NSW Government invests in new Planwisely active transport planning tools

VLC, the creators of Planwisely, has officially been announced as the winner of Transport for NSW’s (TfNSW) Active Transport Smart City Innovation Challenge for a proposed walk and cycle planning tool that will leverage Planwisely’s existing platform.

Called PATH (Planning Active Transport for Health), the tool will allow TfNSW planners to analyse current walk and cycle networks and plan more effective ones in the future.

“We need to be smart about how we prepare for growth across NSW, and this means making sure we have the right infrastructure in place in our communities, where walking or cycling is viewed as one of the safest, easiest, and most convenient ways to travel,” said NSW Minister for Transport Jo Haylen.

“We are committed to testing new technologies like PATH to support planning and investment decisions and drive active transport uptake.”

PATH will harness Planwisely’s powerful mapping engine and intuitive front-end to offer TfNSW planners an easy-to-use tool informed by rich spatial data.

“We’re thrilled to be partnering with Transport for NSW to develop a tool that will revolutionise the way active transport infrastructure is planned and developed,” said VLC and Planwisely Managing Director Nick Veitch.

“This win is a reflection of our team’s cross-functional experience and willingness to innovate in both the software development and transport modelling worlds.”

_{Around 1.5 billion walking and cycling trips take place each year across NSW, and the NSW Government wants to double this number within 20 years.}

“PATH will help us understand what makes places walkable and cyclable and plan better active transport networks for the future,” says Veitch.

“Our team’s aim is to deliver a tool that can empower NSW Government planners in ways that encourage walk and bike travel and, most importantly, benefit the people of NSW.”

Development of PATH is already underway and the process of building and testing the tool will take approximately 12 months.

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