The space occupied by motor vehicles in Sydney: a possible public health advocacy tool

Transcription

1 The space occupied by motor vehicles in Sydney: a possible public health advocacy tool Physicians Conference May 2009 Stephen Conaty Sydney South West Area Health Service Public Health Unit

2 Assumptions / givens This talk is a tirade against motor vehicle dependence Connection between motor vehicle use / dependence and measures of ill-health Direct time spent in cars, vehicle journeys -> decreased physical activity and obesity, MVAs (note mechanisms complex substitution replaces active transport modes, etc) Indirect busy or unsafe streets prevent walking and cycling Non-health reasons for advocating for decreased motor vehicle use cost, air and noise pollution, CO 2 emissions, reduced social amenity Reference: Does the built environment influence physical activity? Transportation Research Board, Institute of Medicine 2005

3 Motivation Sydney and all Australian Cities are largely car dependent Work in health to increase physical activity through advocacy usually focuses on walking and cycling infrastructure e.g. Healthy by Design (Heart Foundation) To be successful we will need to find ideas / partnerships / coalitions to more directly influence planning decisions to steer us away from car dependence

4 Aims of this talk Introduce you to ideas and literature about car space consumption and parking Present some calculations of car space consumption in Sydney Suggest areas of future policy work / advocacy for public health

5 Number of motor vehicles

6 Vehicles per 1000 population in Sydney = 664

7 Number and proportion of private vehicle journeys US 87% of trips in the US made by private motor vehicle 1 Sydney 69% of trips are made by private motor vehicle 2 1. Shoup, D. The high cost of free parking. 2005, American Planners Press. 2. Proportion of weekday trips Household Travel Survey Summary Report, Transport Data Centre

8 What drives us to use cars and what stops us? Driving us - many factors wealth, convenience, necessity Stopping us or enabling substitution Accessibility and proximity of end destination Availability of parking note Transport Data Centre survey 70% of trips to work in Sydney by car, 22% by public transport. Of those taking public transport 49% said they were avoiding parking problems

9 Cars and space The fact that cars are large is the most serious aspect of a transport system based on cars 1 Cars physically occupy 18m 2, but space necessary for entry and exit expands this to 32.5m 2 Cars necessarily require further end destination spaces at work, shops a multiplier used by Shoup is 3 or 4. In addition there is necessary road space 1 Alexander C, Ishikawa S, Silverstein M. A Pattern Language. Towns, Building, Construction. New York: OUP, 1977

10 Cars and fractional land-use in Sydney Table: Top three and bottom three LGAs (RTA vehicle registration data 2008) Notional vehicle area km2 Fraction of total LGA area % LGA Passenger Vehicles Size of vehicle fleet Area km2 Vehicles per km2 Waverley North Sydney Sydney Blue Mountains Hawkesbury Wollondilly Sydney Statistical District

11 Vehicles per capita by LGA in Sydney Table: Vehicles per 1000 population - Top 3 and bottom 3 LGAs Passenger vehicles per 1000 popn Vehicles per 1000 popn LGA Passenger Vehicles Size of vehicle fleet Population mid-2008 Waverley Randwick Ashfield Wollondilly Hawkesbury Botany Bay Sydney Statistical District

12 Consequences of car space demands Households require storage for cars dwellings are separated by driveways and garages spread Retail shopping complexes / urban centres have large car parking areas which spread them out create physical barriers and make them difficult to negotiate on foot In order to cater for car space demand some retail complexes are located out of town where land is cheap so that they can provide large parking areas at grade

13 Examples - houses

14 Examples retail complexes

15 Policy applications: parking policy Historically in response to shortages of roadside parking planners have stipulated minimum parking requirements for commercial developments Developers willing to pay because they need footfall / business However, cost recouped by developers in higher prices / rents, large opportunity cost from this wasted land, large externalities in congestion, road building, etc. In the US this has been calculated by Shoup at 300 billion per annum

16 Costs of parking types

17 A possible policy aim and set of tools Aim: Stop or strictly control commercial developments that rely solely on private motor vehicle transport Tools: (aside reasons for public transport commuting) Set a metro-wide parking provision floor-space ratio e.g. 1 space per 40m2 Set a cap on total parking spaces in each centre Tax parking space provision Design out at grade parking i.e. deem it unacceptable and force developers to build underground

18 Scope for advocacy - plenty

19 Planning principle 1 locate in centres, 6 amenity, accessibility, urban context No controls on parking except for design considerations so principle seems to be let the market decide

20 Conclusions Australian cities are car dependent and this has health and environmental consequences Advocacy for active transport modes will fail unless underlying car dependency is addressed Cars are space hungry: congestion and parking controls offer one avenue for advocacy