FASTrack: A co-designed cloud-based planning support system for interactive cycling infrastructure scenario assessment

Testing transport interventions using city-scale transport models is typically resource intensive, requiring specialist expertise, substantial data and computational capacity. As a result, such modelling is often concentrated on major projects and larger metropolitan areas, while smaller interventions and mid-sized regional cities have limited access to comparable modelling capabilities. This is particularly relevant to active travel, where cycling infrastructure decisions frequently need to be made with relatively limited modelling and decision-support capacity. This study presents FASTrack, a cloud-based planning support software system that integrates agent-based modelling, behavioural simulation, and interactive scenario visualisation to enable proposed cycling infrastructure assessment. A case study is applied to the City of Greater Bendigo, a mid-sized regional Australian city representative of the planning contexts that existing platforms often overlook. FASTrack was developed through a co-design process over three years with local government planning partners, to address the need to rapidly assess infrastructure scenarios, quantify changes in cycling demand and behaviour, and inform infrastructure planning and investment appraisal. These requirements underpin its design, including the use of probabilistic modelling and a cloud-based workflow designed to support rapid, on-demand scenario testing with minimal specialist modelling expertise. Scenario outcomes are presented through interactive dashboard-style interfaces that detail estimated changes in network use, level of traffic stress, mode shift, cycling usage, emissions, and cost-benefit analysis aligned with national appraisal guidelines. This study demonstrates how co-design can directly shape the development of planning support systems by translating practitioner requirements into accessible modelling platforms for cycling infrastructure planning