Cities around the world are searching for greener transport solutions that can integrate well with existing public transit networks. Four years on from the introduction of e-scooters onto Australian streets, rental micromobility operators like Neuron Mobility have become embedded in local ecosystems. Beyond offering a safe, sustainable and convenient alternative to short car trips, Neuron e-scooters have also been found to inject a much needed boost into local economies.

When Thomas Treloar founded his business, The Rolling Fix, in 2011 there was only a handful of full-service end-of-trip facilities, and these were reserved for premium buildings.

Today an EOTF with fresh towels, hairdryers and drying rooms has become the minimum for any new building.

Thomas believes it takes more than physical infrastructure to be a leader in the bicycle space, and he will discuss how many companies and buildings are implementing ride-to-work programs, community workshops and support for buying bikes.

Thomas will also share his predictions on the future of this sector and the opportunities available to ‘make it pay’.

In contested cities, community resistance to change has the potential to derail active travel projects – leading to fewer customers for Australia’s nascent micromobility industry.

Mark Ames will draw on his extensive experience working with cities around the world to highlight why resistance to urban change happens, how it can be managed, and why all of us have a role to play.

He’ll highlight what major employers and landowners are doing in Macquarie Park to support active travel – and why – and share a story of how a local active transport connection was derailed.

Finally, he’ll propose a strategy for the micromobility industry to help enable change – and grow the size of your industry in the process.

The Founder of 30Please.org and Safe Streets to School, Lena Huda, will outline strategies and actions to gain community understanding and acceptance of the importance of lower speed limits in urban areas. Lena will explore examples for partnerships, media and social media strategy.

Micromobility pioneer Oliver Bruce will delve deep into why micromobility matters … and why escalating fuel prices, traffic congestion and looming emission reduction deadlines are making micromobility an increasingly important solution.

Lee Roberts, a Research Associate at City Futures Research Centre at UNSW, presents two decision-support tools under development at UNSW and aimed at assisting with the rollout of micromobility infrastructure.

One tool uses a wide range of data sources to help officials identify ‘where to build’, while the second provides an  interactive experience of the streetscape to determine ‘what to build’.

The head of Transport for NSW’s Active Transport branch, Gordon Hughes, provides insight to the branch, its objectives and key projects.

Active Transport embeds and enables the effective delivery of programs and initiatives that encourage people to choose sustainable modes of transport.

This includes projects and initiatives to encourage more people to walk or ride a bike in and around our neighbourhoods, precincts and recreational activity hubs, including people with all levels of ability. ​

Fiona will share four key tips for accelerating the delivery of cycleways, or micromobility networks, based on the experience of the City of Sydney, to inspire and assist both practitioners and supporters address the challenges and succeed. A few case studies will illustrate different approaches to the challenge of using road space reallocation to achieve program objectives.

Ohmie GO is a prop-tech e-mobility startup providing a complete turnkey solution of electric cars, e-scooters and e-bikes for both residential and commercial buildings.

Its founder and CEO, Kyle Bolto, will share insight to the establishment, services and goals of Ohmie GO and the emergence of ‘mobility as a service’ in Australian cities.

Users can access Ohmie GO’s e-mobility solutions on demand and be assured they are using the best and latest technology. Kyle and his team have designed all their technology from scratch and in-house and have perfected this over a number of years. Ohmie GO was the pioneer in its sector and has partnered with some of the biggest developers in Australia to change the petrol car landscape and drive the future of e-mobility.

When shared micromobility first launched, there was a lack of data standardisation or even sharing protocols. This caused confusion and friction in implementing regulations, while also making it hard to understand the impacts of programs.

The emergence of the Mobility Data Specification and the resulting ecosystem of tools and data analysis have given public agencies and operators common points of reference to discuss issues and opportunities around program policies. New capabilities allow more dynamic policy building that are responsive to outcomes on the ground.

Michael Schwartz leads the shared micromobility practice of US-based company Ride Report, a shared mobility management platform that automatically collects data to help government monitor and manage active transport in their areas.

He will discuss how shared micromobility is creating precedent for how transportation can be managed, measured and planned with transparent rules and data.

Maryna Pobudzei, a researcher into micromobility sharing systems, presents the results of a Munich study that identified differences and similarities between e-scooter and bicycle crashes. The 31-month study revealed valuable trends in the types of people involved in scooter and bike crashes, where they are most likely to occur, and how further investigations can improve micromobility safety.

Healthy Cities Illawarra CEO Kelly Andrews will share her team’s community-based active transport project to break the deadlock between the need to get children more active and parents’ fears about road safety.
Data from the Illawarra region shows children want to ride or walk to school. However, parents are reluctant because of a ‘lack of safe pedestrian crossings, high vehicle speeds and poor separated bike or walking paths’.

Josh Adams, an economist at the Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads, will introduce the Department’s recently updated Active Travel Economic Appraisal Tool and discuss his team’s plans to integrate more research and data on micromobility into rapid economic appraisal of active transport infrastructure projects.

A simple but clever road modification is drastically improving safety on streets outside schools. Transport planner Liz Irvin will explain how modal filters – simple kerb extensions – are reducing and improving traffic flows to make roads near schools safer and more attractive.

Speaker: Tom Cooper Scheduled in program: Friday, 25th November 1:00 – 1:30 PM Spin Cycle in Theme: Making it There It’s more than 100 years since cars were introduced to Australian roads, completely revolutionising transportation in Australia. But their introduction brought condemnation as a ‘road menace’. Sound familiar? Tom Cooper, the Australia and NZ head…

Demand for deliveries of almost everything from ready-to-eat meals to home improvement items is on the rise.
The resulting demand on freight services, especially the ‘last mile’ that brings the service or product directly to customers, adds pressure to cities and neighbourhoods. Relying upon cars, vans and trucks for the last mile risks clogging up local places, adds to emissions and negatively impacts on health and wellbeing.
Sara Stace and Shifani Sood, from consultancy firm WSP Global, will provide case studies from around the world on success stories and ideas that can be applied in cities across Australia to enable an effective shift towards micromobility for the last mile.

Transport planning needs to be revised to address urban densification, climate objectives and transport user needs.

With the world population forecast to reach 9.7 billion by 2050 and 70% of those people living in urban areas, governments face challenges to keep cities liveable and accessible, while meeting sustainability objectives.

Senior Consultant and Project Manager Mirza Hotic will take a fresh view of the Dutch experience, based on spatial planning, and how it can guide the effective expansion of micromobility in Australia.

Urban planning has an especially direct effect on pre-schoolers and other little people under 95cm. That fact underpins the global Urban95 program to create safe spaces for children to grow the flourish.

It is also a central consideration as WA transport planning consultant Matt Root evaluates his son’s experience as he sits in the front of their family cargo bike.

That first-hand reflection provides valuable insight to the experiences and barriers of families making, or at least considering, the shift to cargo bikes for transportation.

WA’s approach to bike boulevards has achieved some great results.

Cars are slowing down, streets feel safer and more people are walking and riding along routes where carriageway widths were narrowed and treatments were applied every 80 to 100 metres.

Michelle will explain the innovative and comprehensive evaluation approaches used by the WA Department of Transport’s Active Transport division, using quantitative and qualitative data to understand the success of each project.

Micromobility devices have proliferated around the world and have become part of the new mobility world. While they offer many benefits for sustainability, wellbeing and accessibility, they also bring new challenges for cities unprepared for the explosion of small, single-person vehicles flooding their streets.

Transport planner Todd Nguyen will explore how cities can manage the wide-ranging implications for transit networks, streetscapes, social justice and human behaviour.