Introducing PATH: a groundbreaking active transport planning tool

PATH users can view current walking and cycling travel volumes, make network, land use and public transportation service changes and then predict the impacts those changes will have on the number of walk and cycle trips in the future.

PATH won Transport for New South Wales’ (TfNSW) Active Transport Smart City Innovation Challenge in February 2024. VLC, Australia’s leading travel modelling business and the creators of Planwisely, received $1M of funding to develop PATH, which is now available as an additional or standalone module within Planwisely's map-based planning intelligence platform.

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“PATH gives walk and cycle planners something they’ve been sorely missing, which are quantifiable results and actionable insights for their active transport projects,” says VLC and Planwisely Managing Director Nick Veitch. “Using PATH, planners can understand the real benefits of an active transport project. This helps simplify and optimise the process of identifying and prioritising projects then confidently justifying investment for them.”

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The NSW Government has lofty ambitions for active transport across the state. 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. Achieving this goal will require careful planning and investment, both at a strategic and a local level, and Veitch says this fact was a guiding factor in PATH’s development.

“PATH is built upon Planwisely, our web-based geospatial analytics platform, which is capable of complex analysis while also being incredibly easy to use. Our initial discovery for PATH told us that the people responsible for active transport planning span a wide range of roles and levels of expertise, so it was important that PATH was both powerful and user-friendly.

“With PATH, active transport planners now have the power of predictive modelling at their fingertips.”

PATH’s walk and cycle travel volumes and scenario planning tools currently cover the entire state of New South Wales, with plans in place to expand it to other states, territories and regions.

“Encouraging active transport is a crucial contributor to shaping sustainable, healthy cities, and we’re thrilled that PATH can now support those goals in NSW and beyond.”