These streets are made for walking: Kobi Shetty walks the talk

From extending the light rail along Parramatta Road to making Mort Bay swimmable, to improving pedestrian safety, Kobi Shetty, MP for Balmain, has plenty on her Inner West to-do list. We caught up with her to find out more.

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By Isabella Edwards

The pedestrianisation of the Inner West has been a leading issue for you. Why do you feel so strongly about this concern?

I’ve lived in cities around the world and I was really struck when I first arrived in Sydney many years ago by how unfriendly it was for pedestrians - and it hasn’t changed enough.

Now that I have kids, it’s even more apparent when you walk around your neighbourhood just how dangerous it is for them, and it’s one of the main reasons kids don’t have much freedom here. If we want to create cities and communities for people, we have an obligation to make sure it’s safe for people who are the most vulnerable. 

At the end of the day, someone’s life is more important than people getting somewhere a couple of minutes quicker in their car, and I just think there’s so much work to do to make our streets more walkable and more vibrant - people’s lives are better for it. 

What is it about pedestrianisation and improving shared spaces that you find benefits residents the most? 

Making it easier for people to walk and cycle improves our quality of life in so many ways. Safety is a major issue - we know that one of the main reasons people don’t let their kids walk to school on their own is because they don’t think they’re safe, and one of the main reasons people don’t cycle is because they don’t feel safe. 

This has been reaffirmed by the hundreds of responses I’ve had to our pedestrian safety survey. We know that if we make it safer to walk and cycle more people will do it, which is better for people’s health and wellbeing, but also takes pressure off our roads and eases the traffic congestion that everyone is so fed up with in Sydney. 

What improvements do you believe could be made to Balmain to better improve shared spaces for pedestrians and vehicles? 

There’s so much potential here in Balmain to reclaim some space and revitalise areas to make them better for the people who live and work here. Transport for NSW should be planning now to revitalise Victoria Road (nearby in Rozelle) when the Western Harbour Tunnel opens. 

We can look at widening footpaths, planting more street trees and native plants, and creating more places for people to sit and rest. There are also a lot of local streets that could benefit from improvements to footpaths so that people with prams and wheelchairs can get around more easily. 

There also needs to be more focus on making it safe for kids to walk and ride to school, and we know that locally we have lots of problem areas with a lack of safe places to cross busy roads, narrow paths and cars driving too fast. This means that parents are reluctant to allow their kids to walk or ride to school and drive them instead. 

Do you feel that this year’s budget allocating $120.9 million towards active transports is sufficient? 

The NSW Labor Government released a budget that was really disappointing in terms of the low investment in walking and cycling safety. The total transport budget sits at a whopping $17.6 billion dollars – with a lot of this going on big toll-road projects like the disastrous WestConnex. 

The $120 million going to active transport amounts to just 0.69% of our total transport budget. With close to 8 million people in NSW, this means that each person gets just over $14.72 a year for walking and cycling infrastructure. 

If we want to bring the Inner West of Sydney in line with other global cities, we will need a much bigger investment in walking and cycling. 

Following on from the above, how can these funds be used effectively? 

As a priority, the government should be looking at all of our local school catchments and understand how kids walk and cycle to school and make those journeys safe. We should have lower speed limits around school areas, and councils should be funded to work with their communities to get this work done. 

There is also a desperate need for a well-connected bicycle network across the city. Lots of people want to travel by bike but don’t feel safe - especially girls and women. Getting more people on their bikes is better for everyone because it will ease traffic congestion for those who still need to drive.  

There have been recent victories in the push to improve pedestrian safety in the area (such as the installation of the pedestrian crossing at Robert Street and Victoria Road, and widening the shared path on the Victoria Road approach to Anzac Bridge). Will more improvements be made to the surrounding area? 

I’ll be pushing to ensure we do get those necessary improvements as population density increases. More dense living should never happen in isolation. It’s important that we have all the right infrastructure in place. 

This means ample public transport, well-connected cycleways and good pedestrian amenities, like properly maintained footpaths. We want to create liveable suburbs now and into the future – and having streets as shared spaces is a big part of that. 

What does optimal pedestrianisation look like for you? 

For me, it’s about our streets being more than just roads where people hop in their cars and go from point A to B. It’s about creating streets as shared public spaces that are vibrant, bustling, tree-lined places where our community can come together and thrive. It’s about creating suburbs where kids can walk to school safely, or where people can confidently ride to work instead of relying on their cars.  

Kobi Shetty, Greens MP for Balmain

Website: www.kobishetty.org.au

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KobiShettyGreens

Instagram: @kobishetty