Jul 102012
 

The state seat of Melbourne is vacant following the resignation of the sitting member.  The seat of Melbourne covers approximately the same area as the City of Melbourne. The by-election will be held on Saturday 21 July 2012. 

About the Melbourne BUG bike survey

Melbourne BUG has tested by-election candidates on their commitment to a range of bike transport proposals to make cycling safer and easier, and encourage more people to get on their bike. These include setting the bike budget at 2-3% of road spending (around $40 million), building separated bike lanes in St Kilda and Flemington roads, fixing Shepherd Bridge and Dynon Road, introducing 30 km/h speed limits and exempting the Melbourne Bike Share from mandatory helmet laws. The full list of questions is below, and a summary table is available here .

Analysis of responses

A summary talbe can be viewed here .Of the main contenders, only Greens candidate Cathy Oke answered the survey questions. Labor candidate Jennifer Kanis declined to respond to the questions, stating that the proposals would be better considered as part of the 2014 state election.

Cathy Oke supported all initiatives except the helmet law exemption for Melbourne Bike Share. Ms Oke also highlighted her achievements as a Melbourne City Councillor, including removing cars from Swanston Street and securing $5.6 million dollars for bikes in the City of Melbourne's 2012-13 budget. As part of Ms Oke's by-election campaign, the Greens committed to matching the City of Melbourne's bike funding for the electorate of Melbourne and to introducing a vulnerable road user law. The Greens do not however have a fully developed state bicycle plan.

Labor candidate Jennifer Kanis acknowledged that the proposals were 'important and good practical ideas' but said they were better considered in the 2014 state election, when Labor will have developed a state bicycle policy. Labor has not made any bike-related commitments or released any bike transport policies during the by-election campaign. Ms Kanis outlined the previous Labor Government's cycling achievements, including its record investment in bike infrastructure and the introduction of guidelines requiring that cycling be considered as part of new roads and public transport projects.

Independent candidate Stephen Mayne responded too late to include in our media release but has been included on our summary page.  Of the other independents, Adrian Whitehead demonstrated the best understanding of cycling issues, and Berhan Ahmed also responded thoughtfully. John Perkins supported most of the proposals but did not give further details. Australian Christian Party candidate Maria Bengtsson expressed an interest in proposals but did not offer an informed response. David Nolte did not respond to the survey but published a policy on his own website. While not hostile to encouraging cycling for transport he showed a lack of knowledge of the issues.  Fiona Patten also lacked knowledge of most of the issues but supported some proposals. The remainder of the candidates have not responded.

The proposals

MBUG asked candidates to indicate support, non support or partial support for the following proposals, with provision for comments:

1. Annual bike spending of 2-3% of road spending (or about 40 million)

2. A physically separated bike lane on St Kilda Rd from Southbank Boulevard to St Kilda Junction

3. A physically separated bike lane along Flinders Street from Spring to Spencer Streets. 

4. A physically separated two-way bicycle route along the western side of Clarendon Street, the Clarendon Street Bridge over the Yarra river and along Spencer Street to LaTrobe Street

5. A physically separated bike lane along Flemington Road from Alexander Road to the Haymarket Roundabout

6. An upgrade of Dynon Road to fix safety issues for cyclists and create a high quality route to the north and west of the City from the West

7. A redesign of Shepherd's Bridge over the Maribyrnong River at the western end of the Footscray Road path

8.  Rebuild Haymarket Roundabout for safety.  

9. 30km/h speed limits: 

  • In the CBD
  • Around schools, residential areas and shopping zones

10. Exemption to mandatory helmet law for the Melbourne Bike Share.

More detail on the proposals, and candidate's full answers, with comments

You can view each individual survey on the survey page.

 Posted by at 9:43 am
Jun 272012
 

Cycling plan for CBD and surrounds: have your say!

Submissions for the  City of Melbourne’s Draft Bicycle Plan close on Monday 2 July and we encourage you to make your own submission before then. It doesn’t have to be detailed, just let them know the  main thoughts you have about your trips around the city.

You can make a submission by

What we’re thinking so far

The draft bike plan includes some excellent projects, including separated bike lanes on Latrobe Street from Victoria Street to Adderley Street, separated bike lanes along Princes Bridge, bike lanes to close the gap between the Royal Parade/Flemington Road, a separated bike route southbound on St Kilda Road to Southbank Boulevard, and a peak hour bike route in some parts of Exhibition Street. There are also commitments to work with Vicroads on bike lanes in the Principal Bike Network, including on St Kilda Road south of Southbank Boulevard, Flemington Road and Royal Parade, although, as you probably know, the state government hasn’t provided any funding for these this year.

