Urban Cycleways

[hornetfig]

Originally Posted by Gavin84w

True, cos the flow on benefits outside of peak hour don,t matter do they. I think if pollies and department types let it get that serious economic wise they would be risking re-election, but hey announcing a fix for it and buying some votes may just get something happening.

For the M5 corridor and for Parramatta Road at Five Dock, it's pretty much like that now. Penant Hills Road is actually quite a lot more peaky - it doesn't have the extent of peak spreading yet. On the M2 corridor, the environs are a higher proportion residential, so the scope for peak spreading is a bit less.

But we're way off Urban Cycleways now...

[Eureka!]

Originally Posted by Gavin84w

I don,t know where you get all the spare time to research and then right all this stuff seeing as you must be on your bike so much, at the end of the day no one is holding a gun to your head to ride a bike and the reality is bike ridders are a minority and i don,t see that changing anytime soon.

Believe it or not I actually study urban planning, and I can tell you now the research does not back up your position. The cities with the worst congestion are the ones which build freeway after freeway intending to unclog the roads while merely attracting more traffic. You want to keep funding the status quo, not what is the most beneficial, which is frankly idiotic.

No, no one is holding a gun to my head and forcing me to ride a bike - I choose to because it's great exercise, a free gym workout, incredibly cheap, sustainable, relaxing and fast enough to overtake car after car on the freeway in peak times as I ride alongside it. Cycling increases with more infrastructure (as what happened with the car), and as is seen in every cycling lane implemented and on large scale in cities around the world.

Anyway, you seem to regard researched positions with disdain, so I'll leave you with your sophism. Enjoy being stuck on the motorway.

[Eureka!]

Originally Posted by fish.01

North Brisbane commuters can use the shared path from the CBD through the city centre Roma St parklands onto Victoria park to link up with the Enoggera Creek bikeway.


(Source: http://www.transportphoto.net/dt.aspx?l=en&dtid=3404)

They look fantastic. Smooth, wide paths with slow bends - bike paths adopting motorway principles.

Originally Posted by fish.01

The Royal Brisbane Hospital opened their own cycle centre (open to the public) in 2009:



(Source: http://www.cyclingpromotion.com.au)

According to the hospital it offers:

- 750 secure bike parking spaces
- male and female shower facilities
- secure lockers
- towel service
- ironing facilities and hair dryers
- air-conditioned premises
- security, including electronic entry for members and CCTV.
- bike maintenance service
- dry cleaning service.

The RBWH Cycle Centre is staffed Monday to Friday and is available to members via access swipe card 24 hours, seven days a week.

Wow, dry cleaning!? I haven't heard of anything like this in Melbourne. These are next-generation facilities. The best I've seen here are council showers. With lockers and proper preparation facilities it would be so easy to store clothes, shower, get changed etc. Are they alongside popular routes?

[fish.01]

Originally Posted by Eureka!

...
Wow, dry cleaning!? I haven't heard of anything like this in Melbourne. These are next-generation facilities. The best I've seen here are council showers. With lockers and proper preparation facilities it would be so easy to store clothes, shower, get changed etc. Are they alongside popular routes?

They are all pretty central. For the one's I listed:

King George Square Cycle Centre (420 bikes)
- This is smack in the middle of the CBD under the main bus station. The council run it and hire it out to the general public. Has great access from various directions.

Royal Brisbane Hospital Cycle Centre (750 bikes)
- This is next to the CBD on the grounds of one of Brisbane's main hospitals. It serves the hospital staff and is also open to the public working in surrounding city edge businesses.

61 Mary St Cycle Centre (254 bikes)
- This is for state government workers and is in the city centre. There is another state govt one I didn't show in the city as well.

Leightons HQ building Cycle Centre (260 bikes)
- This is in Fortitude Valley (next to the CBD) and serves the various companies in the HQ development (Leightons, Aecom, TechnologyOne etc)

I think all new 6 star buildings have to incorporate a cycle to work centre. Maybe someone else could confirm?

I work in one of these and it is great. I commute every day and the facilites make it so easy to roll out of bed, ride straight to work and then have a shower and get ready on-site. I swap dirty for clean clothes once a week and store them in my locker.

Even better than the dry cleaning is the bike workshop/pickup/dropoff facilites.

Really is the best way to commute...I love it.

[brisnorthside]

Originally Posted by fish.01

They are all pretty central. For the one's I listed:

King George Square Cycle Centre (420 bikes)
- This is smack in the middle of the CBD under the main bus station. The council run it and hire it out to the general public. Has great access from various directions.

Royal Brisbane Hospital Cycle Centre (750 bikes)
- This is next to the CBD on the grounds of one of Brisbane's main hospitals. It serves the hospital staff and is also open to the public working in surrounding city edge businesses.

61 Mary St Cycle Centre (254 bikes)
- This is for state government workers and is in the city centre. There is another state govt one I didn't show in the city as well.

