The following residents of the ACT draw the attention of the Assembly: Investment in active transport is one of the cheapest and most effective health and environmental interventions a government can make. Recent planning for active travel routes in the Gungahlin town centre have attempted to address issues primarily involving route safety and accessibility.
Recently during the Gungahlin Town Centre East community engagement process the need for a centralised secure bike storage facility has been clearly identified. There is a growing number of residents of Gungahlin that are embracing alternative modes of transportation to and from outlying suburbs, to and from school and into the Gungahlin town centre. Whilst there are a number of bicycle racks around the town centre, fear of theft and unsheltered storage are barriers to people taking up active transport. Often given the increased cost associated with electrified personal transportation devices in general security in the unattended storage of the device is a key barrier in the uptake and usage of this emerging mode of transportation for users of the public transportation network.
The Gungahlin Town Centre should be a priority for a modern secure digital storage system given its rapidly growing population (from 87,843 in 2021 to a projected 148,799 in 2060) predominantly within 5km of the town centre. Distance research has shown people can comfortably traverse on a bicycle or electric scooter. Gungahlin also has both a bus interchange, a light rail terminus and a park and ride located in the town centre. This provides a unique opportunity to encourage multimodal active travel to address arterial road congestion, public health and emissions reductions objectives. Secure digital bicycle storage will allow users a modern alternative solution to travel the notorious "last mile" from their homes and then leave their bicycles or scooters securely locked up in a purpose-built facility in the centre of Gungahlin as they shop or travel further afield on the Light Rail or Bus network.
Such an amenity will also help increase the visibility of bicycles and scooters in our community and can have a powerful impact in normalising behaviour, encouraging more people to ride over time. This will also help alleviate pressure on congested roads and parking within the Gungahlin town centre. Such an amenity has been identified as a short-term priority initiative in the ACT Government’s Gungahlin Transport Plan and as a proposed upgrade in the Gungahlin Active Travel Feasibility study.
Your petitioners, therefore, request the Assembly to call on the ACT Government to install sheltered, digital secure, bike/scooter-storage conveniently located in the Gungahlin Town Centre near the bus and light rail stops.