I’ve lived at both ends of the city,in apartment buildings with virtually no security and ones with 24-hour concierges. I love the ease of being so close to all the city’s great events,like and,not to mention watching the New Year’s Eve fireworks and then being in bed by 12.15am. Believe me when I say I know the city inside and out.
So,imagine my surprise when I read that the City of Melbourne is in the city centre due to a backlash from “residents and businesses”.
In all my years living here I have never once heard a resident complain about bike lanes. I have heard complaints about cyclists and scooters on the footpaths,people almost being run over by out-of-town drivers going too fast down side streets,and insufficient bike racks in apartment buildings. But never bike lanes.
Residents don’t drive around the city. That’s why we moved to an extremely walkable city with a large tram network. Do you know who does drive through the city? The a day that drive straight through the CBD without stopping.
I’ve before about how. Getting on my bike during lockdown gave me freedom and exercise,and cycling has been my favourite hobby and main form of transport ever since. I’m not alone either,the waiting list for a bike parking spot in my building has grown from weeks to more than a year long.
On my morning rides I’ve loved seeing families with small kids riding to school in the separated lanes,and it’s heartbreaking to think these kids might soon be put in danger because of a short-sighted,reactionary council.
One of the complaints about bike lanes is that they’re making congestion worse,but the opposite is true. Cars take up 9.2 square metres per person,compared to for cyclists. Both the and agree that more bike lanes are key to reducing congestion.
As on these pages recently,only 27 per cent of trips to the city pre-pandemic were undertaken by car,and more people were choosing to cycle to the city. Yet has been surrendered to cars.
You don’t need me to tell you that cars are space-inefficient,expensive to run,bad for the climate (yes,even electric cars have). Designing a city around them and sacrificing so much space to them is ridiculous as we grapple with the reality of climate change and rising petrol prices.
As to business complaints,the truth is that motorists driving through the city aren’t randomly stopping at stores to shop. The loss of 421 on-street car spaces to create safe bike lanes is a drop in the ocean compared to the thousands of off-street parking spaces available in the CBD. Drops in retail traffic cannot be blamed on bike lanes.
As it stands,these separated bike lanes,which have largely only copped abuse from conservative talkback radio hosts,take up 1 per cent of city roads. Yet they’re currently used by 4 per cent of road users and are encouraging more people to get out of their cars and on a bike.
But riding a bike only becomes a sensible choice for new riders when it’s safe,and most of that danger comes from being forced to be so close to cars.Every time I have been hurt on my bike,it’s been because I was in an area without a separated bike lane and a car nearly wiped me out because they changed lanes without looking.
For decades,planning for road use has mainly consisted of drivers saying “we just need one more lane,if you give us one more lane it’ll fix everything.” Then everyone is surprised when the population grows and that new lane becomes full once more because we haven’t adequately planned or provided for any other forms of transport.
People keep saying “we’re not Amsterdam” as some sort of bizarre justification,as though Amsterdam sprang out of nowhere as a fully formed bike paradise. Amsterdam almost as with cars as Melbourne,before local activism and political leadership led to change.
I would hope that at Tuesday’s council meeting our elected representatives will think of the city residents and what will help us live better lives into the future. We don’t need more room for cars. We need more separated bike lanes,a proper vision for the actual future of Melbourne,and leaders who aren’t afraid to show some spine.