Walking Strategy

The importance of walking Walking is an important mode of transport and has a significant part to play in the quality of life in Bayside. It provides an accessible, clean, healthy and enjoyable way to travel short distances and is a great way to enjoy urban and open spaces. Regardless of how people choose to travel, everyone is a pedestrian at some point in their journey. For many people, walking provides access to public transport or is their only transport option. Even the availability of a car does not mean that all members of a household have access to it, especially children and the elderly. Walking offers transport, health, environmental sustainability, economic and social benefits across the whole community. The current state of walking in Bayside Walking is the most common form of recreation in Bayside. However, walking for transport is not as well utilised for travel to school, commuting, accessing community facilities and making local shopping trips. As a comparison, walking as a proportion of all trips, is currently half of the levels observed in Port Phillip. The reasons for this relatively low level of walking for transport vary for different people. For some of the
community, the physical environment is a barrier, whereas for others walking is simply not recognised as a convenient
or practical form of transport. Despite these challenges, there exists significant potential to increase walking for short local transport trips. For example, many trips within the municipality under two kilometres are undertaken by car that could be done on foot. Similarly, many children are driven to school whom live within two kilometres. The Strategy aims to address the barriers to walking and build on these opportunities to establish a more walkable municipality. A vision for walking in Bayside The vision for walking in Bayside is one of inclusiveness. While the current walking environment is relatively supportive of able-bodied and confident adults; older people, those with disabilities and people with young
children are less well catered for. The new vision for walking in Bayside prioritises the needs of this section of the community, with the aim of creating safe, comfortable and inviting places to experience Bayside on foot. At the same time, walking will make a contribution to the health and wellbeing of the municipality and will assist Council in its efforts to ensure that Bayside becomes more environmentally sustainable.