Leightons HQ building Cycle Centre (260 bikes)
- This is in Fortitude Valley (next to the CBD) and serves the various companies in the HQ development (Leightons, Aecom, TechnologyOne etc)

I think all new 6 star buildings have to incorporate a cycle to work centre. Maybe someone else could confirm?

I work in one of these and it is great. I commute every day and the facilites make it so easy to roll out of bed, ride straight to work and then have a shower and get ready on-site. I swap dirty for clean clothes once a week and store them in my locker.

Even better than the dry cleaning is the bike workshop/pickup/dropoff facilites.

Really is the best way to commute...I love it.

Thanks for your pics on this site fish.01 ...as a result of this it actually inspired me enough to go and finally buy a bike today...took the ride from the childrens hospital into the city via the roma st parklands...we certainly have some great cycling infrastructure here in Brisbane

[Leesome]

The latest from Denmark:

Commuters Pedal to Work on Their Very Own Superhighway

COPENHAGEN — Picture 11 miles of smoothly paved bike path meandering through the countryside. Largely uninterrupted by roads or intersections, it passes fields, backyards, chirping birds, a lake, some ducks and, at every mile, an air pump.
Related

Susan Nielsen, a 59-year-old schoolteacher, was one of a handful of people taking advantage of Denmark’s first “superhighway” for bicycles on a recent morning, about halfway between Copenhagen and Albertslund, a suburb, which is the highway’s endpoint. “I’m very glad because of the better pavement,” said Ms. Nielsen, who wore a rain jacket and carried a pair of pants in a backpack to put on after her 40-minute commute.

The cycle superhighway, which opened in April, is the first of 26 routes scheduled to be built to encourage more people to commute to and from Copenhagen by bicycle. More bike path than the Interstate its name suggests, it is the brainchild of city planners who were looking for ways to increase bicycle use in a place where half of the residents already bike to work or to school every day.

“We are very good, but we want to be better,” said Brian Hansen, the head of Copenhagen’s traffic planning section.

He and his team saw potential in suburban commuters, most of whom use cars or public transportation to reach the city. “A typical cyclist uses the bicycle within five kilometers,” or about three miles, said Mr. Hansen, whose office keeps a coat rack of ponchos that bicycling employees can borrow in case of rain. “We thought: How do we get people to take longer bicycle rides?”

They decided to make cycle paths look more like automobile freeways. While there is a good existing network of bicycle pathways around Copenhagen, standards across municipalities can be inconsistent, with some stretches having inadequate pavement, lighting or winter maintenance, as well as unsafe intersections and gaps.

“It doesn’t work if you have a good route, then a section in the middle is covered in snow,” said Lise Borgstrom Henriksen, spokeswoman for the cycle superhighway secretariat. “People won’t ride to work then.”

For the superhighway project, Copenhagen and 21 local governments teamed up to ensure that there were contiguous, standardized bike routes into the capital across distances of up to 14 miles. “We want people to perceive these routes as a serious alternative,” Mr. Hansen said, “like taking the bus, car or train.”

The plan has received widespread support in a country whose left- and right-leaning lawmakers both regularly bike to work (albeit on slightly different models of bicycle).

Riding on the first superhighway, which grew more crowded as it neared the city, Marianne Bagge-Petersen said she was heading to a support group for job seekers. “I think it’s very cool,” she said, noting that the path allowed her to avoid roads with more car traffic. “Taking the bike makes me feel good about myself. I’m looking for a job, and if I don’t get out, it’s going to be a very long day.”

The Capital Region of Denmark, a political body responsible for public hospitals as well as regional development, has provided $1.6 million for the superhighway project.

“When we look at public hospitals, we look very much at how to reduce cost,” said a regional councilor, Lars Gaardhoj, who had just picked up his three small children in a cargo bike decorated with elephants. “It’s a common saying among doctors that the best patient is the patient you never see. Anything we can do to get less pollution and less traffic is going to mean healthier, maybe happier, people.”

In Denmark, thanks to measures like the superhighway, commuters choose bicycles because they are the fastest and most convenient transportation option. “It’s not because the Danes are more environmentally friendly,” said Gil Penalosa, executive director of 8-80 Cities, a Canadian organization that works to make cities healthier. “It’s not because they eat something different at breakfast.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/wo...hway.html?_r=2

[fish.01]

Originally Posted by brisnorthside

Thanks for your pics on this site fish.01 ...as a result of this it actually inspired me enough to go and finally buy a bike today...took the ride from the childrens hospital into the city via the roma st parklands...we certainly have some great cycling infrastructure here in Brisbane

Mate that's great....I know the feeling of just needing a final nudge to do something I've wanted to do...credit belongs to Eureka though for starting the thread.

I'm enjoying seeing what's out there and really hope more Australians can better understand the part cycling plays in successful cities moving a lot of people in and out of a small area with limited parking every day...every cyclist riding on far cheaper cycling infrastructure means quicker travel for people who have to/want to drive or PT every day.

