Transport Planning
Well-planned and efficient transport networks are the foundation of economic prosperity. They have far-reaching effects on society and the natural environment, and can be the catalyst for transformation of communities.
We help shape great places through smart planning and collaboration. Providing advice to our clients so they can make the right choices for their needs and find effective and sustainable strategies that enable communities to thrive, contribute to decarbonization, balance with nature and facilitate social equity, now and for the future.
Whether the project’s objective is to create a prosperous downtown area through Transit-Oriented Development (TOD), develop a waterfront, revitalize a neighborhood, or plan for regional growth, our transport planning team can help you build a landmark that raises the profile of your project.
Understanding what is unique to the location, community or challenge is part of our process and stakeholder and community engagement is key in any successful project. Our teams pride themselves in building effective, sustainable and inclusive strategies from the very earliest stages of the project.
We have extensive experience in all aspects of urban and regional transport planning, growth management and the creation and maintenance of civic infrastructure. This coupled with our in-house tools that allow us to analyze multiple scenarios to determine the best low carbon, environmentally sensitive and socially equitable solutions.
We’ve developed master plans, studies and analyses for complex infrastructure programs to smaller community-oriented projects, and we can unlock development land previously considered uneconomic or challenging. Our wide range of planning services are based on rigorous procedures for studying and assessing problems of any size and scope, enabling planning for all transportation modes.
Experts in Transport Management
We act as strategic advisors and expert witnesses, with specialization at all stages, from pre-acquisition studies to delivery. Our clients draw upon our transport modelling and planning capabilities to deliver evidence to support the planning functions of local authorities and to create sustainable transport investment plans.
Our clients range from state, regional and local governments to transportation agencies, metropolitan planning organizations and private developers, in cities, suburban and rural communities where we live and work.
We are proud of our pioneering work, which includes applying movement frameworks and street design concepts to masterplans, research in transport policy and our intelligent transport system designs.
With stakeholder involvement and a Net Zero approach at the heart of the process, we shape strategies that improve mobility and access to transportation systems, while creating vibrant, livable communities.
It’s your vision and we have the skills and experience to help you bring it to life.
Policy and Research
Our transport and land-use planning services provide integrated solutions for clients seeking to develop long-term growth policies and strategies. We provide expert analysis of land-use implications and strategic accessibility, as well as advising on planning and policy development, data management, and passengers and goods movement strategies. Our policy experts and research teams are skilled at gathering and exploring national, environmental, social, safety, and economic data sets to extract what is most meaningful, providing clients with a platform to inform policy planning and decision-making.
Decarbonizing Transport
Governments around the world are adopting targets to achieve net zero carbon. To support our clients with this challenge, we have developed several tools aimed at supporting decision making. These tools provide a summary of a range of innovations, analytical tools, and processes to facilitate end-to-end services across the full project life-cycle to tackle the scale and complexity of this generational challenge, helping harness the emerging opportunities, technologies and culture required to decarbonize the transport network. Our process involves developing an emission baseline that provides a detailed breakdown of emission sources and how they are predicted to change in the future. This data is then used as a benchmark when assessing the impacts of future projects and interventions.
Designing for Safety
Ensuring user safety is a critical aspect of developing any transportation system, anywhere in the world. We fully support highway authorities and transport system operators in meeting this challenge, by drawing upon best practices, incident investigation and prevention, safety review, and audits of vulnerable and non-motorized users. Our entire approach to safety begins with our planning teams and is carried throughout the lifecycle of our projects. We are in Vision Zero, an initiative that aims to end deaths and injuries caused by pedestrian and transport systems.
Spatial Analysis
We help clients create accessibility plans tailored to specific areas and to meet particular challenges. Through analysis and consultation, we establish SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) targets and develop GIS applications to support and monitor progress. Our action plans result in improved designs, accessibility, public transport, and travel information. The need to travel and the cost are both reduced, playing an important role in regeneration schemes and helping build sustainable communities.
Transportation Modelling & Forecasting
We use the latest transport modelling software and GIS interfaces to construct comprehensive integrated transportation models at local, regional and national levels, displaying them in a single user-friendly environment. We also have the expertise to carry out individual and area-wide intersection assessments using micro-simulation techniques, and to develop complex network models to support regional clients. We model all modes of transportation – pedestrians, vehicles, transit, freight – in order to optimize operational and design solutions. Furthermore, our models also allow for analysis of the carbon impacts of different solutions and policies making them future ready.
Financial and Economic Appraisal
Our teams assist clients to assess the value of proposed transport schemes in either financial or economic terms. Our analysts are highly experienced in applying a broad range of recognized appraisal tools and frameworks, and fully understand the benefits and costs associated with transport infrastructure implementation in diverse geographic and economic contexts. We understand that transport schemes must not only increase user convenience and throughput, but have a positive environmental and economic impact, improve accessibility and integration, and provide value to our clients and their stakeholders. It is becoming more commonplace for clients to be taking more of a triple bottom line approach in assessing projects by understanding the financial, social and environmental benefits of projects – we are able to help our clients analyze each of these facets to ensure better decision making.
Public Transport Planning
We have outstanding proven experience in planning for all public transport modes, including bus, demand-responsive transport, intermediate modes, bus rapid transit and light and heavy rail.
From developing innovative technology to documented business cases, our public transport teams are leaders in the market. Our services include strategic policy advice, demand forecasting, service planning and coordination, operational and business-case analysis, network connectivity, transitioning to zero emission technology, interchange design, route selection, network optimization and travel planning.
Active Transportation Planning
Active transportation plays an important role in supporting the health and wellbeing of communities, a trend we are seeing around the world. We have teams of experts who specialise in planning, modelling, and designing active transport schemes and understanding the processes in delivering a successful strategy. Often when planning improved active transportation facilities there is a need to assess trade-offs with other modes due to right-of-way constraints and our experts can guide our clients through these complexities.
Our services include master plans, network planning, integrated corridor assessments, standards development, trail planning, micro mobility, bicycle facility planning, bicycle sharing schemes and pedestrian modelling.
Planning for Goods Movement
The lifeblood of the global economy is the efficiency of getting goods to market. We have experts in analyzing the needs and requirements to facilitate efficient goods movements at a national, regional or urban scale. This includes examining how best to use policies, technologies and infrastructure to improve good movements from around the corner to across the world. We also have specialties in designing efficient logistics provision for a variety of land uses types and business applications.
Parking Planning
Parking challenges are a universal problem, but societal and technological trends are leading to different parking requirements and strategies. Our experts are at the forefront of these trends, with knowledge of local requirements, developing responsive solutions and technologies. We encourage sound policy to create efficient and user-friendly designs in support of all types and sizes of projects. With our future ready approach we have researched the impact of Connected and Automated Vehicles and how this will redefine the need for parking.
Transport Development Planning
We work closely with architects, master planners and prominent developers to assist them in the planning, design and upgrade of their transport infrastructure. Our expertise in traffic engineering provides for the constructive contribution to development planning, for example through the identification and deployment of the optimum development mix and the development of phasing plans.
Our list of transport development and planning services also includes: