Blueprint for an Active Australia

Action area 6: Active travel

Authors: Shannon Sahlqvist, Anna Timperio, Anthony Walsh, Stephen Hodge, Hayley Christian, Verity Cleland, Jenny Veitch, Venurs Loh, Kar Hau Chong. 

Strategic priorities

Key strategic priorities to support and improve active travel:

• Secure dedicated, increased funding for active travel. All levels of government should establish and safeguard a dedicated funding stream to expand and maintain infrastructure for walking, wheeling, and bike riding, and to support low-fare, high-frequency public transport.
• Deliver safe, convenient active travel infrastructure integrated with public transport. Create active travel-friendly communities that prioritise people over cars, including designing and delivering safe, comfortable and accessible active travel networks for all ages and abilities that seamlessly connect to public transport hubs and services.

Sustainable Development Goals

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals¹ that support active travel include:

For more information see Appendix 1.

Consider the case for change:

• In Australia, car travel is the dominant mode of transport, with more than 70% of trips made by private vehicle.^3-7 Limited public transport, long commute distances, and inadequate walking and bike riding infrastructure all contribute to car dependency.⁸
• In Australia, participation in active travel is low. Fewer than one third of school-aged children usually use an active mode of travel on the school journey,⁹ yet in some high income countries up to 80% of children engage in active school travel.10 Data from 2016 showed that only a small proportion of adults in Australia travelled to work using public transport (12%), walking (4%) or bike riding (1%).¹¹ This is far fewer than those reported in many developed countries^.12
• Enhancing active travel and public transport infrastructure creates safer, healthier, and more inclusive transport options, and helps to address the longstanding inequities in access experienced by the substantial number of people in Australia who are unable to drive due to age, disability, or other barriers. People living in urban fringe and growth areas are also disproportionately affected by poor access to public transport and supportive walking and bike riding environments, constraining their travel choices and increasing car dependence.¹³
• The health benefits of physical activity through active travel outweigh the risks of road-related injury and exposure to air pollution.^14,15
• Children and adults who engage in active travel (including public transport) have higher levels of physical activity,^16-20 and those who ride a bike for work or school journeys have higher fitness levels.^17,21,22 Adults who travel by bike or rail have lower rates of cardiovascular disease than those who travel by private vehicle,^22,23 and regular long duration car trips are associated with higher rates of obesity and cardiovascular problems.^24-26
• Shifting to active travel improves air quality and may mitigate urban heat island effects by cutting emissions and heat from car exhaust.^27,28
• Active travel benefits the economy by easing the social costs of traffic congestion,²⁹ reducing public health costs, and stimulating local economies (as active travellers tend to shop more regularly).^30,31
• There is growing support in Australia for governments to invest further in active travel. For example, almost two thirds of adults are in favour of reducing speed limits on local streets,32 52% support having more dedicated bike lanes separated from cars,³³ and 76% support building more walking and cycling paths in their area.³⁴ More than 80% of parents of primary school aged children surveyed in Victoria support measures like widening footpaths, adding more crossings around schools, and creating bike paths separated from car traffic to encourage active travel among children.³⁵

• In recent years, initiatives aimed at reducing public transport fares have been implemented in Queensland and Tasmania. Among adults who took advantage of a trial of free bus fares in Tasmania, 46% reported using the bus more frequently, with their average weekly trips increasing from three to four.³⁶
• During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, the City of Melbourne and the Victorian Government, as well as other Australian councils and governments, reallocated road space to introduce barrier protected bike lanes across key inner-city routes (termed pop-up bike lanes). Bicycle counts in Melbourne increased in the separated lanes,³⁷ and by April 2024 the City of Melbourne reported that over 27 km had been completed as permanent infrastructure. This contributed to a 22% increase in city centre bike riding. Importantly, one third of trips were made by women and girls for whom traffic safety is a particularly important consideration.³⁸
• In Victoria, Bicycle Network and Merri-bek Council are collaborating with schools to trial the temporary closure of school streets to car traffic during drop-off and pick-up, called Open Streets. The program typically runs one day a week for three weeks, with schools helping to activate the streets by organising activities that encourage play. The 2023 report showed that on Open Streets days an average of 63% of children walked or rode a bike to school – an increase of about 19% over regular school days. Most parents (93%) reported the street felt safer and 97% indicated they wanted to see Open Streets at their school more often.³⁹
• The Safe Active Streets Pilot Program was initiated by the Western Australian Department of Transport in 2015 and concluded in 2023. It aimed to create safer streets for walking and bike riding by implementing 30 km/h speed zones on local streets. These streets, or bike boulevards, incorporated various traffic calming measures including narrowed road widths, raised intersections, and landscaping to naturally slow down vehicle speeds.⁴⁰ The program was developed in collaboration with local governments and tailored to meet specific community needs. Interim evaluations of the program indicated positive outcomes, including reductions in vehicle speeds and increased walking and bike riding.⁴⁰