[John_Proctor]

Originally Posted by Eureka!

They look fantastic. Smooth, wide paths with slow bends - bike paths adopting motorway principles.



Wow, dry cleaning!? I haven't heard of anything like this in Melbourne. These are next-generation facilities. The best I've seen here are council showers. With lockers and proper preparation facilities it would be so easy to store clothes, shower, get changed etc. Are they alongside popular routes?

Didn,t get the pic of the Brisbane hospital cycle centre but anyway ... Melbourne city council has something similar in the car park under the city square. Much smaller though ( extremely cheap in comparison)

http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/Park...s/Bikepod.aspx

[BrizzyChris]

Originally Posted by fish.01

I think all new 6 star buildings have to incorporate a cycle to work centre. Maybe someone else could confirm?

This is correct....in fact all new office buildings must now include a percentage ratio of GFA for bike parks and associated locker/changeroom facilities.

111 Eagle St has roughly 250 bike parking spaces, locker facilities and about 45 showers in basement carpark.

[John_Proctor]

but that is supposed to be for the tenants of the buildings not the general public right?

in Melbourne their is normally a bike cage built into the basement and then showers/lockers/change rooms on each floor.

my building (very large and with transport industry tenants) probably has about 600 bike parks across 3 separate cages in the basement then 2 showers per floor (about 100 total between two buildings that share the basement) + maybe 20 lockers per floor.

many lockers are used by people who go to the gym at lunch but the bike cages normally get about half full each day.

[BrizzyChris]

Generally yes, the bike parking and lockers in office buildings are for tenants, but there is also a required allocation for "visitor parking".

[fish.01]

Originally Posted by John_Proctor

but that is supposed to be for the tenants of the buildings not the general public right?

in Melbourne their is normally a bike cage built into the basement and then showers/lockers/change rooms on each floor.

my building (very large and with transport industry tenants) probably has about 600 bike parks across 3 separate cages in the basement then 2 showers per floor (about 100 total between two buildings that share the basement) + maybe 20 lockers per floor.

many lockers are used by people who go to the gym at lunch but the bike cages normally get about half full each day.

The brisbane city council and state govt have already built a few large cycle centres open to the general public so more centres dedicated to building tenants is probably all that is needed for now.

My building in Brisbane has a cycle centre but they have kept the model of a few showers per floor plus lockers on the floor as well. As you say gym users or whatever use the floor lockers if not using the cycle centre.

As a cyclist I find the dedicated cycle centre so much better than floor lockers. It means I can go straight off the bike into the showers, no sharing the lifts dripping with sweat, more places to store clothes outside the locker on clothes horses, on top of lockers etc rather than overflowing into desk area. Also services for all building tenants can be conglomerated into one point...ie towel service, dry cleaning, bike repair shop etc. They are a great idea and I really appreciate having it available.

[Eureka!]

Originally Posted by Leesome

The latest from Denmark

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/18/wo...hway.html?_r=2

Amazing to see the different culture, where cycling permeates through every part of society. Reminds me of the pizza delivery cargo bike at Melbourne Uni.

The newly completed Bourke St tram stop and bike lane. Apologies for the overexposure.

[MILIUX]

George st sydney will eventually look like Bourke st. Strip 4 lanes of traffic for two trams and cyclewys. Clover's vision will be complete.

[Eureka!]

Is Clover's seat relatively secure? That's actually along Swanston Street, just at the Bourke Street tram stop.

[MILIUX]

She has strong support by the locals especially the hipsters in Chippendale/Surrey Hills area. She wants Sydney to have an ea of cultural revival with lane ways, cycleways, parks and lightrails criss crossing the city.

[John_Proctor]

Given ofarrels law changes about mayors having seats in parliament is she in a better position to deliver that as a mayor or a parliamenarian?

[Svartmetall]

The bike lanes in Melbourne look nice. Can I ask why they treat people like muppets, though with the yellow strips and the "KEEP CLEAR" written everywhere? Is it really that necessary?

[tayser]

yes, people are inherently stupid and you cant educate everyone at once.

[cjb287]

Unfortunately this is true. When the first stop was completed outside the State Library I thought there was an excessive amount of signage, warnings and indicators etc though not anymore. Some people are incredibly clueless and almost become detached from their surroundings. Just last week I watched with frustration as a teacher blindly led a large group of school kids along the bike lane and made no attempt to move out of the way for cyclists coming through (there were no trams loading or unloading at the time). That said, I still think this is a massive improvement for Swanston Street and the signage and markings don't detract from the aesthetics too much.

I like the idea of opening up a shared space to different users and letting them all co-exist safely and efficiently without pavement markings, signs and separators and this design trend does seem to be getting more popular. I see this as a kind of pilot project for Melbourne. One that makes a significant departure from the arrangements we've been used to for decades. It will hopefully get better as people adjust and become familiar.