In this issue:
What Went Wrong? Barack Obama’s Failure to Connect;
When the Saints Go Marchin’ In; and
More Economic Reform, Anyone?;
CityCycle: The First Months
Active transport in Brisbane received a boost recently with the introduction of the new CityCycle scheme. John Nightingale takes a look at how the scheme is going in its first months, as well as how it might impact on the culture of transport over time.
What Went Wrong? Barack Obama’s Failure to Connect
In the space of two short years, the political tide in the United States has changed dramatically. Barack Obama’s leadership appears to have faltered as he has become mired in the numerous domestic and foreign problems plaguing the country. Wesley Widmaier considers what Obama has to do to turn the situation around between now and 2012.
When the Saints Go Marchin’ In
Mother Mary MacKillop of Australia was canonised by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday October 17, 2010 and became Australia’s first Catholic saint. In this article, Rodney Crisp looks into the history of sainthood and the meaning of miracles in modern, scientific culture.
More Economic Reform, Anyone?
There is much anger in the community about the decision of the major banks to raise interest rates beyond the official figure announced by the Reserve Bank. This rage is entirely justified, although perhaps citizens should aim even more fury at the standard of public debate that has followed. Martin Leet explains why.
I’ve just spent 10 days in Melbourne where I observed more bikes sitting idle than being used.
I was out and about every day on the trams so had plenty of time to check out the bike situation. But why in Melbourne, would anyone want to hire a bicycle? The trams are so frequent and great value for money that bikes seem superfluous.
I heard so many complaints on interviews about the poor transport system there in the election lead-up. Wow guys, come and try the public transport system in Brisbane for a month. At least in Melbourne you can purchase tickets quite easily.
I think Brisbane bureaucrats search the world for the worst form of public transport and then implement that!!
thanks for the update…to add:
- of the 138 cities in the world that have a cycle scheme only Melb and Brisbane have mandatory helmet laws for adults.
- New York City has doubled the quantity of dedicated, on-street bicycle lanes, reaching 725km.
- 90% of accidents between cars and bicycles are the fault of the car driver (3yr study by Monash Uni accident Research Centre,2010).
- Brisbane does not have one street in all of the local government area that has bicycles at the top of the heirarchy of use (bikeways are not streets).
Thanks for the extra figures, Darren. You’ve probably also noticed that the New York Times has reported quite a backlash against all the new cycle lanes, for all the usual reasons – parking spaces being gobbled up, access for cars restricted, etc etc. Mention also made that some earlier bike-laning was swiftly reversed by politicians taking populist decisions.
The lesson might be that moving too quickly can be counterproductive. I recall that Jan Gehl talked of Copenhagen’s ‘boil the frog’ tactic, removing parking spaces at no more than 3%/yr. No chance of Brissie moving too quickly on anything but car tunnels!
Has anyone thought when these bike stations are put infront of buildings (residential) that it decreases the property value?
My next door neighbour couldnt sell cause now we got this station infront of us at new farm, why? cause people likes to sit on them just ring the bell all the time.
Lets face it, I live at new farm, if I want to ride bike, I have my own anyway (I have 3), residnets will not hire them. Also why the hell are there sooooooooo many bike stations (example new farm). Some of them are not even attractions, destinations or where people would likely go. STOP WASTING MY COUNCIL RATE N STUPID IDEAS!
Not to mention the helmet law. I can only see the only way this works is to drop the helmet law and input in more bike infrastructures, ie linking all these stations with dedicated bike paths. I understand the helmet law is to save lifes, so either people take care of their own life or this scheme becomes a failure, your call. Personally, I rather have my helmet on.
Another reason not sure if anyone considered, our climate!! wait til summer, see if anyone is goign to ride them bikes under 34 degrees heat.
While Im at it, BRING TRAMS BACK TO BRISBANE AND STOP DIGGING USELESS TUNNELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What a great article. There has to be a change in the mindset of traffic engineers and politicians to prioritise pedestrians and cyclists over cars. Main streets in centres and the CBD dont have to be traffic sewers and are an asset to the community. There is no reason why we cant spend mony on bike infrastructure that is separated bike lanes – it is just a matter of political will. Prioritising cyclists over cars in our CBD’s and centres provide significant benefits, and these are well documented – higher spending by pedestrians / cyclists, improved safety, less congestion, better health, enhanced amenity on our streets.
When are the politicians and beauracrats going to change this mindset. Demand for car access, which is insatiable, will continue to dominate our CBD streets unless there is a cultural shift.
Glad to see an article that recognises the aggressive environment on our roads ie. speeding between traffic lights. Higher traffic speed in a CBD reducing overall journey times is a myth. In fact slower traffic speeds between many traffic lights results in the same overall journey time so there is no reason why the speed limit can not be reduced to 30-40km/hr on the main streets in the CBD.
