Cycling in Sydney Australia
We need more visionarys like Clover Moore
http://www.smh.com.au/national/bid-to-remove-cars-from-sydney-cbd-2...
Ms Moore has again outlined her commitment to removing cars from roads in the heart of the CBD in favour of more public squares and cycling paths.
This is great news I hope it gains some traction.
Ms Moore has again outlined her commitment to removing cars from roads in the heart of the CBD in favour of more public squares and cycling paths.
This is great news I hope it gains some traction.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by ♫ Kylie on -
Pave the whole damn lot :-) You'll see me there, dancing, on the opening day of "George Esplanade". Who's with me?
-
Permalink Reply by Jonathan on -
i read this today. i say bring it on. sydney cbd sucks as it is, so unfriendly to peds and cyclists.
-
Permalink Reply by _rogers on -
The associated "poll" (as dubious as online, anonymous polls can be), is quite interesting - 70% in favour of removing cars (well, when I looked)...
-
Permalink Reply by Richard (Poncho) on -
Now wait for the cries that you can't take cars out until there is a fully functioning public transport system flawlessly operating as well as a full network of cyclepaths etc.
As if all these could coexist PRIOR to eliminating cars!
-
Permalink Reply by PJ on -
To quote Professor Gehl on Sydney traffic:
"It is as if someone said, 'Let's see how many cars we can put in here',"
"I have hardly seen a city centre so inundated with unnecessary traffic as Sydney."
There are far more pedestrians in the city than cars but the State Govt / RTA still think that the car is king.
The crappy King St cycle traffic lights is because the RTA does not want to offend the cars and their traffic flow.
The State Govt need to show leadership rather than following talkback radio jockeys.
-
Permalink Reply by Dabba on -
PJ, you might be right about RTA and its penchant for cars - that's who they see as their customer. However, in my dealings with them, I wonder whether they know or understand the issues with bikes at all. You see, a car is fairly regimented in where it can go, and they understand this. They seem to have an expectation that bikes are the same, and they aren't. They also don't seem to grasp the concept that a bike is also reliant on its rolling motion to continue, whereas with a car is just a press of the accelerator and it just moves. An example of this could be re-routing bikes at traffic light controlled T-intersections so that they don't have to stop when they are going across the top of the T. This is a foreign concept to them and all to hard for them to grasp. I'm sure that many of the other things that we do on a bike also create problems that they can't compartmentalise.
Some years ago, I remember reading of another State's RTA equivalent body actually having a bicycle engineer. It was his responsibility to review all roadworks/plans to ensure that bikes were properly and safely accounted for in the roadspace. He had total power of veto on what was being proposed. Perhaps that is what is needed now for cycling at RTA level as well as local government levels.
-
Permalink Reply by ♫ Kylie on
-
Wow, which state was that? I would love to work in something like that!
-
Permalink Reply by Dabba on
-
I think that it was SA, but it could have been WA. Either way, they are miles ahead of the crap that we get served up here, and they understand the bike as both a means of transport and of recreation. That is a concept that our carcentric plebs have not yet grasped, but there are green shoots (to use a GFC term) appearing at random.
-
Permalink Reply by Da Gargoyle on -
To ban cars from the CBD you have to provide an alternative. Current cross city tunnels and what have you run on a user pays system and dictate terms of payment, method of payment and sneek in additional costs to the actual road use because you are charged for their payment system.
If you want less traffic in the CBD, reverse the choke points implemented by the state govern ment to slow traffic down, a cynical effort to drive people onto the toll ways. Remove the tolls on the freeways designed to bypass the CBD and improve the public transport system which itself is overpriced while highly inefficient.
Motorists pay huge amounts in tax on registrations, parking, (This month there will be a 26% increase in tax on city car parks), petrol and so on. Not to mention the revenue collected on fines and insurance. The dollar value of this revenue is not being used for either the Sydney infrastructure or the state and that is unfair to everyone.
As it stands I have to use the CBD to get from Nth Syd to the Eastern or Southern suburbs and when I am moving the family a car is the cheapest , most efficient and safest option. And I think the number of cars in the CBD rather than on the toll ways suggests I am not the only one protesting at this state of affairs.
As an example of what it could be like, Just prior to the implementation of e'tag only payment, I drove from Nth Syd to Canberra withput touching suburban streets. I was out of the city in 30 minutes and I mean heading out past Liverpool. That has to be better for the environment , cyclists and the metro area.
-
Permalink Reply by Bob Moore on -
Most effective way to reduce car numbers in the CBD- just jack up the car parking prices, and announce a steady reduction in the number of parking places. If that doesnt work, remove the company car tax dodges. If that doesnt work, introduce a toll on main roads into the CBD. If that doesnt work, dig up the roads.
-
Permalink Reply by Dan on -
The 'you can't discourage motoring until you've put in more public transport/bypass roads/parking etc is a fallacy.
If you discourage motoring, then there will be fewer cars. Traffic magically 'vanishes'; this is because so much driving is discretionary. People keep on doing more and more driving until the roads are completely full. Building more roads simply adds to he number of cars as more people are encouraged to drive, and nothing changes.
I agree that it is weird that we make people pay to use tunnels and motorways, but let them drive through the CBD for free. This is completely the wrong way round.
However, the idea that you 'have to provide an alternative' is thinking rooted in the outmoded 'traffic analysis' undertaken by agencies such as the RTA.
Take a look at this preso; slide 26 onwards discusses the key points of outmoded thinking in most traffic planning, and the phenomenon of 'disappearing traffic'.
The preso also makes the point that, as congestion increases, the usage of non-motoring transportation also increases. Could it be that the increasingly choked nature of Sydney's roads is what is fuelling the current bike boom?
© 2010 Created by DamianM
