Travel Demand Management can help fast-growing cities beat congestion – and emissions

Derrick Hitchins

Chief Technical Principal - Transport Planning and Advisory | SMEC Australia

Derrick is a senior transport infrastructure executive with over 35 years of experience in the civil and transportation sectors in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. He has significant experience as a Project Director in the early planning phase of mainly road and rail projects in South East Queensland over the past 15 years.  Derrick prides himself in bringing the required level of stewardship to the projects he is responsible for based on his extensive experience in dealing with complex project challenges and a variety of clients. Key to his many project successes is Derrick's ability to contribute actively towards the development of innovative design solutions and being able to quantify the benefits through meaningful discussion with clients and other project partners.

Dustin Moore

Network Planner | Department of State Growth, Tasmania

Dusty (Dustin) Moore is a Network Planner at the Department of State Growth (TAS). He has a strong interest in sustainable development and fostering approaches that promote better strategic planning. Dusty has experience in the consultancy, academic, NGO and government sectors in Australia and overseas, with Bachelor and Master degrees from the University of Tasmania. He is a planner with experience in research, strategic land use planning, systems thinking and sustainability at the local and state government level.

Dusty joined the Department of State Growth in 2019 to assist with the finalising and launching of improved bus networks in the north and north west of Tasmania. Dusty is currently part of a team investigating ways to keep Hobart moving into the future, with a focus on offering true transport choice and holistic, sustainable urban transport.

Keeping Hobart moving

Journeys to work in Greater Hobart are forecast to increase by 30% by 2040, which is unsustainable with current infrastructure and modal split. Expanding infrastructure is not the preferred option due to spatial constraints and climate impacts. Therefore, a bold travel demand management response is required. The presentation explores the visioning approach to providing transit infrastructure currently being trialled by the Department of State Growth (Tasmania) to change behaviours and create choice to ultimately address the mobility needs of a city with growing pains. 

The Department has traditionally delivered infrastructure through a predict and provide model. Due to a lower population density and slower growth, projects have been able to be successfully delivered to address localised issues despite this being a reactive approach. As an attractive capital city, Hobart has entered a new phase of high growth. However, this has resulted in continued with urban sprawl, coupled with constrained road corridor environments, all in the context of the global climate crisis and emerging transport technologies. Therefore, it is clear a new approach is imminently required to reshape mobility in one of Australia's most car dependent capital cities.

Samantha Chapman 

Transport Engineer | GHD 

Samantha Chapman, an innovative Transport Engineer and Project Manager (PM), joined GHD's Tasmanian business in 2016. She is an Engineer with experience in the management and options development for civil infrastructure projects within Tasmania. She completed Civil Engineering at University of Tasmania (UTAS) and undertook honours research in partnership with GHD and Department of State Growth on the Impact of Inner-City Parking on the Hobart Road Network using mesoscopic modelling. Her experience includes everything from assessment of major infrastructure projects through to highway corridor planning and funding applications, investment logic mapping, scenario modelling and feasibility and options analysis, as well as community and stakeholder engagement.

Samantha is currently part of a core team leading part of GHD's global Future Communities initiative, investigating the benefits of integrated multi-modal transport planning in unlocking urban opportunities. Samantha is passionate about taking a"whole-of-project" rather than focusing solely on business or technical components and believes most value can be seen by integrating tools such as traffic modelling within the greater project, connecting to broader transport planning and traffic engineering principles. Samantha worked with Dusty and the Department of State Growth team on the "Keeping Hobart Moving" project bringing her experience from delivering a range of unique projects within the transport and advisory spaces to Hobart's exciting opportunity in increasing mobility through sustainable transport solutions.

Keeping Hobart moving

Journeys to work in Greater Hobart are forecast to increase by 30% by 2040, which is unsustainable with current infrastructure and modal split. Expanding infrastructure is not the preferred option due to spatial constraints and climate impacts. Therefore, a bold travel demand management response is required. The presentation explores the visioning approach to providing transit infrastructure currently being trialled by the Department of State Growth (Tasmania) to change behaviours and create choice to ultimately address the mobility needs of a city with growing pains. 

The Department has traditionally delivered infrastructure through a predict and provide model. Due to a lower population density and slower growth, projects have been able to be successfully delivered to address localised issues despite this being a reactive approach. As an attractive capital city, Hobart has entered a new phase of high growth. However, this has resulted in continued with urban sprawl, coupled with constrained road corridor environments, all in the context of the global climate crisis and emerging transport technologies. Therefore, it is clear a new approach is imminently required to reshape mobility in one of Australia's most car dependent capital cities.

Alice Woodruff

Director | Active City 

Alice Woodruff is Director of Active City, a practice that specialises in travel demand management and travel behaviour change strategies and interventions. Active City's approach is grounded in a commitment to support healthier, equitable and ecologically sustainable communities. Alice's work encourages people to walk, ride a bike (and other micromobilities) and use public transport for more of their travel; as part of a larger goal of transitioning to zero emissions transport systems.

Whether it's a major workplace, school, university, or an entire city, influencing people's travel choices towards low emissions and active travel is complex. Successful outcomes rely on melding expertise. Alice's work intersects transport planning, behavioural insights, community development and organisational change. Usually many of the answers lie in better infrastructure or transport services but much relies on behavioural responses and how to influence people's travel decisions.

With over 20 years experience in delivering strategic planning, policy advice and transport and environmental programs across state and federal government and consulting, Alice founded Active City in 2016. 

Zero emissions local trips: behaviour change as important as infrastructure?

Changing our travel behaviours at an individual and organisational level are critical enablers to support significant mode shift towards active travel for local trips. Our transition to a zero-emissions transport system is complex and multi-faceted. At a local level, we can make significant gains by shifting the large portion of short vehicle trips to walking, bike riding and micromobilities. But our entrenched behaviours and social norms around driving for short trips add significant barriers that we must address alongside infrastructure gaps, traffic speeds and parking management. 

Alice will explore the role that organisations (major trip destinations) contribute to our transition to a zero-emissions transport system. And how state and local governments need to work with major destinations to support this transition. Recent case studies including Frankston Hospital in Melbourne (5,000 employee workplace) and a TDM model for encouraging changes in employee travel to major Victorian health services will provide a topical case study.