Policy, practice and leadership

• All levels of government should support greater investment in initiatives to increase active travel and use of public transport for all. Land use and transport policies should be integrated and aligned to enable more people to walk, wheel, bike ride and use public transport as part of their daily lives.⁴¹
• Enable greater use of public transport through provision of low-cost fares, subsidies and services with optimal frequency and operating hours in metro and regional areas. In a Tasmanian trial of free bus fares, almost half of participants used the bus more often.³⁶
• Introduce incentives to encourage a switch to active travel from car travel. These could include a commuter allowance for people who ride a bike to work⁴² (e.g. a payment per kilometre ridden, funded by employers or through tax concessions). Car use could be discouraged in congested areas by introducing congestion charges and increasing costs and/or decreasing availability of parking.^42-45 The revenue raised could then be invested in public and active transport initiatives.
• Implement social marketing and culture change initiatives that normalise active travel and public transport.⁴⁶ Social marketing should emphasise the many benefits of active travel including improved health, lower travel costs, reduced urban congestion, and climate change mitigation.

Urban design and planning

• Prioritise people-first approaches to street design. These include greater adoption of frameworks such as Movement and place,⁴⁷ as well as design principles advocated by the Heart Foundation’s flagship program, Healthy Active by Design.⁴⁸ Strategies include:
• reducing posted speed limits to 30 km/h around schools, shops and other high pedestrian areas
• implementing physical traffic calming treatments or modal filtering
• adopting area-wide approaches such as low traffic neighbourhoods49,50 or superblocks.^51,52

• Design urban environments to make walking, wheeling, bike riding and public transport use safe, convenient and comfortable.⁵³ Strategies include:
• reclaiming road space for bike riding and public transport, with dedicated bike and bus lanes and separation of bike lanes from vehicular traffic on busy roads and, on quiet streets, low-speed mixed traffic environments
• placing safe road crossings at logical crossing points leading to key destinations including public transport stops
• providing no cost, safe, secure and well-located facilities for bicycle parking
• creating attractive, well-lit streetscapes with shade trees and quality public amenities, including accessible toilet facilities and seating for rest stops
• trialling pop-up style approaches to provide the community and stakeholders with the ability to experience change before being fully implemented. Melbourne's pop-up bike lanes increased bike riding and became over 27 km of permanent infrastructure.^37,38
• Promote active school travel through application of the safe routes to school framework. This involves enhancing walking, wheeling and bike riding infrastructure to the school gate, including the implementation of education programs and engagement with communities and local governments. Specific examples include designated car drop off zones situated up to 500 m from school linked by safe walking routes, and bike and scooter education programs. For further information see the Heart Foundation’s Healthy Active by Design Active school travel evidence paper.⁵⁴

Research, data and innovation

• A review of the evidence for this action area identified the following priorities for investment in research, data and innovation.
• Rigorously design real-world evaluations to assess the multifaceted impacts of active travel infrastructure and policy interventions. It is critical that these evaluations are conducted in partnership with practitioners, policy makers and researchers, and that they examine differential impacts across population subgroups, the specific behavioural outcomes influenced, and the underlying mechanisms driving any change. These evaluations should also encompass the broader economic, social, and environmental consequences of the interventions to fully inform future investment and policy decisions.
• Improve data collection methods to better understand who is, or is not, using active travel and why. Regular surveillance is required to capture shifts in travel mode.
• Develop national guidelines to standardise geographical information system (GIS) data collection methods across Australia. Enhanced geospatial data, modelling and platforms would allow better planning and evaluation of active travel infrastructure.
• Conduct research to understand community, business and political resistance to active travel infrastructure and policy changes to shift public and political narratives and strengthen community buy‑in.

Heart Foundation related information for active travel