Footpath User Management – Pedestrians, Bicycles & Personal Mobility Devices (PMDs): what the data is telling us.

Abstract

Footpaths have always been an essential piece of public infrastructure for people of all ages and abilities, from parents with prams and children to seniors who require assistance from mobility aids and wheelchairs. Government agency staff have for many years had to design and manage this infrastructure to ensure that it is fit for purpose and meets the needs of the entire community, no matter their age and stage in life. Recently, new technology has come on to the market and has increased in popularity and availability, while also reducing in cost, causing disruption to the traditional users of local streets and footpaths. The rise of personal mobility devices has necessitated new approaches to managing path conflicts. In Queensland, as well as enabling travel for people who walk (of all ages and abilities), footpaths now also need to provide for: • Wheeled recreation devices - such as rollerblades, skateboards, roller skates and foot scooters, • Personal mobility devices - such as a rideable (for example, e-scooters, Segway, e-skateboards, hoverboards), • Motorised mobility devices - such as wheelchairs, motorised (shopping) mobility scooters and electric wheelchairs, and • Bicycles. In 2018, Queensland introduced new shared e-scooter schemes and updated the road rules in response to this this new and emerging technology. Since that time there has been a rapid uptake and interest both for private individual and public commercial operations – with commercial micro-mobility operators making regular approaches to local governments across Australia requesting access and trials. This has resulted in the need to make a variety of change to the transport system and infrastructure responses over the years, with both parking and verge (footpath) management being essential. Other issues have included: • Infrastructure usage: footpath or on-road • Crash risks: - E-scooter/vehicle (on-road) - E-scooter/pedestrian and bus passenger (on-footpath) - Single vehicle (e-scooter only) • Management of shared e-scooters compared to private e-scooters • Parking (footpath capacity) • Speed • Helmet wearing • Inebriation In response to the disruption caused by this new technology and other emerging issues, in November 2022, the Department of Transport & Main Roads (TMR) introduced reforms updating road rules for the use of ‘personal mobility devices’ (PMD). To support these reforms, path and street traffic surveys were undertaken. The resulting data has provided insights into PMD attributes and behaviours. This presentation draws upon the results from recent PMD traffic surveys and provides an overview of path user conflict and management options of the issues that have arisen from this new and ‘disruptive’ technology that looks like it is here to stay.