Traditionally our customers’ travel patterns have been uneven across the day, resulting in ‘peak periods’, crowding and congestion.
Small changes to our travel behaviours can flatten these peaks, reduce emissions, stabilise traffic, and free up space for the efficient movement of goods.
Travel demand management is the application of targeted, people-oriented and data-led activities to change travel patterns and manage demand. It includes encouraging customers to change travel times or routes or to change modes say from car to train, or even remove a journey altogether where a task can be done remotely, such as working from home.
Targeting travel demand activities to specific areas or precincts is an effective way to improve the efficiency of the transport network and our customer’s journeys and experiences.
Transport for NSW will create efficient public transport options that encourage people to switch from using their car. Walking and cycling routes will be improved to change how people make short trips. We’ll work with government and council to plan neighbourhoods with better connectivity and more options for car free travel.
Shifting people from cars to public transport will free up road space for essential uses such as freight. Those who do drive will enjoy less traffic on the road.
Transport for NSW will focus on encouraging mode shift in places with good public transport where it is easier for people to leave the car behind.
Walking and cycling can reduce congestion and provide attractive, sustainable, cost-effective, and healthy journeys. To encourage more people to walk we must provide sufficient space for comfortable walking environments.
To encourage more people to cycle, road space may need to be reallocated to provide safe, physically separated cycleways, particularly in areas where the traffic speeds is greater than 30km/h.
A standard bus can carry more than 60 people but takes up the space of just three cars. Dedicating more road space for bus lanes and providing priority at traffic lights, will improve reliability, journey times, and efficiency. Together with Transit ways and short bus-only links that provide more direct routes, we can increase public transport appeal and patronage.
Technology can help us make our roads and public transport networks more efficient and can be less costly than building new capacity. Intelligent sensors and smart systems will monitor our networks in real-time to help us move more efficiently and safely. Real-time journey information will be provided to our customers to help them plan their trip.
Transport for NSW will use advanced computing, artificial intelligence and machine learning to process large volumes of data quickly and reliably to manage our network and increase capacity. Road and public transport networks will be safer and more efficient with Transport for NSW better able to respond to congestion and manage incidents.