MELBOURNE may just have been named the world’s most ‘liveable’ city for the fifth year in a row, but Bendigo reckons it has a plan to knock the state capital off its perch.
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“We want to make Bendigo the most liveable city in Australia,” City of Greater Bendigo mayor Peter Cox said.
“But if we’re going to rely on the car as the only form of our transport – that's not going to happen.”
Speaking at the launch of its ‘Connecting Greater Bendigo: Integrated Transport and Land Use Strategy (ITLUS)’ on Monday, the mayor called on local residents and businesses to back the plan by incorporating public transport, bicycles, walking and ride sharing into their weekly routine.
“This is a commitment that we need from the wider community and from businesses as to how we can make our city better… the community needs to own this plan,” the mayor said.
“We are encouraging citizens of Greater Bendigo to change their mode of transport at least one in every five days.
“We do see the car playing a very important role going forward in our flexibility to get around, but at the same time we don’t want the congestion on our roads.”
Council will vote on ITLUS when it meets on Wednesday. If they vote to adopt the plan, councillors will then begin the process of putting it into its transport agenda for coming decades.
ITLUS aims to encourage population growth yet contain urban sprawl.
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It encompasses plans such as increasing the frequency and extending the operating hours of the city’s bus network, building bicycle and walking paths, advocating for more train stations and working with the freight industry to create a hub on the outskirts of town which would keep heavy trucks of urban roads.
Councillor Rod Campbell, who chaired the ITLUS steering committee, said the strategy was about encouraging smart growth in years to come.
“Bendigo is going to have considerable population boom – who knows, in 50 years time we might be double the population or be moving towards that,” he said.
“You don't have to be a Rhodes scholar to work out what that means... twice as many people living in our city, can you imagine the traffic if we don’t do something about it?”
The mayor said while council was hoping to instigate “revolutionary” change in the long term, he recognised not everyone was in a position to take alternative modes of transport every day.
He said the challenge of using an alternative from of transport once a week would be a challenge as mayor.
“Sometimes you’ve got meeting every night at there may not be late buses… but as an individual I want to take on this challenge and organise my diary so I can do it,” he said.
“It may be a case of not having meetings one night.”
Council said it would work with the community to help change attitudes towards transport.
Cr Campbell identified school pickups as a “low hanging fruit” for alternative transport, citing the success of a pilot program at White Hills Primary School.
For more information visit the City of Greater Bendigo website.