Of course, there are plenty of opportunities for improvement in the bike plan which is why we encourage you to let them know. We’re still finalising our submission (due to being busy with the rally last week!), but here are some points we’re going to raise in case you’re looking for ideas:

  • There’s no plan for Clarendon Bridge, which is currently pretty horrific for cyclists and connects to two high-quality routes that bring bikes to the city
  • The plan commits to an investigation into the ‘smaller streets’ but with no detail (timeframe, actions involved, specific streets involved) We’d like to see the plan include a commitment to a feasibility study for converting one or more of the Little Streets to spaces for non-motorised transport – by removing parking, restricting throughfare traffic, reducing speed limits to 20km/h, and making it a shared space for bikes and peds
  • Lack of connections from Canning Street onto Nicholson/Spring Street. We’d like to see two priority routes for bikes through the Carlton Gardens
  • The peak hour bike lane on Exhibition Street is a good start, but we’d like it to be a full-time bike lane – peak hour is not the only time cyclists travel
  • There are a number of hairy intersections in Elgin Street that need to be fixed (Nicholson, Brunswick, Lygon)
  • The plan includes very little about the Melbourne Bikeshare, which is languishing. Melbourne BUG would like to see a number of improvements to this, including a helmet-law exemption for riders using the Bikeshare.
  • The plan includes a list of investigations with no timeframe or actions specified. For many of these, it is not clear why they have been classified as investigations rather than commitments. One example of this is Grattan Street, where we believe there’s room for a separated bike lane, but the plan only commits to engaging with stakeholders about a bike/bus route
  • The various investigations into East-West links in the plan include an investigation into a bike lane on Flinders Street, a Yarra River Corridor study, and an investigation into the Little Streets, but there’s no detail about how these studies will be coordinated to ensure a sensible outcome
  • We’d like to see more detail on integration of bike routes with public transport, with actions included to improve cycling routes to railway stations and between railway stations
  • The plan should include more action items for the installation of bike hoops and corrals. The council’s Transport Strategy made some firm commitments about this but they are not included in the bike plan
  • We’d like to see the council commit to achieving 30km/h speeds through speed limits and traffic calming, which is the rate at which the chance of deaths and injuries rapidly declines
  • The plan should include a detailed set of actions to ensure that cyclists are looked after during temporary works

OK,  nowit’s your turn to make a submission!

 Posted by at 8:59 am
Jun 212012
 

Brilliant  turnout at the Bike Budget today considering the weather gods conspired against us. We reckon there would have been about four times more people had the weather prevailed. But the fact that we had enough people there to fill the whole Flinders Street intersection shows just how much people care about this issue.

Thanks to everyone who showed up, those who organised group rides, Bicycle Victoria and the many cycling groups and friends who helped fire up the troops! Here’s a photo. You look good!


Couldn’t make it? There are plenty of other things you can do to make your voice heard. You can email our premier ted.baillieu@parliament.vic.gov.au right now and tell him what you think.  You can write to your local member, visit your local member, join your local Bicycle User Group, start a local campaign, or get in touch with us (contact form on our website at www.melbournebug.org). And you can sign up for our email updates (enter your email address in the right hand panel), ‘like’ us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

If you write to the Premier, ask him to fund these projects:

  • Physically separated lanes in St Kilda Rd from the Junction to the City
  • Bike lanes in Flinders Street and Spencer St, and across the Clarendon Street Bridge into the City.
  • Footscray Road bike bridge at Maribyrnong River (Shepherds Bridge)
  • Physically separated lanes in Flemington Road and Royal Parade

This campaign has only just started, and there’ll be plenty of other opportunities to get involved.

Well done everyone! Should be some coverage in the media today/tonight.

[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WmhMKWt8DI]

 Posted by at 11:27 am
Jun 072012
 

With its Zero Budget for bikes, the Baillieu Government has made it clear that if bike riders don’t get pushy, we’ll get nothing!

On Thursday 21 June from 7.30–8.30 am outside Victorian Parliament, riders will gather to rally for the state government to Bring Back the Bike Budget.

Background: The state government has allocated practically zero to bike infrastructure in its 2012-13 budget. This means serious safety issues will continue, and new riders continue to be discouraged by hostile conditions.

Why taking action might make a difference: There’s always more money if they’re pushed hard enough; it’s happened before. We also need to show them we won’t take this lying down so that bike riders don’t get burned in the next year’s budget too!

HELP BY PUTTING UP OUR CAMPAIGN POSTER: Download our campaign poster here (pictured below at bottom of this post). Print it off, and stick it up at your workplace, on your bike routes, at your school or uni, at cafes, wherever! You can also print off this leaflet to give out.

JOIN US ON A GROUP RIDE!

The Victorian Bicycle User Groups (and friends) are organising cyclists to ride in together in groups from all sides of the city. Meeting places so far are:

South Yarra: 7:00am Main Yarra Trail, Cnr Chapel Street & Alexandra Avenue—near the bus stop, Facebook invite here.

