WalkSydney Traffic Signals

Sydney CBD is bringing back pedestrian “beg buttons”

Transport for NSW (TfNSW) has recently installed these around the Sydney CBD – a sticker on top of a pedestrian “beg button” explaining the button must be pressed between 10pm and 6am.

Better Transport for Sydney

We asked our Twitter readership what they would do to make transport in Sydney better. Below we synthesise and organise their responses below. Note, no one said “build more motorways”. The general sentiment was to prioritise those making shorter trips, prioritise safety, and prioritise people throughput above all else. We don’t endorse all of theseContinue reading “Better Transport for Sydney”

How to let Transport for NSW know we want automated pedestrian actuators …

A member writes in explaining how to complain to Transport for New South Wales asking to have pedestrian push buttons automated due to the Coronavirus? Obviously, the more people who identify this, the better. Procedure: Go to the RMS website http://www.rms.nsw.gov.au, click: contact, click: online, click: make a complaint, click: roads, click: management, search: Sydney,Continue reading “How to let Transport for NSW know we want automated pedestrian actuators …”

Pedestrians count / Count pedestrians

That which is counted, counts. The English mathematician and biostatistician Karl Pearson once said, “That which is measured improves. That which is measured and reported improves exponentially.” The sorry state of walk signals in Sydney, where a pedestrian should be thankful for 6 seconds of walk time every two minutes at some intersections occurs inContinue reading “Pedestrians count / Count pedestrians”

Pedestrians are Fine, Don’t Fine Pedestrians

Pedestrian crossing in Artarmon, reminding pedestrians to look at the ground at message asking if they are distracted, rather than the environment around them.

The Sydney Morning Herald presents an opinion that It’s futile and yet police persist in fining jaywalkers. This is our sad reality, pedestrians, who cannot of themselves do much damage, are fined, while cars, which can kill in the blink of an eye, proceed unscathed. The stated argument for criminalising “jaywalking” (not an actual crime, butContinue reading “Pedestrians are Fine, Don’t Fine Pedestrians”

Channelization of pedestrians at Broadway

Before During After

Countdown

I returned to Australia from a trip to America. Despite the heat, Australia has a lot going for it, including a functioning government (it’s all a matter of degree). But there is one feature from Washington, DC worth importing, and that’s the Pedestrian Countdown Clock. These often have times in excess of 45 seconds. Yes,Continue reading “Countdown”

The Double-Cross: Missing Pedestrian Crossings

Wyndham Street and Bourke Street near Green Square. So let's say you crossed O'Riordan on the side of the street with the walk signal, and you are proceeding up Wyndham. Good luck, though there is a sidewalk, the pedestrian indicator is missing. I am not clear where you are supposed to go, back to Botany Road perhaps?

Every signal controlled intersection should have protected pedestrian crossings on every side of every street. Yet this is not the case in much of Sydney. T-intersections often are missing a pedestrian crossing. Not only are marked crosswalks missing, walk signals are missing too, and pedestrians are discouraged from crossing. The reason is presumably convenience forContinue reading “The Double-Cross: Missing Pedestrian Crossings”

The Alexandria – Moore Park Disconnector

The Alexandria-Moore Park Connector (A2MP) is proposed as a set of road widenings that will attract additional vehicles to the sequence of roads: Euston Road, McEvoy Street, Lachlan Street, Dacey Avenue, Allison Road, which are being redesigned into a single contiguous at-grade thoroughfare. It looks like a substitute for traffic from the M5 cutting over toContinue reading “The Alexandria – Moore Park Disconnector”

Sydney’s Refugee Crisis

At least 20 people, most of them children, queued up like bowling pins, on a refugee island at City Road and Cleveland Street, Sydney. Other groups are held back at the Seymour Centre, or have been already ferried across City Road to Victoria Park. This is typical, but not good, urban design.

Refugee children, trapped on a small island, trying to get to a better place, are challenged by a convoy of heavily armoured, multi-ton metallic objects moving within a mere 1 meter past their developing bodies at 50 km/h. What could go wrong? Every day during the school year, hundreds of children visit the Seymour CentreContinue reading “Sydney’s Refugee Crisis”

Some problems with Sydney traffic signals

When I moved to Sydney in 2012, I couldn’t believe how badly timed the pedestrian signals were. The almost entirely uniform 6 seconds of green time, the requirement to yield to turning cars and the nonsensical phasing can make walking here such an unpleasant experience. It’s almost as if the signals are telling you toContinue reading “Some problems with Sydney traffic signals”