Bikeway Counts - July - What Tour de France effect?

The bikeway counts for July are in and in the most part they are not in all that surprising.

The counts were again conducted during a 40 minute bracket of peak hour on the

• Kurilpa Bridge - Monday
• Goodwill Bridge - Tuesday
• Bicentennial Bikeway - Wednesday
• South East Bikeway - Thursday
• Normanby Ped/Cycle Link - Friday

The thing that was of no great surprise was that apart from Kurilpa Bridge most other count locations showed not real difference in count numbers. Now this begs the question where is the Tour de France affect that the tabloid media always goes on about after the race. There is the usual complaints of Lycra clad middle age men swamping roads and getting in the way of everyone. If this is indeed true it certainly ain't happening on Brisbane's Bikeway's and it certainly ain't happening during peak hour. If there was indeed this affect it should of spilled over into the counts but it hasn't. Most count category's stayed mostly the same except for women overall. Overall women/men share of the count dropped from a ratio of 1/4 to 1/5 on the whole. Not a good sign but this may be put down to the winter weather.

The surprise result was Kurilpa Bridge jumping from 97 bikes in May to 114 in July. While this may have something to do with the count being conducted 10 minutes later to bring it in line with the rest of the counts (excluding Bicentennial) it does represent a jump of around 20%. It will only mean something substantial if the next count is also of a similar number next time but it is encouraging when all the other counts were almost stagnant.

Oh well it will be good to see what August will net as that will be the final month of Winter in Brisbane!If Brisbane is truly to hot to ride in, the Winter months should see numbers swelling but so far that is not the case.

Kurilpa Bridge Count 20120723

Time = 7:25-8:05am

Total = 114

Sex

Male = 94 (82%)

Female = 20 (18%)

Bike Type

Road = 48 (42%)

Other* = 66 (58%)

Bike per Sex

Male Road = 44 (46%)

Male Other* = 50 (54%)

                        5 citycycle included

Female Road = 4 (20%)

Female Other* = 16 (80%)

* = any bike that is not fitted with drop bar Handle Bars

General Note

-                      Not all bikes passing were able to be counted

-                      This count did not include pedestrians

-                      This count includes cyclists going both North and South

-                      Due this count occurring 10minutes later than the original figures are not directly comparable.

-                      This count was conducted at the peak of the bridge

-                      The weather was clear skies and cool temperature.

Goodwill Bridge Count 20120724

Time = 7:25-8:05am

Total = 374

Sex

Male = 310 (82%)

Female = 64 (18%)

Bike Type

Road = 162 (43%)

Other* = 221 (57%)

Bike per Sex

Male Road = 143 (46%)

Male Other* = 167 (54%)

                        2 citycycle included

Female Road = 19 (30%)

Female Other* = 45 (70%)

                        2 citycycle included

* = any bike that is not fitted with drop bar Handle Bars

General Note

-                      Not all bikes passing were able to be counted

-                      This count did not include pedestrians

-                      This count includes cyclists going both North and South

-                      Due to this count beginning 10minutes later then the Bicentennial count the figures cannot be directly compared.

-                      This count was conducted at the peak of the bridge

      -             The weather was clear skies and cool temperature.

 

Bicentennial Bikeway Count 20120725

Time = 7:20-8:00am

Total = 445

Sex

Male = 376 (83%)

Female = 69 (17%)

Bike Type

Road = 211 (47%)

Other* = 234 (53%)

Bike per Sex

Male Road = 198 (53%)

Male Other* = 178 (47%)

                        5 citycycles included

Female Road = 13 (39%)

Female Other* = 56 (61%)

                        4 citycycles included

* = any bike that is not fitted with drop bar Handle Bars

General Note

-                      Not all bike passing were able to be counted

-                      This count did not include pedestrian

-                      This count includes cyclists going both east and west

-                      This count was conducted just west of the Hale Street Bridge with counter sitting in the shade under the Overpass

-                      Between 30-50% of road cyclists were in groups or seamed to be out riding for exercise and not commuting

-                      Due to the count was conducted 5 mins earlier than previous counts and is not directly comparable

-                      The weather was clear skies and cool to brisk temperature

South East Bikeway Count 20120726

Time = 7:25-8:05am

Total = 210

Sex

Male = 169 (80%)

Female = 41 (20%)

Bike Type

Road = 69 (33%)

Other* = 141 (67%)

Bike per Sex

Male Road = 56 (33%)

Male Other* = 113 (67%)

Female Road = 13 (32%)

Female Other* = 28 (68%)

* = any bike that is not fitted with drop bar Handle Bars

General Note

-                      Not all bikes passing were able to be counted

-                      This count did not include pedestrians as they are not permitted on the bikeway

-                      This count includes cyclists going both North and South

-                      Due to this count beginning 10minutes later then the Bicentennial count the figures can not be directly compared.

