Citycycle - Courier Mail Opinion piece



Image sourced from www.couriermail.com.au

Today the Courier (trash) Mail ran this unusually level headed opinion piece about Citycycle. It was a shock for me but then again is what written by a "PhD candidate at the Centre for Urban & Regional Studies School of Environmental & Life Sciences, University of Newcastle". Ah now it makes sense. The article points to four key restrictions in the Citycycle system.

1. Helmets
2. Sign Up system
3. Restricted Operating Hours
4. Infrastructure

Helmets. It is a no brainier to understand that mandatory helmets laws are holding usage back. While having the laws repelled would help it is not going to happen unless some government believed it was a key election issue. Citycycle have done there best with providing free shared helmets and that has helped but as I pointed out in a previous post there sharing has been in question. There is also the fact that not everyone is willing to place on there head a helmet that has been used by another stranger.

Sign Up System. The piece claims the sign up system is lengthy, to this I disagree but in an age where everything is NOW NOW NOW I do understand it could be holding the system back. A way that this could at lease be partly fixed is by allowing registered "Go Card" users to access Citycycle. While not a complete fix it would allow tens of thousands (potentially 100 000s) of residents instant access without even having to think about it. Not having to think about it ahead of time is the key to these systems working.

Restricted Operating Hours. Now I have to fully agree with this one & it defies logic for me. Currently you are only able to take a bike out of a station between the hours of 5am to 10pm. Now to it is my understanding this was to prevent "Anti-social" behaviour with the bikes however how much of likely hood was this really when everyone has to be registered? If the system allowed anyone to access it, these restricted hours would make sense but it doesn't. The fact is Velib the system that we copied does not have restricted hours of use, it is 24hour 7 day a week system, and so should Citycycle. I personally have almost been caught out with the closing down time and at the time all I could think at the time was the BUZ services run until 11pm why is citycycle shutting down at 10pm! Citycycle should be 24-7!

Infrastructure. This is a complete no brainier. When New Farm lost it's Floating walkway (the main cycle link) during the Floods of 2011 Citycycle usage to and from New Farm literally fell of the Howard Smith Wharf cliffs. To get people to ride they need to feel safe & comfortable and that is why there needs to be bicycle infrastructure. Riding a bike and being overtaken by a car/bus/truck is not comfortable it is even more unnerving when you are on a bike that is flat out at 25kmph. There needs to be more infrastructure and especially in the CBD with a East - West spine & a North - South Spine.

There is no doubt the system is being held back, and it was good that for once there was a level headed piece published. Things need to be done and fast to make the system work better. Currently what was "Citycycle central" New Farm is still missing it's link to the CBD with it's replacement Riverwalk not set to be finished before late 2014. The other things could be changed a bit quicker. While restricted operating hours and helmets I have no word on, access through "Go Card" is slowly progressing. The current LNP State Government promised they would look at it and they have said that it is currently being "investigated". There seams to be some problems with the way the Go Card works but lets hope they can get around that. Making things easy to access make them far more appealing.

Northern Cycleway & National Ride to work day

Yesterday was National Ride 2 Work Day. By all accounts it was a great success. There are currently two ride to work days each year in Queensland now, BQ's Ride to Work Day and Bicycle Networks "National Ride 2 Work" day. The national day has the advantage of getting people onto bikes just after the winter chill. While not as big as BQ's even in Queensland yet, it is building. There was certainly more people out on bikes and that was consensus from all over Brisbane. One person said that there were strings of bikes on the Western Bikeway.

As always National Ride 2 Work day is the perfect time to bring to light issues facing people that wish to use the bicycle as a form of transport. This year thanks to the CBD BUG and one of it's members the need for the Northern Cycleway was brought to light again. While the online article is quite lite in detail and need for the cycleway, it is still good that it is getting coverage. What is also encouraging is the fact that both BQ and the local councillors both backed up the calls. This was better then hearing the current councillor that heads active transport sprouting on about how the council is spending money on bikeways, leaving out the fact they have used the same line for the past decade and how there is still no safe way for people of Brisbane's North to access the CBD safely.

There was also an article comparing 4 different commutes from the North. All are of a similar distance. What is most telling is they are all of a similar duration. Now conventional wisdom is that riding the bike would be the standout taking the most time but once again conventional wisdom is flawed when comparing travel times and bikes.

I will leave it this time with a You Tube clip by Bicycle Network on Ride to work day 2012, footage is from Melbourne

Centenary Bikeway Axed - further condemnation

To the great surprise of many, Bicycle Queensland came out with this statement on Thursday.

