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Comment by getwiththeprog | Hacker News Reader

"As a result of these decisions, this results in the Sydney CBD effectively operating as a fixed time system during peak – that is, the phase lengths are very similar to the expected, pre-programmed length."

Does this mean that for pedestrian walk times to be increased, there must necessarily be a reduction of cars within Sydney city?

It is funny that the 'adaptive' system is flooded so it becomes a fixed system. The City of Sydney is going to have to recognise that to increase economic activity in the city there will have to be a reduction of cars to allow more persons access to this important economic space.

Another big point I think is the idea of a wave of green lights so cyclists do not have to stop every block. Could a 'wave' idea also be used for cars to progress quicker - or will it just slow down other cars further?

This is a really great analysis and wonderful blog post - keep up the great work.

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In case you're not aware, and im not sure about the "economic outcome", but The City of Sydney pedestrianised the main street through the city about 6 years ago when they also installed light rail, and it looks like they're extending it even further. https://community.sydneycivil.com/george-street-south-pedest...

FWIW City of Sydney has ample space for pedestrians and along with state governments has done a lot to reduce car traffic, including largely repurposing the central road running down it (George St) for light rail and pedestrians. There are also many large pedestrian only “malls”.

> The City of Sydney is going to have to recognise that to increase economic activity in the city there will have to be a reduction of cars to allow more persons access to this important economic space.

The City of Sydney _council_ definitely realises this - however the state transport agency (TfNSW) has historically prioritised vehicle throughput over placemaking, though the Movement and Place Framework is starting to change this (this framework takes a lot of inspiration from Gehl's work).

I’ve seen the wave idea implemented, and if you can actually drive the speed limit they are quite nice. However with the inconsiderate types out there blocking lanes and other examples, it’s not always easy to catch. Also, the speed limits tend to be a bit faster than a bike will be going.

> I’ve seen the wave idea implemented, and if you can actually drive the speed limit they are quite nice.

A bunch of the streets in my city do this, and it's awesome. Particularly when there's another car that doesn't know about it, so they're constantly speeding to next red light, where my relatively sedate pace gets me constant green lights, and I smile as I repeatedly pass the speeder that is trying to accelerate from a complete stop.

There's only 2 streets that i know of that were designed this way, but like i mentioned, the streets are usually too encumbered to actually get it to work. I haven't been downtown since pre-covid to know if they are even attempting to still do it.

Quite a few streets in my city do this, but only if you drive 10mph over the speed limit.

Yeah chicago works like this if you go 10 over and blast every yellow. Not sure if that's just civil engineering realism or what.

I thought the whole point was to reward/encourage drivers for driving the limit, not speeding. This seems very odd

Yes. It directly conflicts with the large signs they have posted, touting the benefits of going the speed limit.

I've seen this a number of times. One time, I got a clue as to how it comes about -- I travelled a 35MPH road with synchronized signals, and the city reduced the speed limit to 30, but didn't go to the trouble to adjust the light timing to match.

It works incredible well for bicycles though, as is stated in the article 17% decrease of travel time has been shown. This mirrors my experience, though it suffers alot if there is one or two non synchronized lights at the edges of a wave.

I've seen waves implemented on some streets in Canada (for cars). I don't know how you make it work in both directions though. Maybe you just do it in the direction with more traffic.

In my (US) city, they do this timing only on one-way streets.

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