Sydney CBD is bringing back pedestrian “beg buttons”

https://jakecoppinger.com/2022/12/sydney-cbd-is-bringing-back-pedestrian-beg-buttons/

Quote:

The Active Transport strategy recently released by TfNSW specifically states (on page 12) that key initiatives for metropolitan and urban areas include:

• prioritising pedestrian movements at key destinations, including prioritising pedestrians at traffic lights

and

• upgrading existing paths and streets for better walking and cycling experiences

This begs the question – if a key TfNSW initiative is to prioritise pedestrians in urban areas, and we’re prepared to automatically give pedestrians a green light every cycle during the day when car traffic volumes are highest – why not prevent the confusion and remove/cover the buttons permanently?

Even more perplexingly – we previously had fully automated buttons and they were accepted (if not widely celebrated by pedestrian & cycling advocates), so why go backwards?!