Background
Wyndham City has a range of walking and cycling trails catering for various skill and fitness levels.
The Federation Trail is a 23-kilometre-long shared use path for cyclists and pedestrians, which mainly follows the heritage-listed Main Outfall Sewer from Werribee to Brooklyn.
The trail crosses a number of major arterial roads, one of which is Forsyth Road in Hoppers Crossing. At the point where the trail and the road cross there are no traffic controls, making the crossing of such a busy road dangerous for pedestrians and cyclists.
However, there is no understanding of how many pedestrians and cyclists used the trail and when.
The Project
Pedestrian counters can be used to get a better understanding of how city assets are being used.
In October 2017, the Federation Trail at Forsyth Road was chosen as a trial site for pedestrian counters. The intention was to understand:
- How many people were using the trail?
- When it was being used?
- What parts of the trail are most popular?
To achieve this, pedestrian counters were set up on the trail on either side of Forsyth Road. Other sites are currently being considered.
To date, the data collected have revealed the following:
- More people use the trail to the east of Forsyth Road than to the west. On average there is 30% more traffic on the east than the west.
- The busiest days on the east side are weekdays while the busiest days on the west side are the weekends. This may indicate that more people use the east side for commuting while the west side may be more utilised for recreation
- For the month March 2018 there were a total of 6562 trips on the east side and 5021 trips on the west.
The trial will continue for at least 12 months so that seasonal variations in the data can be gathered.