BQ seeking meeting with Minister over axed bikeway

11 October 2012

Bicycle Queensland is seeking a meeting with Transport Minister Scott Emerson to discuss the axing of a bikeway from Richlands to Springfield.

Bicycle Queensland Manager Ben Wilson said the deletion of the planned bikeway would lead to more people driving, fewer people cycling and less safety for people riding bicycles.

“We are concerned with the severance of the Springfield community from the existing bikeway network, local and longer destinations including Oxley, Indooroopilly, Toowong and Brisbane CBD due to the loss of a safe crossing of the Logan Motorway,” he said.

A popular Cairns bikeway is also under threat - Bicycle Queensland is dismayed at the unacceptable and retrograde proposal to remove part of the State and Cairns Council funded Aeroglen bikeway for car parking.
 

Why was this surprising? Well in most cases BQ almost never says a bad word against any level of government. The fact that BQ has publicly said something must mean they must be upset.

On top of this "Rail Back on Track" a lobby group for better public transport has also been critical. See this quest article. This has been taken from there media release in which is stated

The planned bicycle/foot path linking Richlands and Springfield has been discarded in favour of a road upgrade. Without the bike-way and with the extra road lanes, the Centenary Highway will reach its capacity more quickly."

"Rather then address the real basis for congestion, too many people travelling in cars, they have chosen to further worsen congestion by also not optimising the railway presently being constructed from Richlands to Springfield."

And this is the truth. Congestion is this area is being caused by to many cars. People have no choice but to drive and fill up the roads.  The original plan of a multi-modal corridor needs to be reinstated where Bike, Road & rail is all built along side each other to give people a real choice.

 

Centenary Bikeway axed - State Gov

image sourced from www.couriermail.com.au

In a move that has not surprised me but has still caused me to hit the roof the Transport minister has announced in his media release that-

“As part of our review of all spending, we were able to remove Labor’s gold plating and deliver greater benefits to the community for the same money,” Mr Emerson said.
 

apparently this includes

The proposed seven kilometres of pathway/bikepath and lowering the Springfield Link Bridge will no longer be delivered as part of this project.
 

 Of all the short sighted bull**it I have heard over the years I have never once thought of a Queensland bikeway as goldplating, and when you compare it with what they get in the Netherlands it ain't gold plated hell this isn't even chrome plated. It's a bit of flipping concrete that is only 100mm thick placed on bare earth what the hell is so dame gold plated about that.

The fact is the Springfield area of the great Brisbane region is one of the most car dependant. It has poor public transport options and bicycle infrastructure is next to nothing when you try to use it to access real destinations. What is the result, ofcourse more cars! hello CHICKEN & THE EGG.

This bikeway would of allowed this cycle to be slowly undone but ofcourse that will not be so now, because it was "gold plating". If and I repeat if the department does try to go back in later years and trys to fit in bicycle infrastructure it will be at far greater expense and will surely be up to the same standard that would of originally been planned. Why do I say that, well unless the bridges are designed now to be retro fitted it is more than likely ever crossing of the roads will be road level resulting a ridiculously slow travel.

This is a stupid short sighted decision based on politics and not good common sense. This is a distressing movement when there has been no announcement regarding the Northern Cycleway yet.

PS here is the courier mail article on it, try not to read the comments they will just depress you.

Citycycle, Crickey- designed to fail?

Image souce www.couriermail.com.au

Alan Davis the Urabanist for the online News site Cricky has written an article where the head line is "Is Brisbane CityCycle ‘designed’ to fail? ". In my opinion it is a resounding NO but I do agree with his sentiment in the second last paragraph,

It seems the objective was just to get a bikeshare scheme; but no one cared if it actually worked.
 

This statement I do fully agree with. It was an election pledge by our then Mayor now Premier that we would have a Public Bike hire scheme. As an election pledge they had to be installed and they were if not a bit ad-hoc with some stations being installed but not turned on. Other stations built at the end of the network while their nearby sister stations taking months before they were turned on. This resulted in less of a network of roots running out more like someone had just thrown seeds on the ground hoping it would in the end link up. This did nothing to fuel conference at the beginning.

There has been alot of focus on mandatory helmet laws but I prefer to look at what else needs to be done then bang my head into that brick wall. Alan Davis points to infrastructure principally the fact that he saw to people riding them on the footpath when the CBD street they were in was empty of cars. Infrastructure is one area the BCC has hopeless failed at in encouraging Citycycle. While the BCC did drop the CBD speed limit to 40kmph this is not much help when you are on a bike that is flat out at 25kmph and you have a bus on your ass, there needs to be infrastructure. This is the reason why those said individual were on the footpath. There needs to be two cycling spines through the CBD one down George St & one Down Ann St. This would allow Citycycles to be used in the City with conference and comfort. Honestly what is the point of it being called Citycycle when you don't want to use it in the City.