Richmond: 7:00am Elizabeth Street and Church Street—outside the commission flats, organised by Julez.

Brighton: 6:45am Corner of Bay Street and Nepean Highway, travelling along the Nepean Highway and St Kilda Road, organised by Richard Syme.

North Melbourne 7:00am North Melbourne pool, 1 Macaulay Rd. Coordinated by Melbourne Bicycle User Group.

Footscray Leaving at 7:00am, Opposite Footscray Police Station, 66 Hyde Street. Coordinated by Ant.

Coburg: 6:30am Coburg Railway Station. Coordinated by @DannoPants. Facebook event here.

East Brunswick: 7.00am, Outside Cafe L’Amour (next to Gelobar), 76 Lygon St (Cafe L’Amour will be open for coffee) – coordinated by Moreland Bicycle User Group. Facebook invite here.

Carlton: 7.00am Outside Dan O’Connell Hotel, Corner Princes and Canning Streets – coordinated by Yarra Bicycle Users Group. Facebook invite here.

Northcote 7.00am, Jika Jika Community Centre, Corner Plant and Union Streets – coordinated by Darebin Bicycle User Group

If you’re riding in from East or South and can help lead a group, please send us a message via the contact form (or on Facebook or Twitter). All we need is a place and a time and we will help promoting it.

HELP US PROMOTE THE RALLY  – some ideas 

1) Put up posters

Download a printable PDF copy of the poster pictured below here. Print it off and put it EVERYWHERE! Work bike cages, schools, poles on major bike route are a good place to start.

2) Tell your friends

Send around a group email (you can just copy and paste from this post) asking to your friends who care about cyclists’ safety, and ask them to forward it on too! Try and lock in one or two good friends to ride in with you.

On the morning of the rally, send a text message to your friends to remind them it’s on!

3) Tell your workmates, fellow students, etc 

See above!

 

 Posted by at 10:57 am
May 172012
 

Come to the final parliamentary hearing into the dooring bill.

Where: Parliament of Victoria, 1 Spring Street, Melbourne

When: Wednesday 23 May at 8.00pm, meeting at 7.30pm outside Parliament. If you get there late just go inside and report to the front desk – they’ll tell you where to go.

Speakers:  Bicycle Victoria, the Road Safety Action Group Inner Melbourne, Amy Gillett Foundation, Andrew Tivendale, the parents of James Cross, and Melbourne Bicycle User Group.

Parliamentary hearings can be a bit stuffy, but we’d like to have a presence there to demonstrate to politicians that the public’s concerned about this issue (if they haven’t already realised!!). It’s also worth hearing what bike advocacy groups, Andrew Tivendale, and James Cross’s parents, have to say about car dooring and cyclist safety.

More details of the hearing are at www.parliament.vic.gov.au/standing-committee-on-economy-and-infrastructure/legislation-committee/inquiries/article/1818

 Posted by at 5:29 pm
May 162012
 

Melbourne City Council has allocated money in its budget to reduce speed limits in the CBD to 40km/h.

But they’re still waiting for Vicroads, and the Minister for Transport, to sign off on the plan.

This would be a safety win for all road users – chances of death and injury decrease significantly between 50 km/h and 40 km/h. It will also make the urban environment a bit more relaxing for everyone.

Ultimately, we’re working towards 30 km/h in the CBD, strip shopping areas, and residential areas. That’s the speed at which it becomes much more feasible for cyclists and drivers to ‘share the road’, because it’s safer and we’re on a bit more of an equal playing field.

30km/h is an evidence-based speed limit that makes pedestrians and cyclists safer. Chances of survival increase rapidly 40km/h down to 30 km/h. According to the World Health Organisation, pedestrians have 90% chance of surviving car crashes at 30 km/h or below, but less than a 50% chance of surviving impacts at 45 km/h or above. It is likely that similar differences exist for cyclists.

Lower speed limits should be combined with traffic calming measures that make it physically difficult to speed, regardless of legal sanctions or ineffective signs. Both are needed: without traffic calming, drivers tend to ignore speed limits, and without speed limits, there are no legal sanctions and speed limits cannot be enforced.

Reducing speeds to 30 km/h will make Melbourne a safer place for pedestrians and a cyclists, and a nicer place to walk and hang out in. Where speed limits are higher than 30km/h, governments should provide safe bike lanes.

 Posted by at 8:29 am
May 162012
 

In its latest state budget, the Victorian Government slashed funding for the Vicroads Bicycle Program to zero.

This means big projects across Melbourne, including some that have already been started on, like the Federation Trail, are in limbo.

It means that there is no funding for the development of the Principal Bike Network, Melbourne’s network plan.

It means that safety issues we face every day will continue to be unaddressed, and new cyclists will continue to be discouraged.

