By David Buley, AISNSW Chief Financial Officer

Traffic concerns are a sticky point for just about every school, and behind the scenes for the school's leadership team, there's a lot that goes on in making sure the school and the wider community are in harmony when it comes to the roads.

Whether a school is lodging a Development Application (DA) with Council or a State Significant Development Application (SSD) with the Department of Planning, it is expected to have consulted a Traffic Consultant to submit a Traffic Impact Assessment (TIA) modelling for consideration. 

Indeed, transport authorities have become the de facto regulators of DAs and SSDs, so it’s in a school’s best interest to take some of the heat out of this issue. 

I spoke to Rebecca Lehman, from the Frank Turquoise Group about what schools can do to improve their existing, as well as future, traffic and pedestrian modelling.
 

Where do you see inefficiencies in the drafting of TIAs?

The purpose of a TIA is to assess what would happen to the car traffic around a school if it were to expand. However, a TIA typically does not document the footpaths or crossings to support walking, riding or scooting to school. 

Crossings and paths play an important role for schools and many interact with traffic signals. If the traffic signals aren’t phased appropriately, impatient students will misjudge when to make a safe crossing. 

Another shortcoming of a typical TIA is that it won’t address the public transport and/or school bus network which provides additional options for students to get to school. If the bus network wasn’t part of the review, there’s a missed opportunity as to whether the bus network has enough seats or if the bus schedules are aligned to school bell times. 

A good TIA will address all of these things to ensure that the resulting impact on car traffic reflects the many different ways that children get to school.

How do you start preparing for a Traffic Impact Assessment?

To plan for student travel to school, we start with data: 

  • Where do students and staff live? 
  • What transport options are available? 
  • What transport options are currently in use? 

We commence with baseline data so that we can compare this to actual data in later school terms and years. Since there are several options available for travel to school, we use maps of depersonalised residential data overlaid with the transport network to understand which transport modes could work right away. 

We then use an online questionnaire to parents, students and staff to understand how they are currently travelling, why they choose the transport mode they do, and what are the barriers to choosing a different mode of transport. The responses will highlight gaps in path infrastructure, or how transport is communicated. 

We also use a hands-up survey in classrooms, to establish a 100% sample of students who travel to school that morning, and what they expect to do in the afternoon. Often this shows that many students make their way home independently in the afternoon whereas the assumption is often that the same mode of transport is used to and from school.

Could a School Develop a TIA Without Being Prompted by a DA?

Of course! In fact that’s what we suggest because having one ready to go shortens the time taken for your DA to be approved. But apart from that, the results from your traffic modelling (whether this vehicular or pedestrian) can be implemented straight away to improve congestion, peak times, and of course safety. 

The gaps identified in the study can be used to prompt discussions with local and state Government transport planners around buses and pedestrian infrastructure. By bringing them measures you are already implementing rather than just a “list” of problems, you can foster real collaboration and get them to co-design solutions.

Could a comprehensive TIA help a school optimise bus routes?

Yes it can. Again we use maps and residential data to identify where students live along a potential route that could be served by a bus and look for existing bus stops that the route could use. 

We also look in increments of 50 students because, if 150 students live along a potential bus route, demand on that route might dictate 3 bus services. If a new route launches and is over-subscribed, it could take months before an additional bus and driver can be sourced for that route. This is important because full services may leave students behind, reducing parent confidence in that mode of transport, and in the school. 

Ensuring the transport option is fit for purpose helps match students with the most efficient and usually more sustainable transport modes.