Undeniably an attractive design (before the line painters got there)

Well, entirely unsurprisingly, it hasn’t magically made the inherent conflict between tram passengers and cyclists go away.

There is no magical solution for the fact that pedestrians and cyclist still cross paths.

But has it improved the situation or made it worse?

I’ve traversed the area as both cyclist and pedestrian, and these are my initial impressions.

Cyclist approach

Well, it’s wide and smooth to ride on, but despite Robert Doyle’s protestations, it isn’t immediately obvious where one is supposed to ride and where the waiting passengers are supposed to stand and walk.

I was a bit concerned that the fancy bluestone surface might be a bit slick in the wet but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Stepping on

Part of the design is to separate the road level for each mode—foot, bike and tram—the act of stepping down from the pedestrian area to the shared space should cue-in pedestrians that they are moving into a different space. This effect is diluted as for much of the length of the curb there are wide, gently sloping ramps (presumably for mobility aid access—a major reason for installing a raised-platform tram stop), which means there is no sense of stepping down (at least, I didn’t notice it). But elsewhere there is a noticeable step down at the edge of the footpath.

Like water

People, like water, follow the path of least resistance. In the afternoon large numbers of people get off trams on the southbound side, then queue to cross at the lights, heading for the train station. And in order to get to the crossing, they take the shortest route—down the bike lane:

People, like water, follow the path of least resistance

As a tram passenger, I found this was the natural thing to do. Bear in mind that this doesn’t feel like stepping down onto a road or even a safety zone—it feels like stepping down into a safe pedestrian-friendly space. Inevitably, people are going to walk with a bit less caution than they otherwise would when leaving a tram.

The cyclist’s experience of this is to ride through a narrow tunnel of people wandering aimlessly along the bike lane. This is sure to lead to verbal, and possibly physcial, clashes between cyclists and pedestrians.

Inviting criticism

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle invited criticism by making much of the top-notch bluestone that’s been used in the upgrade, saying it’s like paving the streets in gold—the sort of thing every rate-payer loves to hear. I don’t see it myself—it appears to be largely indistinguishable from concrete. I guess it’s attractive. But in an interview with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell, Doyle states that this installation is effectively a prototype: “We always said we would open this one first, we would see how it operates knowing there would be difficulty and confusion. And that means when we do Bourke St and Collins St then the onus is on us to get it right”. Why then would you use the most expensive materials when the design may need later modification as we learn more?

Counter-intuitive

But one of the main criticisms of the new setup is that it’s confusing. But is this really a problem? Let me run a half-baked idea past you: maybe a lack of signage and markings (and the consequent ambiguity) is a good thing.

David Engwicht talks about intrigue and uncertainty as mechanisms to bring about calmer traffic—and this is a place that needs calm traffic flow (even after the removal of most motorised vehicles).

Engwicht’s first proposition is “It is a myth that the only way to improve safety is to increase predictability”. It’s counter-intuitive, but it makes sense when you think about it: increase predictability and vehicles (in this case, bikes) can move faster, which increases the risk of collisions with pedestrians. But decrease predictability and increase the need for ‘negotiation’ and vehicles will move slower.

Hang on, I’m a commuting cyclist—why am I advocating slowing down cyclists? Because everything about the design of this new tram stop screams “shared space”. No amount of yellow lines and bike stencils on the ground is going to stop people sauntering along in the ‘wrong’ place, in the ‘wrong’ direction, without paying enough attention.

But it seems that the City wants to increase predictability on the new tram stop with lines and stencils being laid down, and no doubt all sorts of warning signage is also being prepared. Interestingly, if I hadn’t been specifically looking out for them I’d scarcely have noticed the new road surface markings. Like some others, I’m a bit disappointed that we weren’t prepared to give a fair trial to a true shared space before giving up and daubing paint all over the place and putting up ‘thou shalt not’ signs.

Conclusion

Overall, it doesn’t seem significantly different from the previous arrangement. From a traffic movement perspective, the same effect could have been had much more cheaply by making the same stretch of road car-free (e.g. by putting up some barriers to motor vehicles) and leaving the passengers, riders and tram drivers to sort it out on the unmodified roadway. But it does look great (or at least it did before the line-painters got to it)…I’ll leave others to decide whether looking fabulous is worth the price tag.

Imagine you’re approaching this stretch of road at about 40kph—actually quite easy to do, as you’ve just come off a steeper downhill section, so it’s not unusual for anyone to be coasting along at a fair clip here. Notice any particular hazards at this point?

Could you spot the hazard here at 40kph?

Let’s go in a bit closer:

If you hit this, where will you land?

Yep, that’s a base of one of those flexi-poles that I didn’t much like when they were installed last year. A number of these poles have been bent and a couple have snapped off, leaving the near-invisible base as a collision hazard for cyclists. And if a cyclist gets tipped off after crashing with that, where are they going to land…?