Alan also mentions the access problems. While as an out of towner I can sympathise he should try being a local. Currently the Citycycle does not work with GO Card. This is a major annoyance for locals such as myself as I do not use Citycycle enough to justify a membership but still want to be use it say once a month. This means each time I use Citycycle I have to log on and sign up for a One day membership. This is currently limiting it's usage because it means people that are outside the areas network don't use it because it may only be a once in a blue moon thing. "Once a blue moon things" need to be easily accessible, integrating with Go Card so the Registered Go Card Users had access would solve that problem.

There is not doubt that Citycycle is failing at the moment but I don't think it was designed to. I think this has got more to do with politicians not having the guts to install essential CBD cycling infrastructure & to work with there political foes to make an integrated public transport (& bike hire) system.

Queensland is FAT - We know that

image sourceed from http://www.thepunch.com.au/tags/fast-food/

I would like to first preface this posting with the statement "I am no Adonis, but I do look after myself."

According to this article in the Courier/Sunday Mail on Sunday Queensland is now the fattest state in what is the second fattest nation if not the fattest nation in the first world. I have to say this is no great surprise to me, or for that matter most people I know. I have watched my own extended family slowly get fatter and fatter.

Like most articles in the Courier (trash) Mail they have chosen to blame someone else without putting part of the blame back on the person gaining weight themselves. Don't get me wrong Fast Food outlets have a lot to answer for but not all the blame can be levelled at them alot can be levelled at ourselves. The basic reason, energy in has to equal energy out otherwise we gain weight. The reason why this is happening is what most people would call an inconvenient truth, THE CAR. The fact is the car is used for so many trips for it's perceived convenience that people have got fat and lazy.

Case Study - My Unit Block.
I live around 500m from my local supermarket. It is a flat easy walk that takes around 7 minutes to walk at a comfortable pace. Our grocery shopping takes around 10mins to do and we are set off home with our clothe shopping bags completely full. This will normally last us for 3 to 4 days before we do the next shop. The only difference between our shop and someone that might drive a car is we do not buy soft drink. It only takes 30minutes from the time we leave home to the time we get back. It is a simple task that is not hard to do or time consuming but people still drive to the shops. The sad fact is they do this mostly out of laziness but also out of perception. Perception that it saves them so much time when infact it doesn't because there are multiple little tasks with using a car eg getting in and out of the carpark. The fact is over short distances (less than 1km) the car save very little if non compared to walking when tasks need to be done.

Lack of physical activity is the main reason why adults are getting fatter and we need to admit it. Being physically active to transport ourselves makes far more sense then driving to a gym to use a treadmill. Australia has to admit they use cars far to much.

SMOG - a reason to ride, a reason to advocate

As I sit typing this posting I look out over the CBD of Brisbane and all I see is a disgusting browny grey haze. For anyone that is not Australian this is what we call smog. Smog is a no go word in Australia it is something that other countries suffer from. How could we suffer from that we are the "wide brown land" we have vast open spaces but the sad fact is that we do suffer from it and it is disgusting. What is more disgusting is that we cover it up with words like "haze" or "fog" but the sad fact is the past two days Brisbane has woken up to SMOG. Don't get me wrong we do get fog but this is not fog it is SMOG. Most of the time all we need is a little scrub fire on the city outskirts to show just how dirty our air is but I don't think that is the case this time. I have been unable to find any reference to scrub fires for past two days.

Like most cities Brisbane suffers from smog because of the overuse of the motor vehicle. In the 2006 census over 80% of all trips in South East Queensland of which Brisbane sits were made by motor vehicle. Then there is the fact that over 50% of all private motor vehicle trips in Brisbane are less then 5kms. It is so disgusting that on certain mornings you can see from vantage points the smog rising up over the arterial roads leading into Brisbane. This is one of the reasons why I ride, and why I whinge my head off to Council and Government. I hate smog and what it does to people's health. It is part of the reason why I ride, I don't want to add to that. Smog is disgusting stuff but the fact is you will breath less of it in by riding a bike then by being in a car.

The fact is if there was more high quality cycling infrastructure in Brisbane there would be more people on bikes and less people in motor vehicles creating less SMOG. SMOG is just a reminder to me that Brisbane needs to break it's reliance on roads and turn to high quality bicycle infrastructure and public transport.
OH and why I continue to annoy council!