-                      This count was conducted under the Vulture St overpass

-                      The weather was clear skies and cool to brisk temperature.

 

Normanby Ped/Cycle Link Count 20120727

Time = 7:25-8:05am

Total = 104

Sex

Male = 85 (82%)

Female = 19 (18%)

Bike Type

Road = 33 (32%)

Other* = 71 (68%)

Bike per Sex

Male Road = 30 (35%)

Male Other* = 55 (65%)

Female Road = 3 (16%)

Female Other* = 16 (84%)

* = any bike that is not fitted with drop bar Handle Bars

General Note

-                      Not all bikes passing were able to be counted

-                      This count did not include pedestrians

-                      This count includes cyclists going both North and South

-                      Due to this count beginning 10minutes later then the Bicentennial count the figures can not be directly compared.

-                      This count was conducted at the southern end of link were it joins Parkland boulevard

-                      The weather was clear skies and cool temperature.

30kmph speed limit - Crappy Today Tonight Report

http://au.news.yahoo.com/today-tonight/latest/article/-/14418808/frustrating-speed-limits/

I have to say this is the reason why I do not watch commercical TV because you can not trust them to report things completely accurately. This lovely piece of work was aired on that "Bastian of truth and fair reporting" last night Today Tonight. It is regarding the concept of reducing the default speed limit in residential streets to 30kmph. I have to say as usual the reporting was mostly one sided and sensationalised. Instead of wasting my time stating the obvious lets just look at the people they spoke to, all this information I had to search for there was no links on the website so I could better inform myself! I wonder why?

John Cadogan the so called motoring expert
"He has a degree in engineering" but in what discipline. For all I know he could have a degree in hydraulic engineering, but what has that got to do with traffic speeds! Unless this engineering degree is quantified to me it means nothing. According to his own website (see link below) he has "20 years as a freelance automotive journalist in print, TV and radio". To me this means this guy has a vested interest in making sure motorised traffic can move is fast as possible because lets face it he may loss some of his readers and roles if he started saying that all motorisd vehicles should travel slower. This guys had the most air time of the three blokes they spoke to. The best quote from this guys is where complains about how public transport is having trouble at the moment handling current loadings. I hate to state the obvious but so is the road network you fool! He also left out the fact that the Public Transport systems have suffered from decades of under investment because of so called motoring experts have been demanding extra funding for roads that just fill up within years acheiving nothing in the long term!
http://www.cadoges.com/about/

David Jones from the RACV
This guy I could not find his official webpage. That said again a vested interest has he is representing a motoring body that is all about allowing motorists to get from A-B as fast as possible. This guy is an "Strategic traffic and transport engineer and planner" which means he does have knowledge in the area but because of his employer it has to be taken in context. The best quote for this bloke is "higher variablitly in vehicle speeds, higher risk of vehicle crashes & involving pedestrians and cyclists" now this may of been taken out of context as we do not hear what the reporter asked but isn't the idea of lowering speed limits about reducing the variablity of different travel modes?
http://au.linkedin.com/in/jonesdr

Dr Bruce Corben - from Monash University Accident Research Centre
Now this poor bloke go a mear 8 seconds of clear air time and is proablby the most repectable in my mind. In that short time he says that at 40kmph you are twice as likely to die as if stuck compared with 30kmph but ofcourse that is all we hear. Hummm I wonder why?
http://www.monash.edu.au/research/profiles/profile.html?sid=701&pid=5764

Ofcourse as one that rides a bike I know all to well why slower speed limits are required and it is clearly stated in on satitic they bring up. 12% of servayed motorist by the TAC admited to speeding to all or most of the time. A motorist slightly speeding above 30kmph is far less likely to kill someone complared with a motorist slightly speedng over 50kmph.

Ofcourse this kind of story is very old news to me. Back in the late 90s a similar story was aired when residential speeds were dropped from 60kmph to 50kmph. They had the same kind of skewed reporting back then as well. Just like back then they did a speed test and just like back then it came back with a similar result, reduced speed limit does not result in vastly increased travel time in urban traffic environment. Over 8kms this test came in at around 30 minutes for traveling at both 50kmph & 40kmph however at 30kmph it came in at 32minutes. Ofcourse anyone riding a bike could tell them this because in an urban environment most of your time is spent sitting at traffic lights and interestions.

All I can say is bring on the 30kmph speed limit. It will make local residential streets safer and far more pleasent places to live instead of rat runs for impatiant indivuals that choose not to use the main roads and arterials.