That this has been broken for weeks (and possibly months) without repair reflects poorly on the City of Melbourne’s willingness and/or ability to maintain dedicated cycling facilities. Not good when these lanes carry 17% of total vehicles in the morning peak on Albert St.

Upgrated

In fairness, it’s not all downside. Both of you might remember this dangerous drain cover:

An unforgiving grate

Astonishingly, that wheel-jamming hazard was simply left there unmodified as part of the initial installation. Well, over a year later, it’s had an upgrade:

A grate upgraded

That’s an improvement, but really that should have been fixed in the first place.

Any good at all?

Having sworn off Albert St in favour of Victoria St, I have found myself back there a bit more often, in spite of my ongoing concerns including:

• increased likelihood of clashes with entering traffic on the eastbound/downhill lane,
• turning lane conflicts—being dumped into a turning lane is still dangerous by design,
• the increased difficulty in merging into the main traffic flow to make a right-hand turn, and
• those damn poles are still a collision hazard (even when they aren’t broken).

I’ve also noticed a tendency for cars to stop in (and block) the bike lane during clearway times, something that drivers wouldn’t have dreamt of doing before the bike lanes were there.

But if I’m back on Albert St, does that mean I’m a convert? No way: I remain a committed bike lane agnostic. Maybe Albert St is better with curbside lanes than without, but for me it is just the least worst option on that part of my commute route.

[twitterer]

Utility cycling

• Woman moving house from East to West coast of USA decides to go by bike
• The Two Faces of “Commuter” Cycling (Is that video taking the piss?)
• Refrigerator on bike—a man after my own heart…

How MacGyver does it

How to fix a bicycle puncture with only a pump. We think “cut the tire using his teeth” at point 3 and “tied the tire firmly” at point 4 is actually referring to the old knotted inner tube trick. See it in this list of emergency bike repairs along with a number of other MacGyver tricks.

Kids

Three Bikes on the Trail

City

• The real reason why bicycles are the key to better cities [Thanks tom]
• Driven to despair in Australia’s outer suburbs
• How to design a bicycle city

Stepper bikes: why?

There’s this and this and even this, but I simply don’t get why someone would want to go a ride a mobile stepping machine. (Come to that, I don’t even understand why anyone wants to use a stationary stepping machine.) I’ll stick to a bike thanks all the same.
[Thanks tom and ozzmosis]

Gadgets

• Our favourite way to stay hydrated while cycling [thanks flipsockgrrl and tom]
• Veltop or would an umbrella work just as well? [Thanks tom]
• Saddle Couch [thanks flipsockgrrl]

Bike parking

• Secure bike parking [Thanks tom]
• Monitoring bike parking in Utrecht [Thanks tom]
• Senza Bike Lock System by Jaryn Miller » Yanko Design [Thanks tom]
• TiGr Bike Lock [twitterer]

Hack

• Rube Goldberg powertrain [Thanks tom]
• Make a Mini Recumbent from a Kid Bike
• Lego Bike—don’t ask why. [Thanks tom]

On the way to Utrecht I met a man…

This man rides 80km a day. He’s 78 and doesn’t look it. [twitterer]

A Sunday in Hell

Good to see this classic documentary of the Paris-Roubaix on You Tube.

Bikes on a plane

How to take a bike on a plane: “Forget expensive bike bags – my road bike flew Ryanair in a massive plastic bag and lived to tell the tale.”

Bike share “disappointing”

A range of excuses offered as the Melbourne bike share scheme returns disappointing numbers. More bike stations wouldn’t hurt but it really comes down to compulsory helmet laws.

Helmets

Of course, you don’t need bike helmets. Oh, hang on, yes you do need bike helmets.

Well, if you’re going to wear one, maybe get one with an in-built ring of confidence.

Car vs Bike: The difference

The Difference campaign [twitterer]

Road safety

In New Zealand, the coroner is to look into ways to reduce cycle deaths, meanwhile a combined CPF/Heart Foundation survey finds that two in three blame unsafe roads for staying off their bikes. While I this is a very interesting survey, I think ‘unsafe roads’ is just one in a suite of excuses that people will use not to ride.

While we’re on the subject, would driving test changes boost cyclist safety? [twitterer]

In training to be an organ donor

What a Total Muppet! Watch for the idiot having a little tantrum and throwing his bike against at door at the end of the video.

Brrrrompton!

On London Cyclist, Nicole goes to Antwerp…with a Brompton and then does the Full Brompton Review.

