"Vital for the professional development of Tasmanians working in Bike Planning and related fields"
Saturday 25th May, 11am, Princes Wharf No.1 at Salamanca
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Some key Messages from Europe
Posted May 16, 2013, 5:22 PM by Austin GreenwoodListen up, Hobart City Council Aldermen!
The elements to increasing the takeup of active transport choices in our city are simple:Political Will, Infrastructure, Public AwarenessIt's happening in Ireland:"The number of cyclists entering Dublin City has increased by a significant 42 per cent over the period 2006 to 2011..which reflects a number of measures introduced in the past six years to promote cycling in the city.This includes the Dublinbikes bike rental scheme, new cycle lanes, public awareness campaigns to promote cycling and the introduction of the 30kph city centre speed limit.""In Europe, the biggest trigger was political will.Once that is achieved, first focus on making cycling safe in the city. Develop a decent and safe network of cycle paths and other bicycle infrastructure, such as parking. And finally, promote it through several campaigns."
In Berlin, 13% of all local journeys are already made by bike (1.5million trips daily). The city is planning to have a 830km bike network in place by 2020 to include 12 orbital routes and eight routes running into and out of the centre.
Probably the most astonishing feature of the Berlin plan is the "Pedelec Corridor" out into the suburbs (note these suburbs are outside Berlin, which means joined up thinking with the neighbouring government). The plan is to build a fast bike route, specifically designed to attract long-distance cycling on electric-bikes. There are already over a million e-bikes in Germany and there is serious money being spent to encourage people to swap from car to e-bike.It is completely within the HCC's capacity to improve conditions for cyclists soon.The Sandy Bay Walking and Cycling Project is the test this May-June 2013... -
Hobart Bike Planning
Posted May 15, 2013, 11:35 AM by Austin Greenwood"An important aspect of bicycle planning is to ensure that the success of future actions (plans and programs) can be measured. If the strategies of the Bike Plan are successful, then there should be an increase in the number of trips by cyclists and a reduction in the bicycle accident statistics.
A target for the number of trips by bicycle in future is 5% by the year 2002 and 10% by the year 2012. These are ambitious targets considering that the current level of usage is approximately 0.6% of all urban journeys."
So far the actions of the Council to achieve these targets have been minimal.
Based on traffic volumes and the target of 10%, the Sandy Bay Cycleway needs to cater for bike traffic of 1500+ a day.
Council is due to consider options for Sandy Bay Cycleway soon.
They should only consider options which have a 1500 per day capacity, or greater, to meet their own target.
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Petition in support of Sandy Bay Cycleway
Posted May 12, 2013, 12:46 PM by Austin GreenwoodThe Greens are sponsoring a petition to HCC in support of "A safe cycleway for Sandy Bay Road". We agree completely with the its wording, so please sign it, or better still, download and print the pdf (attached below) and get others to sign. There is no time to lose - make sure you send it back in time!
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Why are these people SMILING?
Posted May 10, 2013, 7:29 PM by Austin Greenwood -
Want value for public money? Build bike infrastructure...
Posted May 10, 2013, 7:37 PM by Austin Greenwood... higher numbers are better, anything less than 1 is not worth proceeding.
Road and Rail BCR = 2.7"The Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics has calculated the benefit cost ratio (BCR) for 128 road and rail Nation Building projects, accounting for around 91 per cent of the total value of new capital investment being delivered through the current program.The indicative findings from this analysis shows that, as at April 2012, the national average BCR is nearly 2.7"Walking and Cycling BCR = 5"A recent review of 16 economic valuations of transport infrastructure or policies reported a median benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 5."Where would you put your money?In a few weeks HCC meet to consider the Sandy Bay Walking and Cycling ProjectWe will keep you informed... -
What's Different about Copenhagen?
Posted May 7, 2013, 12:45 PM by Austin Greenwood"In the 1950s Copenhagen was a city like any other, on the verge of being given over to the road engineering departments to expensively reshape the city for the single goal of working better as a road network.See what it's like to cycle Copenhagen
Fortunately something unusual happened – they decided that approach would not give the best long-term outcome for the people or the city. Instead of mega-roads they chose to keep transport alternatives alive, and foster them.Sometimes this involved major works and difficult choices, but more often it was just a matter of continually taking small and sure steps in an unwavering direction.Copenhagen is not the way it is because it is in Europe, nor because people there have an irrational fear of cars, but because they made that choice and they had leaders with the courage to stay true to the decision."Jeff Dunn, President Bicycle Tasmania -
I don’t ride a bike, why should I sign the Times cycling petition?
Posted May 4, 2013, 12:23 PM by Austin GreenwoodEven motoring presenter Jeremy Clarkson has previously spoken of the need to redesign roads for bikes.The main roads running through our villages, towns and cities are becoming a traffic-choked nightmare. Roads designed centuries ago for a gentle stream of vehicles are now clogged with millions of cars. For decades, government policy has simply tried to build more roads and force more capacity out of our creaking transport system. But as you will know if you have ever sat in an endless traffic jam or crawled slower than walking pace through a town centre, this approach is not working. read on... -
Drivers favour more cycle lanes, British Automobile Association survey shows
Posted May 4, 2013, 1:13 PM by Austin GreenwoodMost drivers think there are not enough cycle lanes even though spending money on special cycle facilities could reduce the road space available for motorists, a survey of more than 20,000 drivers has revealed.
A majority of drivers also think cyclists have good grounds to feel aggrieved at the way they are treated by motorists.
Edmund King, president of the AA, told The Times that the findings of the AA-Populus survey of members of the biggest motoring organisation may seem counter-intuitive.read on...
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Europeans Plan to DOUBLE Cycling by 2020
Posted Apr 29, 2013, 12:04 PM by Austin Greenwood
On Thursday [25-Apr-13] a key committee of European MEPs adopted ECF’s Vision for doubling cycling in the EU by 2020 and the target is on course to be adopted as full EU policy later this year.This is the first time that the ECF target has been formally adopted in an EU action plan and is a major milestone in ECF’s campaign to release billions of euros for cycling in the next EU budget.
ECF Secretary General Bernhard Ensink said “To have this ECF policy objective adopted in full will be a breakthrough decision for cycling in Europe. It is exactly in line with our ECF Vision and our strategies for this year. In 2013 we get cycling into the key policy frameworks, then from 2014-2020 we and our supporters have the chance to see the policy acted on.” read more...