PS spell check is currently not working

Brisbane Bikeways - Mapped by Google

http://ten.com.au/ten-news-brisbane.htm?movideo_m=209939

So the global multinational Google, BQ and Brisbane City Council have joined together to integrate cycling into google maps as can be seen in the above TV news report. For too long cycling has been left off many trip planning tools making it hard for many people to work out what to do when wishing to access an area they are unfamiliar with or to begin riding a bike to as a form of transport.

I have to say I welcome this as something to expose people to another transport option. The first thing I notice when using it is the colours. Bright green is an offroad bikeway, while a faded green is a onroad bikelane. These are very important but unfortunately you have to work this out for yourself as on the screen it does not show this. Next is the green dotted lines I think this is to represent BAZ (bicycle awareness zone) but again I can't see a description. Apart from that it is typical google maps with blue showing you a route.

I have to say I have had a play with it on routes I know I would use and wouldn't use. I have to say on face value it is not the worst I have seen. That said some of the suggested routes I would say are taking you on very busy roads to avoid an extra km or two on a dedicated path or over a steep hill instead around it. My favourite is being told I should ride on Sandgate Road if wishing to access Shorncliffe from Brisbane CBD. Sandgate Road is a heavy arterial road in Brisbane's North and while it does have a onroad bikelane I have to say it is not one I would want to use unless I really have to. Personally I always use the boondal Wetlands instead, it is safe and fast if not just a bit longer. A similar thing happened when I tried the CBD to UQ (university of Queensland) it sent me up Annerley Road instead of along the active transport arterial that is the Bicentennial Bikeway.

That all said the map is dynamic with you being able to pull points of the map over to where you would prefer to ride. In most cases this worked fine except on the Shorncliffe to CBD Route where it would just not give up on me having to use Sandgate Rd.

All in all it is welcome addition and something that I hope will encourage more people to ride as part of there everyday activities.

an additional Brisbane times story can be found here

I told you light up! Accidents

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/unlit-cyclists-face-greater-injury-20120726-22vep.html

According to the above article a rider without lights at night is three times more likely to suffer a serious injury/accident then one that is riding with lights. I have to say this is no surprise to me really. There has been countless times when out of the dark a NINJA (unlit bike rider) appears dead in front of me. I jump, I swerve and he just rolls past ignorant of the dangers! Honestly as I posted in a previous post getting some good head lights is not that hard now!

What is more interesting is the other statistics that are posted in relation to the accidents

74% are male
- a reflection of the fact that women are less likely to ride a bike in Australia

99% have a licence
- so much for the "you don't know the rules of the road" argument or rego for that matter

81% rode 2-3 times a week and 62% rode more than 3 times a week
- this means that they are well and truly experienced in riding a bike

65% rode more than 50kms a week
- it is very easy to make that, your work place only has to be 5 kms from your house and work a 5 day week and hay you have ridden 50kms in one week.

93% cyclist wearing helmets
- I will not touch this one with a ten foot barge pole!

57% were travelling at 20kmph or more at time of crash
- funny how every abusive motorist always proclaims we can't do more than 10kmph when were in front of them thou. My last accident was well over 20kmph, I have a lost memory to provide it!

The bicycle types most frequently involved in crashes were drop bar road bikes

(44%), hybrids (25%), mountain bikes (14%) and flat bar road bikes (9%).
- This one is very interesting, but reading the entire document would explain why!

As to the entire document it can be found below, pleasant reading
http://www.monash.edu.au/miri/research/reports/muarc311.pdf

Increasing accidents - 7 news

http://au.news.yahoo.com/video/queensland/watch/30084889/sudden-car-v-bike-spike/

This news report from Channel 7 news last night claims that bicycle accidents have increased in the last 6 months compared with the previous 6 months. Well the first thing is that is not a comparable result. To really compare they need to look at the same 6 months last year. Things run in cycles that is just the way is and like needs to be compared with like. The other thing that strikes me about this report is the fact they they do not list the statistics on who was at fault in the majority of accidents (adult cyclist to adult motorist). What was a surprise was the bit where they interviewed a bloke that was hit by a car and let him just tell what happened.

Maybe the media in Brisbane is finally getting less hostile towards people that just happen to ride a bike.

Citycycle - Getting the MOST out of it (making long trips)

It is coming up to two years since Citycycle was introduced into Brisbane and it has been a rough time. First off there was a concerted effort by the council opposition to put down the scheme at every chance they got. Some stations were installed the wrong way round then some residents complained it would devalue there heritage home but having a current model car in front of there property didn't affect it.

