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tagged: bike paths, Boy on a Bike, Cycleway, Drummoyne, infrastructure, Morris Iemma, RTA, RTA Cyleway, Sydney bike pathsRTA Cycleway FAIL: The “Bike-Path” to nowhere.
Posted by Claire Connelly in Politics
This post probably won’t mean a lot to anyone that isn’t committed to constructing proper bike-paths in Sydney.
I can understand why so few people consider this an important issue, given the hostility with which cyclists are treated by the state government, and oblivious commuters.
It is not at all ironic, that this is not a very visible issue.
But having recently moved to Drummoyne, my boyfriend and I are amongst the many other cyclists in our area that celebrate having a “bike path” to ride to work as an alternative to the hour and a half bus or car ride that is peak hour traffic on Victoria Road.
The only problem is, as you will read in the following blog, the RTA has a nasty habit of building cycleways that are the equivalent of the infamous “bridge to nowhere:”
“The RTA has this wonderful knack of completely failing to get the idea that most people have a particular destination in mind when they leave home in the morning.
Instead, they have constructed a nice ribbon of concrete that starts nowhere in particular and suddenly stops at nowhere useful.
Imagine if the RTA built roads that stopped a few kilometers short of your house, and then failed to go anywhere near a mall or university or hospital.
Imagine how stupid you’d think they were if you built a multi-storey car park, and then they didn’t join the road up to the entrance.
Things like that might detract slightly from the utility of the transport medium of choice, and act as a disincentive for people to use it.
Luckily, most of us cyclists are not terribly rational, so we don’t let the ongoing cock-ups of the RTA from deterring us from going for a ride.”
http://boy-on-a-bike.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-completely-fail-to-find-epping.html
For me a proper cycleway throughout Sydney is important because I believe it has the potential to be the cheapest and most ingenious solution to congestion in Sydney.
Many commuters who work full time, struggle to find time to exercise given the amount of hours per week they devote to traveling to and from work.
A proper bike path that logically connects all of Sydney would be a pretty decent idea that would not only cut down travel time, and relieve congestion, it would also increase the health of Sydney residents.
Now, I’m not a doctor, but I can say with some certainty, that people who have to commute to work, are probably the people who are most in need of exercise.
Commuting has already been proven to be one of the most stressful experiences, but for families who work long hours in stressful jobs, the chance of heart-disease and stroke increase exponentially as they get older.
Especially with an aging population, exercise is the very best thing to keep a healthy heart, healthy bones and lower cholesterol. I
f there were proper bike paths in Sydney, I truly believe people would make the change, and invest in riding to work.
There are only benefits to this:
1) Incidental exercise means that people will get fit, lose weight and no longer feel bad about not devoting enough time to exercise. Or if they already take time out of their day to excercise, finding an alternative time that is also convenient (i.e riding to work and getting fit), they do not have to endure the guilt of having less time to spend with their friends or loved ones.
Think of the most common long-term health problems of the 35-50+ age bracket:
- Weight gain.
- Heart disease (heart attacks, angina).
- Stroke.
- Clotted arteries (as a result of cholesterol and fat deposits).
- Arthritis.
Exercise has been attributed to be a direct preventative of all of these health problems (that and fish oil).
2) People will be able to spend more time with their families, not having to worry about leaving early enough to miss peak hour, or arrive home late because they’ve been stuck in traffic.
3) Although the cost of a proper bike, plus the helmet and the rest of the gear can be a hefty investment, if people truly commit themselves to riding to work every day, even with the cost of a bike, you’d still be saving on petrol and/or travel passes.
4) With less people having to drive to work you will be simultaneously relieving congestion, as well as cutting down on carbon emissions.
Unfortunately, the RTA needs to get it into their thick skulls that a proper bike lane, (no – not one skinny lane that is shared with pedestrians), is necessary for increased proper and ongoing bike path usage.
And don’t think for a second that an already skinny lane with a line of paint down the middle can be used as a defense.
Every time I go out for a ride, I always see at least two people on the ground moaning in agony, holding various body parts, usually limbs and heads – as a result of pedestrian vs cyclist collisions.
As for the claim that the Epping Road cycleway is currently costing approximately $300 000 per cyclist as a result of the meager 25 people that use it – this is a convenient and completely fictitious statistic. Just last week I was driving down Epping Road, in the middle of the day, and I saw at least ten cyclists.
This is mid-week, in the middle of the day.
Imagine how many people would be using it during peak and rush hours.
This “statistic” is being used to discredit one of the few good ideas Iemma had during his short-lived career, and one of the most necessary transport innovations Sydney has ever needed.
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I was going to email you a photo taken on a group ride down the Epping cycleway on the weekend, when it was covered in bikes (and Epping Rd was almost devoid of cars completely), but I can’t find your email address.
I can’t ride to work at the moment due to the distance and geography, and as a result, my guts have moved out one belt notch. Everything that you have written about stress, weight gain and so on is spot on. I hate losing 80 minutes per day in the car, and then having to come home and find another hour for exercise.
It was so much easier when I combined the two and got 90 minutes of exercise every working day (and then spent the weekend asleep and recovering).
Not Somebody Elses Problem:
I’d love to see that photo to prove to the world (and the bloody state government) that proper bike lanes are a necessity, (and to prove that god awful “statistic” wrong). For some reason I cant find the email facility either. You can email me at an_irritating_truth@hotmail.com
Boy on a Bike – I assume you live somewhere in the Five Dock area, which is essentially one suburb across from us, I’m guessing you don’t work in the city, it sucks you can’t ride to work. I’m terrible with exercise at the best of times, so having a destination as an extra motivation is always good. I despise treadmills, and the bike machine – talk about a bike to nowhere. I reckon I’m not the only person that is motivated by necessity – having somewhere to go, (not to mention a specific time having to be at work) are excellent motivators while people are out on the road.
You know, I don’t think that having bike paths across Sydney would be the magic bullet. I personally believe that something much MUCH more major needs to be done, like constructing a comprehensive inner-city light rail system as well as an inner-and-middle-distance underground european-style metro system – one where a train comes every 90 seconds, not every 30 minutes like CityRail.
Some very grandiose plans have been highlighted such as making George St pedestrian only (with light rail, of course) but light rail has the added bonus (particularly with more modern systems) of promoting streetscape remodelling and beautification around it. I can forsee spacious bike paths being a by-product of this.
Due to where I live at the moment, you would never get me on a bike, there are hills everywhere…BUT if at least some of this is implemented, I can certainly see myself possibly using my bike for a bit more leisurely riding. Not for commuting, but definitely more than what I use it now (which is never).
I agree with your proposal for a light rail/or the Australian equivalent of “the tube”, however the Australian population isn’t large enough to ensure that it would pay for itself, especially with an already existent train line as well as bus and ferry services.
I think that the state and federal governments should invest in improving the existing services, before investing in yet another (inevitably) half-finished inefficient transport service.