Council pushes button on manual pedestrian crossing return

Hundreds of inner-city Brisbane pedestrian crossings that were fully automated last year to reduce the risk of coronavirus transmission have been switched back to manual.

In March Brisbane City Council automated more than 560 crossings, so pedestrians and cyclists did not have to touch the crossing buttons at traffic lights.

Pedestrian crossings were automated across Brisbane's CBD and inner suburbs in March 2020.Credit: Lucy Stone

The move was one of many introduced by the council to alter public and active transport, including waiving parking fees and asking bus passengers to board by the back doors rather than the front.

Stickers were placed on traffic light poles telling people not to push the buttons, across the CBD and inner-city suburbs such as Fortitude Valley, Spring Hill and South Brisbane.

Infrastructure committee chairman David McLachlan confirmed the council had switched its traffic system back to normal at the end of 2020, saying Brisbane had "progressively and safely returned to more typical ways of life".

"While ‘no-touch’ signals at crossings were suitable at the height of the pandemic, there were negative impacts on traffic flow, increased noise complaints and reports of motorists running red lights," Cr McLachlan said.

"Prior to COVID operations, many crossing signals were automated during business hours, then manual during non-business hours."

In the CBD, 68 crossings that were automated before the pandemic would remain automated day and night, Cr McLachlan said.

Peak pedestrian body Queensland Walks said it wanted to see some automated buttons stay or be scheduled for smart technology to better manage pedestrian need, particularly for those standing in the hot sun at intersections.

"Some pedestrian buttons are particularly hard to reach for people in a wheelchair or using mobility device, and challenging to reach whilst holding a pram and supervising children, so automation has been found to be incredibly helpful as well as to reduce the spread of COVID," Queensland Walks spokeswoman Anna Campbell said.

"The state government has been rolling out smart technology which uses a sensor to detect pedestrians, which therefore also reduces the spread of COVID, increasing the safety, making crossing the road easier and more inclusive and reducing wait times for pedestrians.

"Queensland Walks encourages Brisbane City Council to implement intelligent systems that will benefit pedestrians, especially in high pedestrian environments and where our more vulnerable pedestrians need to cross."