In coming weeks, the Victorian Bicycle User Groups and Bicycle Victoria will working to reverse this short sighted decision.

We’ve got some actions in the pipeline, including a rally, that we’ll let you know of shortly (if you haven’t already, please follow us on Twitter, ‘like’ us on Facebook, or sign up to our mailing list).

And we also want to know your ideas. We’re particularly interested ideas for events or actions that are a bit more creative, entertaining and fun. Or if you have any special skills you can contribute.

Please let us know in the comments.

 Posted by at 8:21 am
May 112012
 

The City of Melbourne has published its draft budget for 2012/13. It includes a substantial increase in funding for bicycle projects: at $5.6M it’s about 4 times larger than last year. Thanks particularly to councillor Cathy Oke for piloting this budget increase and to all the councillors for supporting it.

The money will be spent on some significant projects including La Trobe St bike lanes, Elizabeth St (Victoria to Haymarket), a proper lane (although only in one direction) over Princes Bridge, bringing the Cecil Street lanes through up to Clarendon Street, and peak hour bike lanes in Exhibition St (these will connect the Yarra trail, via the shared path over the toll bridge, up Exhibition to join the new La Trobe St lanes). More detail is yet to be obtained on these projects, so watch this space.

The City’s press release is at www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/AboutCouncil/MediaReleases/Pages/Draftbudgetenhancesconnectedcity.aspx

 Posted by at 12:32 am
May 072012
 

Have Your Say

Melbourne City Council is asking you to choose one of four options for bike lanes along the full length of Latrobe Street. The options include two kerbside separated lanes and two other options which place the bike lane between parked cars and moving traffic. Whatever design is chosen will be used for the entire length of the street, from Spring Street to Spencer Street, linking to the existing lanes on the bridge down to Docklands.

HAVE YOUR SAY: You can have your say by filling out their survey. You can view details of the options here.

Which option should I go for?

Melbourne BUG supports Option 2

We know that a feeling of being unsafe is a major deterrent to riding in the Melbourne CBD. In 2008, 5 out of 10 cyclists indicated they felt unsafe cycling in the city of Melbourne. We believe that option 2 is the safest and the most likely to encourage more timid riders, as well as protecting existing riders.

Option 2 is for separated kerbside lanes on the inside of parked cars. These are similar to Swanston Street north of Victoria Street going up towards Victoria University. There is a wide, raised area between parked cars and bikes, giving plenty of room for car doors to open without going anywhere near you as you ride by. Car passengers step out onto this buffer, which is also wide enough for wheelchairs and prams, without impinging on the bike lane. The lane is wide enough for two bikes to ride side-by-side or for overtaking.

The Swanston Street north lanes have been successful in increasing bike trips and lowering the crash rate.

HAVE YOUR SAY: To support our recommended option, fill out the survey. and select option 2.

What are the other options?

Options 3 and 4 – unseparated bike lanes (green paint), similar to Queensberry Street

Options 3 and 4 are unseparated bike lanes on the outside of parked cars. Because they offer no separation from fast cars, they are less safe and more intimidating for potential cyclists. They place bicycles on the traffic side of parked cars, where they are vulnerable to dooring but also incursions into the bike lane by fast-moving traffic.

The highest quality lanes of this type are in Queensberry Street, but as you can see here, motor vehicles frequently use the wide bike lane as a spare traffic lane, often travelling a whole block in the bike lane, or double parking there. They look to the driver just like a traffic lane.

Option 1 – two-tiered footpath

Option 1 is a raised footpath which places you slightly lower than the pedestrians and just higher than the cars. Option 1 is OK, but more difficult and expensive to engineer than Option 2, so we believe it is less likely to be used widely. Option 1 is also less well separated from pedestrians and the car door zone, and less obvious to passengers getting in their cars. This may mean it is more likely to be obstructed.

Option 2b – narrowing the footpath to maintain a car lane

In the longer consultation paper, option 2 has been divided into 2a and 2b. In the survey, option 2a and 2b are both covered by option 2. We understand the council didn’t separate 2a and 2b in the consultation because they wanted to keep it simple and avoid confusing people.

Option 2b spends an extra $12 million dollars to narrow the already crowded footpath, reducing pedestrian space in order to maintain two car lanes and facilitate fast cars. Latrobe Street is not congested and this will encourage high speeds, which are dangerous for all road users, especially in the crowded CBD. It will also make for a less pleasant urban environment.

We’ll be telling the council that we don’t want 2b, and we also expect walking and public transport groups to. If you select option 2, you can also make a comment in the survey telling the council you want 2a, not 2b.

Where can I find out more?

You can view details about the options here.

Melbourne Times article on Melbourne, Yarra and Darebin councils all with projects for separated bike lanes.

 Posted by at 7:35 am