Movement corridors provide safe and convenient connections through a large park with a range of regional and local destinations. Royal Park is a great place to walk and many people enjoy cycling through the park for both commuting and recreation. Given the distinctive landform of the park, it provides some of Melbourne’s most scenic commutes into the city.

In addition to walking and cycling, thousands of people move through the park each day on trains and trams. Active mobility is a key part of City of Melbourne strategies for healthier lifestyles, as it can be an important contributor to reaching daily physical activity targets.

Royal Park plays a critical role in promoting physical activity, environmental sustainability, and social connectivity. However, sub-optimal pedestrian infrastructure and traffic conditions, particularly crossing Macarthur Road / Elliott Avenue, pose challenges to the park's accessibility and safety. By examining the current state of the pedestrian and bike network, analysing the benefits of enhanced walkability, and proposing recommendations, this theme aims to underscore the urgent need for prioritising pedestrian-centric improvements in Royal Park.

In some areas there are barriers to accessing the park via walking and wheeling. A barrier may be a low fence, planting, or lack of path connection from inside the park to the footpath or kerb outside the park. In other areas, the access points are few and far between and don’t allow for easy exploration into the park.

There are disjointed pedestrian and cycle connections through the park. There is no clear hierarchy of paths that makes it clear to people which path is likely to lead to a destination as opposed to a more informal wander. The roads, train line and tram line are major interrupters to most journeys through or within the park.

The safety audits undertaken in the park identified that the lack of lighting reduces accessibility, especially among women, leading to few people using the park during low light periods. People are less likely to travel through the park after nightfall due to safety concerns. This information tells us that the strategic movement corridors through the park as well as the tram stops and train station are probably not performing to their maximum capacity as alternative transport options, especially in winter.