Tuesday, 6 August 2024

The future of Ballarat's bike network


The City of Ballarat adopted their 2017-25 Cycling Strategy many years back, and - through all the setbacks and budget limitations - has been working towards that plan ever since. There is still a ways to go, but it's almost due for a refresh. And with council elections in October, now seems like a good time for me to put my 2c in about what the next strategy should look like. 

Sunday, 5 May 2024

More Ballarat cycling projects

Proposed design of Macarthur Street (via CoB)

The City of Ballarat has been announcing new cycling projects faster than I can keep up with them, which is a very good problem to have! Today I want to talk very briefly about a project that's already closed for consultation, and in a bit more detail about one you can still give feedback on. 

Monday, 5 February 2024

The New Vehicle Efficiency Standards

A word cloud from the previous FES consultation

Yesterday the federal government has released an Impact Analysis paper on its proposed New Vehicle Efficiency Standards, and is seeking public feedback on it. I spent most of 2023 campaigning for this, so I thought I'd do a quick analysis of what they've put forward. 

Sunday, 17 December 2023

New designs for Little Bridge Street

Concept art of the Little Bridge project (via CoB)

As part of its wider revamp of the Bridge Mall area, the City of Ballarat has released some new designs for Little Bridge Street, including the bus interchange. Let's take a look, starting with the stuff I think is a bit more contentious. 

Sunday, 27 August 2023

The proposed Glenelg Highway bike path

It's been a while since posts - I've been busy with a new job - but I wanted to talk in a bit of detail about a new proposed shared use path along the Glenelg Highway in Sebastopol and Delacombe. The City of Ballarat is currently seeking feedback, so I wanted to talk through some of the opportunities this presents and encourage others to feed into this process. 
Proposed Glenelg Hwy path stages (via City of Ballarat)

Saturday, 27 August 2022

Draft Ballarat Net Zero Emissions Plan

The City of Ballarat's Draft Net Zero Emissions Plan (via CoB)

The City of Ballarat has passed a motion to come up with a plan for the whole municipality to reach net zero emissions by 2030. This is an incredibly ambitious goal, and it's fantastic to see this level of ambition from the council. They've released a draft plan - so how'd they do? 

Monday, 22 August 2022

The politics of SRL

Concept art of an SRL train (via Big Build)

In Part 1, we looked at what the Parliamentary Budget Office actually says about the costs of building SRL, and why the media narrative has gotten this wrong. In Part 2 I want to talk more broadly about the politics and messaging of SRL.