-on benefits including reduced pollution, lower transport greenhouse gas emissions and improved physical and mental health.

In Finland, France and Lithuania, people can get a rebate for scrapping old cars to help pay for e-bikes or public transport tickets.

In the Netherlands, Belgium and France, there are tax rebates and or cash allowances for people who cycle to work.

Other suggestions in the report include increasing funding for active transport to the equivalent of 10% of road-related expenditure (the UN has recommended 20%), legalising private e-scooters (now illegal in NSW) and making infrastructure safer for cyclists and public transport.

National surveys of cycling rates show the percentage of people who use a bike either weekly, monthly or annually have dropped since 2011, outside a big increase during the pandemic – which Harrington suggests was because with fewer cars on the road, people felt safer to get on two wheels.

Harrington says the gap is growing between the number of kilometres Australians travel by car and the kilometres they travel by walking or cycling.

Australia has a “cultural problem” with transport that promotes and accepts driving a car, he says.

“People think we have a lot of room in Australia so we can afford to have the space for everyone to drive everywhere,” he says. “But anyone who has stood in rush hour in any Australian city knows that’s not the case.”

Burke says Australia has done “a little better with pedestrian infrastructure” and, while Australians in cities walk more than people living in the US, “we cycle less”.

He points to successes in London where the building of so-called cycle superhighways for commuters have eased congestion and pushed up cycling. In local streets, the speed limits have been dropped.

In Paris, more than 100km of pink cycle lanes protected from road traffic and built to link Olympic venues are now a permanent feature of the city and neighbouring Seine-Saint-Denis area.

Paris, where Burke says cycle rates have tripled, speed limits on local streets have been dropped to 30km/h. Like London, Paris also has schemes allowing streets near schools to be closed off at peak times to avoid the chaos, and dangers, of mixing young children with fast-moving cars.

“In Australia, we still think children are safe at 40km/h near schools,” he says.

“The cost of driving is extremely cheap in Australia compared to almost any other country in the world. We do everything to pamper the car driver, and there’s outrage if any space gets added for walking and cycling.”

He says cities including Denver, Washington DC, Montreal, London, Paris and many others “are really going for it by cutting street speeds for cars and investing in end-of-trip facilities and [cycle] parking at public transport stops”.

When cycling rates go up, “they don’t have to invest in as much freeway infrastructure that costs them billions”.

In Australia, Burke says the “easy to do” dedicated cycling routes such as Merri Creek in Melbourne or Kedron Brook in Brisbane have now been built.

“Now we’re where European cities were, and we need to bite the bullet and do something.”

Alison McCormack, the chief executive of Bicycle Network, a cycling advocacy group with members concentrated in Victoria and Tasmania, says policies are moving in the right direction, “but it’s just going at a frustratingly slow pace compared to what we see on the international stage”.

The network is pushing for policies that promote e-bikes, such as tax incentives or extending the federal government’s fringe benefit tax exemptions on electric vehicles to electric bikes.

“Australia is this wonderful, liveable place with outdoor living, but it is so car-centric,” McCormack says. “We pride ourselves on this liveability but the reality is we’re actually not aligned to that.”