You have to congratulate Campbell Newman for taking the first step towards sustainable transport. But this initiative needs to continue by providing separated bike lanes. Such a network should extend 7km from the CBD to the suburbs. If we can dish out billions of dollars on roads and tunnels we can certainly afford a dedicated cycle network providing access to the city.
The naysayers of the world will winge and complain and say how do we pay for these bike stations and cycle ways. Well we are paying a higher price for puting cars first – obesity, pollution, congestion, reduced economic activity, accidents…..There is no problem with having a car just put pedestrians/cyclists first in our CBD and centres.
Some interesting debate, thanks everyone. In relation to Julian’s point:
“When are the politicians and beauracrats going to change this mindset.”
We all know how populist politics has become and politicians respond to the accumulated noise pro and contra an issue and make a call on whichever side (cars or bikes for example) they think will win them the most votes.
I am a keen cyclist but I have to say I think I and my fellow cyclists are in the minority and until that fact changes, roads will win over bikeways in the budget battles: its what the people want (for now anyway).
I think CityCycle is the greatest hope for improved cycling facilities in the CBD and surrounds, but only if we all use it. Imagine all 2000 bikes trundling around the CBD – the rules and priority for vehicular traffic would have to change purely on safety grounds.
I regularly use the city cycle service to commute from Spring Hill (Turbot Street)to a variety of destinations, for both business and personal reasons.
I’m also an aging civil engineer (60, is that aging?) involved in the transportation business so I find all this engineer bashing a bit underwhelming. In my experience, age has little to do with attitude when it comes to traffic planning in Brisbane and the sooner the cycling fraternity get this particular chip off their shoulder the better.
I’ve been to New York recently, and took great interest in the provision of cycle lanes there. Quite impressive, although it’s a busy commercial centre so there are often delivery vehicles double parked over the lanes for short periods. That seems an enforcement issue to me. Also, as in Australia, no-one seems to appreciate the concept of ‘cyclists only’, so they are often occupied by pedestrians.
My observation was that cycling in New York requires care and the same is true in Brisbane. I ride quite happily in the general CBD traffic stream but, as always, you have to be aware of your vulnerability.
I think this is one of the most promising initiatives BCC has made recently and rather than highlight the negatives we should all get out there and make it look like a success.
As for the great helmet debate, it’s not going to be reversed in the near future, and so it really is a non-issue. I just keep a helmet in the office and take it with me when I go out.
As for public transport, I also keep a Go card in my wallet and use it regularly. I can imgine a better system, but for a city with the population versus geographical size of Brisbane, it isn’t too bad.
The DublinBike scheme in Dublin, Ireland is quite similar in size to the Melbourne scheme: 450 bikes concentrated in the city centre.
A comparison is made here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPjvZlAl_js&feature=player_embedded
The Dublin scheme is a run-away success. It’s now a key part of public transport, and tram and train providers are looking for bike stations to be placed outside each tram or train station.
No helmet law, but 1.2 million journeys have been made in Dublin with no major head injuries incurred. In fact, no major injuries of any kind incurred.
Helmets are only designed to prevent minor head injuries. “Helmets save lives” is a good slogan, but there is no study done anywhere that confirms it. “Helmet prevent road rash, cuts and maybe simple focal fractures” is less catchy but probably closer to the truth.
Even without the helmet law, I’ve a feeling that the bike-share schemes in Australia will suffer from a populace that after two decades of compulsion cannot conceive of cycling without a helmet.
But at least the schemes would have a chance.
Well, I’m still agog at the range of divergent views on the subject so I’ll try to be succint and cogent. Neither of which I’m particulary good at being. How does a government change a peoples mindset? It doesn’t – it merely peddles the notion it has, and if it ever has to announce to the world that it is nervous about how well it is achieving that goal of “changing mindsets” it produces a new act of parliment to change the law “to reflect evolving needs of the citizens”.
Enuff on governments “changing mindsets” as all that really implores is some form of barricade mentality that can only lead to laws that benefit the few.
With regard to the idea of bikeways, on the whole it stinks – like the proverbial sewers that overun when we get normal seasonal rains, because our city is full to overflowing (like our sewers – or did I already say that?)with people who want “Brisbane to be more like Melbourne/Sydney/New York/Paris/Tokyo/Milan”. Why did you ever come here I wonder? To moan about how Brisabne needs to become more like the wasteland that you despairingly vacated?
I would bet pounds to a handful of Roma St station peanuts, that there are more people who want better sewer drainage in this city than bikeways that favour a few thousand people, now that the weather has returned to a somewhat normal pattern after a decade of drought.
And believe me there is going to be no “mindset change” here as long as “your” sewerage is floating around in my backyard when the rain starts to come down.
Perhaps we can come to an agreement – make the bikeways a car width wide and deep, then cover them over with dirt or even a road – when the sewerage overflows it gets priority – when it’s nice and dry – the people on bikes get right of way……..