How road traffic data can help with the footy, shopping and picking up the kids
By Dan Kelly
Let’s cast our minds back before Covid, when the only time Melbourne stopped was for a big game of footy, like the ANZAC Day game between the Bombers and the Pies. Streets were empty, and people were glued to the television or at the pub, or both.
The funny thing is that it’s so long ago we’ve forgotten that not all Melbournians are rabid football fans and that some people were still driving around just before the big games, seemingly oblivious.
Traffic data helps show that while Melbourne didn’t stop dead before a footy match, it did slow down significantly, especially past Punt Road Oval. Image 1 below shows northbound traffic on Punt Road heading past the MCG precinct at 1 pm dropping to 10 kilometres per hour on weekday Thursday the 25th of April 2019 — the day of the ANZAC day football game.
Compare this to the 22nd of April 2021, a non-football weekday, and we see speeds sitting at around 25kph. We can measure the impact of this statistically special day that warps average traffic speeds and volume counts on main roads and side streets, requiring different traffic interventions and government strategies.
Remembering to avoid Punt Road on game-day is a conscious decision and is relatively easy to remember.
What requires real stoicism is enduring all the trips that we must take at key times of the day due to family and work commitments, battling the peak hour traffic driving home from work, remembering to pick the kids up from childcare and buying that last ingredient for dinner.
Again, traffic data shows how much worse this got directly after a lockdown when congestion was worse post-Covid on key roads like Spencer Street, Punt Road and Kings Way.
Hub life
Out in the Melbourne south eastern suburbs, we see that not all activity generators produce traffic movements at the same rate. Schools create traffic spikes at specific times of the day when the crowd rolls up and create a parking and traffic crush that can sometimes lead to unwanted stress for parents.
These traffic peaks are why governments are rolling out Active Streets programs and trialling ‘walking buses’ in an attempt to decrease congestion at schools during drop off and promote physical activity.
Image 3 below shows the traffic impact on Chapel Road after the opening of the Keysborough Gardens Primary school in 2020, the 8.45 am traffic volume peaked significantly.
Traffic data assists schools and governments in understanding the competition for limited parking spots at peak times and the need for the introduction of active travel alternatives.
It means Principals don’t just have to rely on anecdotal evidence and feedback but can provide sound evidence to inform a school’s board, to implement walk to school programs and help prevent parents from stressing over parking spots.
Turn off the fountain
Thankfully there’s more to life than doing school drop off and pick up, and a big part of that is going shopping. This type of trip to the shopping centre generally starts well and then slows down for the last kilometre, which has been shown to take up 50% of the trip time.
Covid’s impact is clearly visible in the dip of traffic volume at Narre Warren’s Fountain Gate shopping precinct in Melbourne’s southeast. Comparing the red line in the ‘Volume Totals by Suburbs’ for 2019 with the blue line for Covid impacted 2020, we can see a significant drop and quantify the impact of the pandemic and lockdowns on retail spending.
Conclusion
The jury is still out whether traffic will ever return to normal or whether we are now living in the new normal. And if this will remain for a time to come.
However, we can be certain that with access to comprehensive and up to date traffic data, measuring the impact of events on traffic is possible. When augmented with historical studies and limited traffic and parking surveys, validated and standardised traffic datasets can help understand the impact of events on traffic patterns and trends over time more holistically.
By using platforms such as Intelematics INSIGHT, policymakers, planners, and retail can start to implement some of the fundamental recommendations from key reports, such as the Melbourne 2030 implementation plan for activity centres, which include:
- Establish clear decision-making criteria
- Integrate transport with the centre, and
- Monitor and review.
Activities that disrupt the general flow of traffic can take many forms, and this article just scratches the surface. Understanding usage over time means better decisions can be made around these activity hubs. Intelematics INSIGHT traffic data as a service helps end users take a deeper look at trends and match transport modelling with other datasets to get a better picture of their impact any day of the year, any time of day.
INSIGHT hosts road and traffic data covering more than 36,000kms of NSW and Victorian roads. With over 2 trillion data points, Intelematics INSIGHT allows you to have a top-down view of the totality of traffic trends, going beyond broad year on year changes or incomplete surveys. INSIGHT tracks traffic volumes and speeds every 15 minutes and helps you understand the atypical impacts of events, activity centres, and education infrastructure on traffic patterns.
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