The Victorian Department of Transport and Planning are preparing for public consultation on the new accessible tram stop designs for Thornbury later this year. High Street is one of the biggest local issues that Streets Alive Darebin hears from people about. It is a source of constant complaints about near misses and crashes with drivers.

High Street is surrounded by people, especially families, who use bicycles as part of their everyday trips. Local schools have very high active travel rates and yet it is rare to see these people, families especially, shopping or visiting High Street by bike.

Shopping strips like High Street rely overwhelmingly on locals for business, and this is reflected in how people currently get to High Street. High Street has parking behind the shops in Northcote, and opposite The Croxton Hotel and across from Psarakos as well as in and around the shops aside from on High Street itself. Safe separate bike lanes are needed along High Street Northcote through to Preston.

At the moment there are Victorian Government clearways during the morning and afternoon peak along High Street that make it a thoroughfare and dangerous for cyclists and pedestrians. The new tram stops provide the opportunity for these clearways to be removed and  separated bike lanes to be installed.
Given the decline of in-store shopping there is an opportunity to futureproof High Street and ensure cyclists’ safety.

This Heart Foundation discussion paper 'Good for Busine$$, The benefits of making streets more walking and cycling friendly' provides case studies in making streets more walking and cycling friendly. These examples of street redesign have shown that safer and friendlier street environments create benefits for our community. One of the case studies in the report looks at Darebin High Street.

In 2008, Darebin City Council was considering installing accessible tram stops at several locations on High Street and conducted a survey. The aim of the survey was to gain an understanding of travel and shopping behaviours of visitors to the Northcote Shopping Precinct to assist in assessing the potential impact of a reduction in on-street parking resulting from the introduction of the tram stops.

The key findings of this research are that:

• High Street visitors tend to walk or catch public transport, while visitors to Northcote Central and Plaza tend to drive to those centres,

• High Street visitors are more willing to lose car parking spaces to accommodate streetscape improvements than visitors to Northcote Central or Plaza,

• Visitors to Northcote Shopping Precinct place a higher level of importance on cleanliness and maintenance, pedestrian access and safety than business respondents who thought car parking was most important,

• Business respondents tended to overestimate car-based travel and underestimate walking and public transport use amongst visitors to Northcote Shopping Precinct.

This study reaffirms in an Australian context the overemphasis placed on car travel and parking by business respondents compared to shoppers.