Assessing the Spatial Implications of Autonomous Vehicles as Feeders to Railway Stations in Suburban Melbourne

ABSTRACT

Using results from a design-research studio analysing rail station access in Melbourne, this article considers how differing Autonomous Vehicle (AV) deployment models might fit into a suburban landscape. The results challenge assumptions about AV deployment. If AVs are low occupancy, peak demands may require station carparks to be used entirely as pick-up/drop off zones. This suggests little opportunity to re-purpose car parks for non-transport uses. Further, with AVs uncoupling station demand from existing feeder bus and park-and-ride provision, a re-distribution of demand along rail corridors may occur. The work has broad applicability to the policy challenges of an AV future.

摘要

本文利用一个设计研究工作室对墨尔本火车站入口进行分析的结果，考虑不同的自动车辆（AV）部署模式如何适合郊区景观. 研究结果挑战了有关反病毒部署的假设. 如果AV占用率较低，高峰需求可能要求车站停车场完全用作上下车区。这表明将停车场改作非交通用途的机会很少. 此外，随着AVs将车站需求与现有支线公共汽车和停车换乘服务分离，铁路走廊沿线的需求可能会重新分配. 这项工作对未来反车辆的政策挑战具有广泛的适用性.

KEYWORDS:

• Autonomous vehicles
• park-and-ride
• public transport
• congestion

Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank the following people for their contribution to the studio:

• Karl Baker MR Cagney

• Steve Burgess MR Cagney

• Will Fooks GTA

• Gary Liddle University of Melbourne

• Allison Stewart Infrastructure Victoria

• Manuel Lawrence ARUP

• Lucy Pike ARUP

• Mark Rowland ARUP

• Kath Phelan Infrastructure Victoria

• Mark Burton Transport for Victoria

• Adrian Webb Transport for Victoria

• Mark Bol Office of the Victorian Government Architect

• Lorrae Wild Office of the Victorian Government Architect

• Mena Kubba Farrar-Weston Williamson

• Asa Kremmer Hassell Studio

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. With additional teaching input from Leyla Beiglari of Hassell Architecture Studio.

2. For a full list, see acknowledgements section at the end of the article.

3. Box Hill is a major bus hub. All the parking close to the station is in multi-deck structures associated with the large shopping mall.

4. Clause 22.07 of the Whitehorse Planning Scheme.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Transport for Victoria.