Melbourne City Council has announced the release its draft transport strategy which will give priority to public transport and walking.

As reported in The Age the strategy recommends cutting speed limits to 40 km/h in the CBD and reducing road space for private cars to make way for cyclists and pedestrians.

Initiatives include:

• containing the provision of new long term commuter parking spaces in the CBD;
• calling for reduced off-peak charge on toll roads such as City link to spread peak hour demand;
• calling for bus only lanes on Queen and Lonsdale Streets;
• continued promotion of the successful TravelSmart and Green Travel Plans program;
• offering city residents discounted public transport fares in return for relinquishing parking permits;
• discounted public transport fares for city shoppers;
• calling for infrastructure improvements to the City Loop rail tunnel such as signaling upgrades to improve capacity;
• calling for a new Doncaster railway line;
• protecting the municipality’s northern suburbs from the impact of increased traffic caused by the opening of Eastlink;
• working with neighboring councils to ensure integrated transport routes and traffic management measures;
• continue to work with transport operators to ensure that major events are well served with public transport services;
• creating a city pedestrian network plan and opening up more laneways to pedestrian traffic;
• allocating more road space to pedestrians and cyclists by installing wide pavements and bicycle lanes;
• more end-of-trip bicycle facilities around the city;
• giving trams priority at city intersections and creating tram only road lanes to improve the speed of service;
• lowering city speed limits to 40kmh to improve pedestrian safety;
• calling on Victoria Police and the State Government for better enforcement of road rules to target the behaviour of both cyclists and drivers;
• further improvements to the connectivity of Melbourne’s cycling network;
• reducing parking congestion in residential areas;
• changes to the planning scheme to promote sustainable travel in new buildings and developments;
• dedicated freight only rail lines for The of Port Melbourne;
• buffer zones around freight handling areas to protect residential amenity; and
• changes to building regulations to improve noise control.

Public Transport Users Association spokesman Alex Makin congratulated the council for its dramatic change of heart.