The Ballarat Integrated Transport Plan was passed by council at its most recent meeting, but what will this mean going forward?
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In the short term, it provides a base for advocacy - that is, while council can control what it's in charge of, more work and funding is required to bring the rest of the city's network up to scratch.
In the long term, the priorities presented will guide decision making as Ballarat continues to grow.
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Council's economic growth executive manager James Guy said the timing of the plan's consultation period, in the middle of a pandemic, was exceptionally useful in finding personal stories about how people got around the city.
In short, more people were going for walks around their neighbourhood for exercise during lockdown, and identifying what needed to be improved.
"It's opened their eyes to their own neighbourhood," he said.
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"A lot of people are saying 'I haven't really spent the time outside just walking around the way I have lately, and I've realised how much I enjoy it, and I want this to be a focus so I can go further, I can join up to existing trails' - a lot of people say they love the Yarrowee and existing trails - and they want that to feed closer to their homes.
"Other people got specific about their own usage of public transport, and lamenting the fact they'd like to use it but it's not convenient for them."
The public transport network in Ballarat - in particular the bus network - is a key focus in the plan.
While the state government is in charge of making decisions about the network, council will push for a new review of routes and timetables, with the Integrated Transport Plan as a base.
"We've got a really traditional transport network, most people drive, there is a bus network but it's not particularly convenient," Mr Guy said.
"We did the plan and background work as a positive, not just saying 'hey, we don't think it's good enough, we'd like improvement please', but to actually put on the table a different model for running the network."
Right now, buses radiate out from the train station, which isn't how most people would use the network - instead, the plan notes there are activity hubs across town, like shopping centres and sporting facilities, that should be connected by public transport.
"Looking at the current timetable, there's so much excessive time in it, you could cut 30 per cent of the travel time in some routes just by tightening up where the buses go, and the amount of time the timetable says it will take," Mr Guy said.
"There's some really practical things - this is not about a massive capital outlay from day one, here's a proposal we'd love to work with you on to make this change, and let the users show the benefit, let's see the numbers spike.
"Our advocacy is to show, for a relatively modest investment, you could drastically improve the value proposition for Ballarat - we've got an enormous number of buses that are just not servicing the routes that people need, but for a modest increase in funding, and some upgrades to the routing, you'd get a much greater return, and that's our argument."
As well as completing more work on cycling and pedestrian routes across the city, another focus is encouraging groups to work together for initiatives.
Mr Guy used the example of schools - if schools band together with community groups to explain why infrastructure upgrade is desperately needed, it creates a stronger argument and helps secure funding to get things done.
"It's very much an opportunity, I think, for Ballarat as a collective to start to push for some of these initiatives together ... so if that's finding a clump of schools that have a couple of areas they want to do, and then we can say there's 2000 students in this area here, here's a schools package, it's not just the city, it's a range of stakeholders, and we'd like to make a funding bid for that," he explained.
"Those discussions are already under way, people are engaged to do it."
The community feedback from the engagement process will also help in targeting improvements in the short term, he added, with the aim of creating "seamless connections" for people across the city.
"A single barrier, a really busy road you can't cross, can really cut people off from being able to move easily," he said.
"Those sorts of barriers need to be overcome."
However, as well as fundamentals, the plan also pushes for Ballarat to trial new technologies in its transport system.
This could include e-scooters, similar to those seen in other Australian cities, or bike share programs.
Mr Guy said there are a number of advantages in programs like these, which would include partnerships with private companies instead of requiring more funding from state or federal governments.
"This type of thing won't be for everyone, but think from the tourism perspective - at the moment, if you come to Ballarat by train, you're really quite limited in the number of key tourism experiences you can cover if you're here for a day or half-day," he said.
"If you introduce into the mix an e-scooter or something like that, you can enjoy the Sturt Street gardens, our largest outdoor museum, then make it up to the Arch of Victory, up to the Prisoner of War Memorial, Australia's only national war memorial outside of Canberra, then a lap of the lake - you've covered four or five of our key attractions in that same time.
"It just opens up, for those that are not driving, a bit better way to move.
"I'm really optimistic we can give that a trial - let's see if it is popular, let's give it a go."
Council will continue to lobby for big projects that will help the entire city, like stage two of the Link Road between Remembrance Drive and Carngham Road to help ease congestion in the booming west, or demanding answers on improving accessibility at the Ballarat train station to stop people getting stranded at the road crossing if they are unable to use the stairs.
"With all the other upgrades on the Ballarat line, it'll mean Ballarat station is the only station on the line that isn't DDA (Disability Discrimination Act) accessible," he said.
"It isn't good enough.
"What we would say is it will definitely be a big undertaking to provide that accessibility, and we don't know how that would happen - with the ITP, we need to have a plan publicly discussed around what are the options, and start to get the community discussion.
"It just isn't good enough in its current form."
There will always be work to do as the city grows and changes, Mr Guy said, and the plan shows how different modes of transport can work together to make it easier for everyone to get around.
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"The things we've traditionally done will continue, we'll continue to invest in our own roads, and advocate for the big infrastructure projects," he said.
"But the plan really says let's get flexible, let's trial and pilot new ways to spice up the transport mix."
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