All Australians Deserve Safe Roads

On the 9th of October, Queensland has delivered two blows to the safe roads last week. One blow was delivered by the Cairns local government and the other by the Liberal National Party’s Transport and Roads Minister Scott Emerson. Both decisions did not involve public consultation nor provided a public cost benefit analysis.  Both involved the sacrifice of the safety of cyclists and pedestrians for the short term convenience of the car drivers.

 

Cairns council have voted 10 to 2 to remove 200 metres of dedicated bicycle lane so that they could provide street car parking.  There was no public consultation.  Indeed the motion was brought to the council without notice.  Local residents, Cairn’s cyclists and the Councillor representing the area affected were all horrified.  According to one proponent, Cr James, it makes no sense having a re-badge footpath (now called ‘a shared path’) and a dedicated bicycle lane next to each other.   Cr James also complained that cyclists are riding too fast along the lane as a justification of forcing them on a re-badge footpath.  This closure disregards the increase numbers of people who now feel safe to ride their bikes along Cairns award winning cycle way.  It also ignores the safety of pedestrians.  The RACQ is not considered one of the most bicycle friendly organisations.  However, Michael Roth, RACQ’s manager of public policy questioned the decision: “Cyclist not only have conflicts with car drivers but also with pedestrians, so it is not necessarily a good decision to increase those conflicts”.

The Liberal National Party’s Transport and Roads Minister Scott Emerson announced he was removing urban bicycle infrastructure to provide four more lanes on Brisbane’s Centenary Highway.  “As part of our review of all spending, we were able to remove Labor’s gold plating to deliver greater benefits to the community for the same money”, Emerson said.  However, replacing “Labor’s gold plating” will cost another $90 million.  Besides scrapping the bike ways, some of extra expenditure is being financed by depriving disadvantaged suburbs of a railway station.  Some of the bike ways were designed to feed the new rail stations.  However, no costing has been provided for the expanded car parks made necessary by forcing rail passengers back into their cars.  Again, the Queensland government failed to consult the communities affected or provide any cost benefit analysis.  Nor have they provided one example of widening roads that has successfully eased road congestion.  History shows that it brings more cars onto the roads creating more congestion.  Failure to provide separate road facilities for cars, cyclists and pedestrians simply makes the cyclists and pedestrians feel unsafe.  What the Michael Roth, RACQ manager of public policy, said about conflicts applies here too. While commenting of the newspaper article, a Queensland voter said that in spite of the largest parliamentary majority in Australian history, “This Government is shaping up as a one term wonder”.

 

The problem is not just in Queensland.  The problem is all over Australia.  Government transport planners consider cars and trucks and have ignored public transport and bicycles.  They have forgotten the long history of freight and passenger transport by trains, buses and bicycles.  They have failed to plan for the integration of bicycles and public transport.  Above all, Australian transport planners have not considered the safety and convenience of all road uses when planning and improving Australia’s transport systems.

 

TransWA promotes Cars

One of my aims is to stay independent of cars.  In Western Australia, this is very impracticable.  My desire to attend “The Yarloop Field Day and BBQ” with the Greens South West Candidate, Giz Watson MLC, is a case in point.  The field day was at 11 am, Sunday, 7 October 2012.  Wanting to attend, a plan entered my mind: ride from Ravenswood - where I live - to Pinjarra Rail - a distance of 8.8 kilometres and it would take 29 minutes according to Google maps, board the train, get off at Yarloop Rail and ride to the field day - which is 3 km in 11 minutes.  I think this is a reasonable plan.  However, TransWA scheduling and regulations makes it impractical.

The first was the schedule.  One train,called the Australind, travels between Perth and Western Australian’s second city, Bunbury, twice daily.  This includes Sundays and most public holidays.  The Australind services both Pinjarra and Yarloop.  This is probably the most frequent TransWA service.  To get to Yarloop and return in the same day, I would have catch the 10:42 am train from Pinjarra and arrive at Yarloop at 11:11 am.  This would make me about half an hour late.  Catching the return 3:29 pm train would require me to leave the venue about 3:15 pm.  This would give me about three and three quarter hours at the venue.  The train fare is $7.60 each way.  TransWA charges a flat $10 surcharge to carry bicycles, each way. The thought cross my mind that this was a tad excessive but I would have no choice but to wear it.  Therefore the cost is two times the $7.60 fare and two times $10 bicycle carriage surcharge for a grand total of $35.20. Simply pay the money and go!

Well, no! This is where TransWA’s regulations get in the way.  Underneath the line that informs me about the bicycle surcharge is, “On the Australind service, bicycles and surfboards can only be loaded/unloaded at Perth City and Bunbury stations, due to safety regulations”.  Yet the same safety regulations do not preclude the loading and unloading of ‘stowed luggage’.  A contradiction?  Given this, walking from Yarloop Station to the field day would make me about three quarter hours late and I might miss lunch.  I have a figure to maintain!  I would have about three hours at the venue.
 

Yarloop's 'low level platform'

An aside, ‘The Australind’s’ website says that Yarloop is one of the “low level platform” stations.   "Low level platform" is a euphemism for no platform!  You, your luggage and everything else has to climb down a ladder to get off the train.  The exceptions are bicycles and surfboards because they can only get on or off at Bunbury or Perth for occupational health reasons.  Unloading luggage down a ladder causes no occupational health issues!?!?  They might need a better excuse.

These regulations lead to me consider riding the 47.3 km from my Ravenswood home to Yarloop.  According to Google, it would take two hours and 38 minutes.  Given my current state of fitness, add a few more hours.  This would mean riding down the South West Highway, a road designed cars, trucks and, mainly, tanks.  The WA Main Roads Department’s consideration for cyclists on country roads is purely figurative.  I might elect to stay a night or two at the Yarloop Hotel for $55 per night.  This included breakfast.  Politics, food and a new town to explore is a rather nice combination for a holiday.

There are many combinations and permutations of these options.  But the long and short of it is this: I cannot get to the field day without a car being involved.  TransWA schedule and regulations makes it impossible to rely on them for transport along Australind line.  I cannot take my bike with me but there are no restrictions on luggage.  Even if I could take it, the pricing structure makes it expensive for short tips.  I have not raised issues about electric bicycles, cargo bikes or bike trailers.  The latter two would make it possible to transport luggage to a hotel without a taxi service.  Presumably, they all would fall outside TransWA’s definition of a ‘bicycle’.  This is how TransWA promotes the use of cars.  It makes living without a car impractical.

Thankfully, Giz organised a lift for me.  Thank you, Giz.  And thank you Irma, the one Giz organised.

Aims of this Blog

Ensuring a no car future in Western Australia is the aim of this blog.  (Note I am not campaigning against the use of buses or trucks).  The integration of bicycles and various forms of public transport will be promoted.  Why you take bicycles, cargo bikes ad bike trailers onto trains and buses is beyond me.  Also, the re-introduction of animals, such as dogs, bulls and horses, in transport will be explored.  I want town planning to consider people before cars and I want to reclaim the town square from the shopping centre car park.