Cycle to the beach

Rows of SUVs are parked along Manly beach, but there is no parking for bikes at the main beach. The Pacific is acid and hot. The beach is serviced nearly 24/7 with fossil fuel.

Bicycle, car and fig tree interface at Manly Beach

Somewhere in the beach suburb of Manly, old fig trees are hosts to bats and birds. It is the flora and fauna that gives the place a special  ambiance. The trees struggle to survive in the hot bitumen road poured around them. Large branches are brutally chopped to make way for commerce and fossil fuel traffic. Cars scramble to squeeze their mostly inner city SUVs on Darley Rd. They 'just' get something from the shops or have a cup - often idling. All fig tree trunks are mutilated by vehicles ramming constantly into the unprotected old trees. At a time when there was an organic cafe, more bikes came. Council provides no bike parking in this area. This was and often is the type of access made available for people who do not wish to use fossil fuel. The unique plants and animals are the ones most affected.

Fig Tree adjusted to suit motorised vehicles and commerce

This fig could be one more space for a car. They are working on it

.

Sydney Bike Rage

In Sydney it is not about sharing spaces of mobility, but a "level of premeditation" by motorists leads to "bike rage".

"An international transport expert said Sydney drivers were more hostile towards cyclists than motorists of any other country."

Firecrackers (images: yuck danger) were thrown into a group of bikes. In 2008 "a motorist deliberately slammed on his brakes in front of up to 60 cyclists - including Olympians - before fleeing the scene."

Via news.com.130909
Image: Dysfunctional plastic bike for young people at Manly Beach

The high cost of helmets

A new study by mathematician Piet de Jong of Macquarie University shows that mandatory helmet laws are responsible for substantial extra costs on health care systems. If other countries followed the Australian lead and made helmets compulsory, the costs would be substantial. It "would cost the US $4.8 billion per year, Netherlands $1.9 billion, and the U.K $0.4 billion."
The costs come about because helmets discourage cycling and the health benefits of cycling are thereby reduced. This translates into increased hospital costs due to heart disease.
The additional costs due to poor health far outweigh the costs of accidents that are due to not wearing helmets.
Video: Free helmets and hugs... instead of separated cycle paths. via Metafilter

Bikes for transportation - easy & fast velos

In Sydney, Manly families arrive with their SUVs, unpack the mostly dysfunctional bikes onto pedestrian paths and wonder why it is no fun to cycle. The other version of bike arrives (mostly) on top of the car. The mountain-bike riders are fully clad in plastic uniform, seeking a free gym.

All have in common that it is terribly un-chic to have a bike rack at the back or a basket at the front to carry any goods. People might think, they can not afford a car! That's what the suv is for, driven to the next mall/super-market it is filled with all the bulging plastic bags and driven home, around the corner to bland-burbia. There are many spare 'exercise-bikes' standing around in garages.

In Berlin it seemes normal to take the kids out on a velo-cycle. Do the shopping and carry loads on bikes. A lot of places/shops provide bike racks right in front of their businesses. Businesses deliver on cargo bikes. In Sydney they need a rocket to deliver a bit of dough wrapped in cardboard.

"Amazingly, only about 40 percent of Copenhageners own cars, even though this is the capital city of one of the richest countries in the world. Sure, vehicles are taxed heavily but the reason is simply because we have the infrastructure in place for bicycles and we have a rather good public transport system.
Even 50 percent of the citizens of Berlin do not own a vehicle, for the same reasons. Fifty eight percent of Copenhageners, when polled, say that they ride their bike because it is easy and fast. Only one percent say they do in order to help the environment." LA Times 0908 More on velo bikes there!

Images: Berlin Mitte velos

The Sydney Harbour Bridge for Bikes

The Sydney Harbour Bridge with train tracks, the bikes of many and of course the first cars.
After the big fossil fuel orgy, large bike tracks will accompany the trains. The absence of noise and pollution from cars will make it enjoyable to cross the harbour.
Image: via the collections of the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Flickr

Shared bike-pedestrian paths

The RTA was promoting shared foot-bikepaths as part of bicycle week. Shared ways can get bikes off the roads, thus facilitating traffic for cars, but it should not be mistaken as being of benefit for bicycles, or pedestrians.
When busy cycle paths are shared with pedestrians, it is a disaster for bicycle mobility. We have seen this in Manly where the nicest cycle path in Sydney, along the beach promenade, has been made into a share way. It doesn't work as a bike path anymore. This used to be the only dedicated cycle path in the area.
Similarly, when a busy footpath is made into a share way, the bikes appear to hassle people walking as they can't get anywhere. It ruins the walking space for pedestrians.
Shared facilities only make sense when a path is little used by bikes or walkers. Then it works well.
Promoting shared paths in Manly, Sydney's most visited tourist destination, especially in the most crowded areas, arouses the suspicion of a hidden agenda - to get bikes off the roads. Bad luck for the pedestrians but keep the gas guzzlers rolling.
To achieve positive outcomes for cyclists, they need their own organisation. Just as cars have a roads and motorist association, bikes need a bike-paths and cyclists association. Then the transport planning organisations may become inclined to promote Bike Week as an event for bikes, for dedicated cycle paths, not just to promote pushing bikes onto the footpaths in an attempt to make the dysfunctional motorised traffic flow.