That all said the main target has been the cost. This has been mostly around misinformation and how things are defined. The main attack is that to use a bike for a continuous 10hours it will cost you $165. Now this is technically true but the key word he is continuous as one can use the same bike for over ten hours at no cost (on top of subscription) as long as one docks the bike every 29 minutes! Now lets take an example.

University of Queensland to New Farm is about as far as one can ride using Citycycle from one station point to another. The trip distance is a little over 13km from start to finish and travel time when riding between these two points is over 30minutes. On first appearance it would make you seam that if using citycycle you will in cure a fee. While this would be true if your trip is continuous but using citycycle intelligently you can make it for free. You do this by breaking it up. I personally would ride New Farm to QUT Gardens Point (the 5km mark) dock, then ride QUT Gardens Point to Toowong (the 10km Mark) dock and then the remainder into University of Queensland. Doing it this way means I can get to the entire distance with no usage fees as the trip is not continuous.

You see each time you dock your bike at a station it resets the clock on the hire meaning you leave next time with zero on the clock. There is also no need to change your bike either as it only takes around 1 minute for the system to reset. In most cases I leave my stuff in the basket and sit back for the minute as the thing is reset. It is that simple! Naturally the system will not allow you to rehire a bike while it resets but once it is done you are off again. Unfortunately this fact is little know and little reported and has resulted in many people complaining about usage fees which are easy to get around. On explaining this to people most are pleasantly surprised and ask why this has not been better explained. The fact is Council and the operator have not hidden this fact is just seams that the media has chosen not to report on it. That said docking ones bike to reset the clock is catching on. Quite recently I arrived at QUT Gardens Point to dock and reset as my total riding time was going to be over 30minues. Upon arriving there was already another bloke there waiting for his bike to reset as well, so i does seam that it is catching on. There also seams to be less anger in the reporting of CityCycle now as seen in the below Youtube. Mind you I doubt Citycycle will be charging this bloke as it is great advertising for the bikes, mind you they are right these bikes are really designed for the flat.

Importance of Lights

As we in Brisbane are in winter this post seam totally appropriate.

One of the things I hate is people that ride without lights at night. There is nothing worse then coming around a dark blind corner ringing your bell and almost hitting some ninja twit. It is not only important to ride with lights at night is also a legal requirement in Queensland. I have been watching bike lights getting cheaper and cheaper in the last 5 years. They really are amazing what you get for $50 these days. Years ago I got one Headlight and Tail for around $65. They were good for there time but they were nothing great and they were not lights that could really be used in the dark paths that scatter the city if you intended to travel at normal speed.

It was often the case that if I hit a bump with the headlight on it would turn off. I would then be forced to bash the thing with my fist (like some mad cartoon character) and hope the thing would turn back on will still travelling at speed. Then there was the rear light that also if I hit a bump after a while would fall out. I would often be listening out for the familiar sound of plastic hitting bitumen and slam the brakes on and do a quick U turn. Then pull the head light off and start looking for the bits to put back together and start off again, hoping that in the mean time a car did not come along and crush the parts.


That was then and this is now. Since then the lights have not just got better but so have the mountings that hold them to your bike. All my current lights have mountings where the lights slide on and click into place. Because this is Australia my lights are all battery powered. One day I will get around to fitting a hub dynamo but for the time being I will live with battery. Now this is a point people complain about, replacing batteries because after a few months the cost will mount up. I have gotten around this problem by using rechargeable batteries. Rechargeable batteries are not as expensive as they use to be and the quality has improved as well. In reality today you can pick up a charger and 4 batteries for less then $30s. When you consider some single use batteries are almost $10 for a 2 pack, rechargeable start to make financial sense very quickly.

These are my lights attached to my bike. As you can see is I have both two front and two back lights. Like I said before we run on batteries in Australia and this means you can have flat batteries more often then you wish to. This is something you do not want to happen on a wet night. To get around the flat battery problem I got two of each. It means I never worry about not having a light but two other things

• First I never worry about recharging until the battery is dead flat
• Second while the batteries are sitting in the recharger at home I still have one working front or rear light.

The other advantage of having two lights is your light output is doubled which for some reason makes things more than twice as easy to see. The other thing you will see is that the lights have been mounted in a way in which the reflector still functions. This is not only also a legal requirement but is backup in the event of both lights failing.

 Like I said I hate when people ride without lights. I bought my lights at local Bike shop because of the warm fuzzy feeling thing but if you really want to get them for as little as possible here are a couple of links.
Come on you will be doing everyone a favour if you are illuminated.

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Categories.aspx?CategoryID=679
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/light-sets/?o=1

PS. Oh yes I do have two floor pumps in the background