Disruptive events can become windows of opportunity to instigate changes in travel behaviour. The closure of the 130-year-old Armadale Line was one such event, with the community needing to re-assess how to get around.
The Department of Transport and Major Infrastructure (formerly Department of Transport) partnered with METRONET and the Public Transport Authority and to encourage people to discover more active ways to travel locally, instead of resorting to driving for short trips. Initiatives were delivered in 2023-24 and 2024-25 in collaboration with four local governments and 14 schools.
Results were overwhelmingly positive, with the project demonstrating the value of integrating active travel engagement in schools and communities in parallel with major infrastructure delivery and network disruption.
The Armadale Line Active Travel project has now concluded: a key findings report is available:
We encourage locals to continue to walk, wheel and ride while works are ongoing.
Plan your journey using the Your Move Journey Planner. This multi-mode planner helps you find more ways to get from A to B with any combination of transport modes, in real-time.
You can also visit Transperth to find out about bus services operating during the Armadale Line shutdown, along with information about bike parking at stations.
Key project outcomes
- Intensive version of the Your Move program delivered to 14 local schools reaching 7,500 students.
- Co-design and delivery of active travel events and initiatives involving community across four local governments: City of Gosnells; City of Armadale; Town of Victoria Park and City of Canning.
- Delivery of Western Australia’s first ‘School Open Street’ trial at Queens Park Primary School – check out the video below. 76% of parents involved in the trial or other parent engagement activities said they made them more supportive of their children walking or riding to school.
- 20,000 large maps and 8,000 pocket maps were distributed in four local government communities.
- During the project, walking, bike riding and scooting to school increased by 13 per cent and car use declined by 6 per cent.
- 45 per cent of students walked or rode to school after the project, higher than the Perth average of 20 per cent.
Learn more about School Open Streets by watching the below video.