A presentation conducted by Mr Brett Williams, Transport Engineer, Shoalhaven City Council. Presented on Thursday the 3rd of October 2013. Various accessibility metrics exist to explore the performance of transport by quantifying the opportunities available at a particular, discrete location and the available means to travel both to and from these opportunities. In Australia there is currently no consistent performance measure used by regulatory authorities to evaluate accessibility in order to inform land-use planning decisions. Considering the widespread availability and usage of strategic transport modelling software, a unified accessibility metric would benefit practitioners when planning for future infrastructure needs. Furthermore, the development of accessibility metrics tends to focus on metropolitan areas without exploring their effectiveness in regional and rural areas, where public transport, walking and cycling opportunities are limited due to lower population densities and wider disaggregation of localities. This paper provides a review of the existing literature on accessibility performance measures, and identifies areas of potential research on transport accessibility in non-metropolitan areas, with the aim to improve the planning and delivery of future infrastructure needs in an optimised and sustainable manner.

1. ENDORSING PARTNERS
Evaluation of accessibility
measures in practitioner policy and their
effectiveness in non-metropolitan areas
The following are confirmed contributors to the business and policy dialogue in Sydney:
•
Rick Sawers (National Australia Bank)
•
Nick Greiner (Chairman (Infrastructure NSW)
Monday, 30th September 2013: Business & policy Dialogue
Tuesday 1 October to Thursday,
Dialogue
3rd
October: Academic and Policy
Presented by: Mr Brett Williams, Transport Engineer, Shoalhaven City
Council
www.isngi.org
www.isngi.org

2. ISNGI 2013 – Paper Presentation
Evaluation of accessibility
measures in practitioner
policy and their effectiveness
in non-metropolitan areas
Presented by: Brett Williams
(Transport Engineer, Shoalhaven City Council)

3. Problem: Lack of Strategic Vision
• Inadequate provision of transport
infrastructure in urban development
• Geographic and historical legacies
• Inefficient connectivity between land use
and transport systems

4. Holiday traffic congestion
on the Princes Highway,
Albion Park Rail
(source: Illawarra Mercury online)
Crowded train platform
in Sydney
(source: Sydney Morning Herald online)

6. What single
indicator can be
used to evaluate
connectivity?

7. Accessibility
‘The variety of opportunities provided
to people through efficient arrangement
of land use and various modes of
transport.’
Source: Austroads Application of Accessibility Measures

8. Accessibility – performance measure
• Good accessibility: target areas to intensify
land-use
• Poor accessibility: identify areas requiring
improvement
• No unified accessibility measure available
for Australian practitioners

9. Defining Accessibility
• Discussed in abundance throughout
literature dating back to 1950s
• Generally consistent definition however
potential for confusion e.g. ‘access’ and
‘accessibility’
• ‘Remoteness’ – reciprocal of accessibility

10. Integration of Theory and Policy
• Lack of effective integration between theory
and land use planning practice
• ‘Positive’ versus ‘Normative’ accessibility
• Examples of accessibility in practice:
 Sutherland Shire Council mapped
Accessibility Index
 Sydney Alliance development of maps to
explore public transport inequality

11. Sutherland Shire Council – Accessibility

12. Maps commissioned by Sydney Alliance

13. ARRB Accessibility Metric (AAM)
Opportunities
Travel Modes
Jobs for employment
Car
Enrolment for school
Public Transport
Workers in the retail industry
Walk
Workers in the recreation industry
Cycle

14. Accessibility - Non-Metropolitan
Areas
• Focus in literature & policy tends to be
towards major metropolitan areas
• Non-metropolitan areas:
 Public transport, walking & cycling
opportunities limited
 Lower population densities
 Wider disaggregation of localities

15. Conclusions
• Accessibility has been widely explored in
existing literature
• Further work required to better integrate
theoretical transport accessibility into
policy
• Lack of detailed studies into nonmetropolitan areas

16. Further Research
• Investigate accessibility in a case-study of a
non-metropolitan area
• Ideally recommend a unified performance
measure to be used consistently across
jurisdictions
• Incorporate analysis into SMART
Infrastructure Dashboard

17. Acknowledgements
• Professor Pascal Perez, Research Director SMART Infrastructure Facility
• Dr Andrew Sense, Director - Local
Government Research and Practice
Development Consortium
• Shoalhaven City Council