Le Tour from above

Fake of the D. [twitterer]

Set the pace

Set the Pace with these Raleigh fetures

Chic

• Keep Ride And Stay Chic.
• Victoria Pendleton Grazia Fashion Shoot
• Remembering Amsterdam

Peak Cars

Angry Birds poop on cars:

In the near future cars won’t disappear (trains haven’t) but if a transport mode is in decline, even a very small decline, there’s less need to create infrastructure for that mode. Why build more motorways when use of such infrastructure is likely to decrease? Transport modes in the ascendency need the infrastructure spend. Yep, that’s right: bicycles. (And light rail, but that’s for another trade mag to champion).

Awwwwwww

Cute pic o’ the day

SplinterBike.co.uk: “No bolts or screws, just wood and glues! Splinter Bike a 100% Wooden Bicycle Land Speed Record… attempt!” [thanks woowoowoo]

Commuting in ten

10 lessons learnt from cycle commuting for a year.

Look ma, no rider!

Scientists unlock the secrets of bike stability, make riders optional [Thanks tom]

A clever gadget but Dave Moulton remains unimpressed.

Remote controlled bike

Child cruelty or creative parenting?

Get it off your back

VelEau hydration system mounts on the bike instead of the rider [Thanks tom]

Soundtrack with cadence

cycle.jog.fm asks “I cycle at [insert cadence here] rotations per minute” and offers “the best workout songs and playlists for your cycling pace”.

The strongest survive

The Sperm Bike in Copenhagen [Thanks tom]

Protect your goodies

“Chain Condom is a bicycle chain cover that attaches in less than a minute and protects your car’s interior and bike’s drive train.”

Run the numbers

Grist has some “interesting demographic data” on the demographics of cycling in the USA.

Nagging doubts

The Age reports new findings on helmet safety:

An analysis by Norwegian researchers of existing studies has suggested previous scrutiny was biased towards helmets and relied too heavily on research into 1980s ”stack-hat” style hard-shell helmets. They argued that today’s ”soft-shell” helmets were less effective at reducing brain injuries.

And come to that, when considering and studying the utility of the bicycle helmet, it might be helpful to define what is a bicyclist?

Meanwhile in Britain, cyclists are getting tired of being tut-tutted for not wearing an ‘undignified plastic hat’.

Thoughts on your wheels

Kathleen Wilker urges you to love the ride you’re with

So to everyone who’s in the market for a fabulous spring bike, I wish you well in your search for the perfect bike and hope you have all kinds of great rides with your shiny new wheels.  And to everyone who is cruising along on clunkers that they own or that they’ve borrowed, may you love the ride you’re with!  Because a set of wheels is a set of wheels.

Envy

Wall Street Journal on alpine cycling without (much) pain:

Like Italy’s Dolomites and the French Alps synonymous with the Tour de France, the Swiss mountains become a sporty Eden each summer for cyclists who want to test their stamina, or just soak up the rugged countryside and rich mix of German, French and Italian culture.

Going down

Jeff Tiedeken’s Gravity Bike Gets Up to 60MPH [Thanks tom]

Separate lives

Clover Moore wants more bike lanes in Sydney to encourage the cycling.

While we’re on the subject, a study published in Injury Prevention finds that the injury risk of bicycling on physically separated bicycle-exclusive paths along roads is less than bicycling in the roads themselves. [twitterer]

That is, unless the lanes are painted by the City of Yarra: Spills prompt bike-lane safety fears.

The cure for doorings?

The rotary drop door for cars could be a cure for doorings, but I just don’t see it catching on.

Storage

• Display your bike on the wall as if it were a precious trophy
• Dero Track Rack

Parking

Elly Blue discusses the economic case for on-street bike parking, noting that “the solutions might seem difficult and costly … until you break them down and put them in perspective.”

Most notably, “business owners are among the first to catch on that well designed, visible bike parking, built in accordance with best practices, makes it easy and attractive for customers to ride to a business”.

Rejoice

Sarah Wilson: “I rejoice every time I see a woman ride by on a wheel!” [twitterer]

SUV

Panasonic to launch power-assisted bikes with 2 child seats [via Engadget, thanks tom]

Monkey Business

CNNMoney.com reports on Carlos Perez of Bike Monkey Magazine:

Creating a company centered around cycling, however, was the last thing Perez had on his mind when he staged his first race in 2006. “I’m one of those people who has a knack for organizing things, and I just put together this mountain bike race as a fundraiser while I was still at Medtronic,” he recalls. The event was so successful that friends began urging him to start a race event company. At first Perez was skeptical. Making money at something he loved so much seemed counterintuitive, he explains. But when his second race in 2007 drew twice as many participants as his first, Perez decided to take the plunge. He resigned from Medtronic and started Bike Monkey. When asked how he came up with the name, Perez says, “I don’t know. The two words together just made me smile.”

Patchy

Gizmodo reckons these bike inner tubes wince when punctured, and then self-seal. Cool. [twitterer]

Road safety

• @amsterdamized says “Dutch program tries to change driving behavior of notorious offenders, doesn’t seem to work”.
• The Age reports that “The number of people being seriously injured on Australia’s roads is on the rise, according to new research that takes some of the shine off much-heralded reductions in road fatalities…And one of the most worrying trends was a big increase in the number of middle-aged men being injured on motorcycles and bicycles.” [twitterer]
• New York Times: “A nationally representative sample of more than 800 crashes involving teenage drivers shows that almost two-thirds were due not to reckless behavior like speeding or joyriding but to three novice driving mistakes: failing to scan the road, misjudging driving conditions and becoming distracted.”

On the same topics, the WHO notes that mobile phone use is part of a growing problem of driver distraction:

Distracted driving is a serious and growing threat to road safety. With more and more people owning mobile phones, and the rapid introduction of new “in-vehicle” communication systems, this problem is likely to escalate globally in the coming years…It is now evident that if you are using a mobile phone while driving you are approximately four times more likely to be involved in a crash than a driver who is not using a phone. This risk appears to be similar for both hand-held and hands-free phones, because it is the cognitive distraction that is an issue, not only the physical distraction associated with holding the phone. Text messaging appears to have an even more severe impact on driving behaviour and crash risk.

[twitterer]

Bikeumentary

Pedal Driven:

In the pristine forests above Leavenworth, Washington, there exists a world of hidden trailheads and clandestine trails. Here a sect of outdoor enthusiasts, extreme mountain bikers called freeriders, have gone underground. They are the skate punks of the forest, unwelcome and under pressure to leave. The locations of their trails are carefully guarded secrets and the riders who ride them keep constant vigil, on the lookout for US Forest Service rangers.

[Thanks tom]

Great Ocean Road Classic on Vimeo

Instant legend

Susie Weber rode her bike to hospital to deliver her baby. [via JSOnline]

Not being part of the problem

How not to buy stolen bikes online: “There is no such thing as a free lunch or a cheap, expensive bike. If it looks dodgy, it is.”

Cycle chic

• Hot chicks and their fixies
• Bike Fancy

HPV

• The velomobile: high-tech bike or low-tech car?
• Velomobille + ice [twitterer]
• Pedal-powered hydrofoils!

DIY, Mexico-style

Guerilla DIY bike lane created by Guadalajara citizens!

Bottle hygiene

• How safe is your water bottle?
• Cleaning water bottles made easy

Air time

Giants Of Dirt Part 2 featuring one serious nutjob on a BMX. Love it. [twitterer]

Gravel Grinders

Melbourne Gravel Grinders first ride is on next weekend at Hurstbridge.

The last word on lightweight mudguards

Birds of a feather fender together…

Wax it up and ride

Chain Waxing Revisited, “for the non-believers in the crowd”.

Red light runners?

An article in Accident Analysis & Prevention found that “The majority of Melbourne commuter cyclists observed (93.1%) stopped at the red light.” [twitterer]

Tourist-envy

• Cycling Gypsies: “In July 2008 we quit our jobs, sold whatever couldn’t fit on the back of our bikes and pedaled into the sunset with our two doggy co-pilots.”
• “While Out Riding is a photo-story blog charting a bike journey south from Prudoe Bay, Alaska, along quiet dirt roads where possible. At the moment I’m not completely sure where I’ll end up…”

Real leadership required

• Public transport for outer suburbs: Units not crucial
• It’s crunch time for Melbourne: we need a congestion tax
• Beijing car restrictions backfire
• A critical review of the legal penalties for drivers who kill cyclists or pedestrians: “Every year as many pedestrian and cyclist fatalities occur on Britain’s roads as all combined homicides”
• Mia Birk: “What do you see as the biggest obstacle to turning any city into a cycling city? Political will.”

This “war on cars” thingy

• “War On Cars”: A History [twitterer]
• In search of the famous ‘war on motorists’
• The War On the Carless

Commuting and cyclocross

Have you ever considered a cyclocross bike for commuting?

Cyclocross racing and commuting have a few things in common. Both are for the hardy, attracting cyclists who don’t mind riding in foul weather, over imperfect terrain or in adverse conditions.

Kids

• "Get off F—book and go ride a bike!"
• Want a safe place to raise kids? Look to the cities [twitterer]

Design

• Aesthetic of the Impractical [Thanks tom]
• Bike Portage Strap
• Bamboo Bikes [Thanks woowoowoo]
• The Rael road bike concept includes accident recording technology. [Thanks tom]

Smart use of technology

Why cyclists should use GPS

No excuse

The No Excuse Zone Map “shows the distance a healthy person can cycle within half an hour, to or from Melbourne’s city centre”.

Boris Bike hot spots

Boris Bikes/Barclays Cycle Hire Average Journey Times