Here are a few of my concerns:

The location

Firstly, the south (in-bound) side of Albert St is probably a reasonably OK candidate for a separated lane, at least alongside the parks and St Pat’s where there are few entry points for vehicles—a long uninterrupted run is a better location for a separated lane.

Albert St showing the new separated bike lane

However, this isn’t the case on the north (out-bound) side where there are many minor entry points (laneways and driveways). The textured green paint helps to cue drivers to stop and look, but it’s not a guarantee that they will. Incidentally, this is on a downhill incline where riders of all abilities will tend to pick up speed.

That aside, like the installation in the upper end of Swanston St, I’m utterly baffled as to why this particular stretch of road needed a separated bike lane at all. Prior to this installation, I always found this to be a pretty safe street—two traffic lanes kept the cars moving, leaving an empty parking lane almost exclusively for bikes during clearway times. And the traffic is not so heavy at other times that I ever felt threatened mixing it up in the main traffic flow.

As if to highlight the questionable need for the Albert St bike lane, I wonder why this lane stops at Gisborne St? The road layout between Gisborne St and Nicholson St is unchanged, but if the bike lane design is so good, why doesn’t it continue all the way to Nicholson St?

Spot the difference: Albert St between Gisborne St and Nicholson St

Conflicts guaranteed

I intensely dislike the way that riders are dumped from behind a line of parked cars into a turning lane. This guarantees conflict by design, and I’ve already seen a few close calls in the turning lanes. Of course, this is seen in other Copenhagen-style lanes—including those in Copenhagen (see this Copenhagen bike lane become a turning lane at about 25 sec):

Just because that’s the way they do it in Copenhagen doesn’t make it right or safe. Interestingly, BV’s own ‘promotional’ video for the new lanes (recorded in June—no lane paint, no poles) mysteriously skips a part of the lane where this conflict occurs, even without the line of parked cars (note jump cut at 39 sec mark as the riders approach the Lansdowne St intersection):

On the flip side, I have seen cars parked beyond the clearway times, and one-lane out from the curb is not where drivers expect to see parked cars. Forget the lines, surface paint and poles—you can’t see that stuff in the dark, and it just looks like cars are parked in the middle of the road. That must be dead scary for drivers coming over the rise near St Pat’s. I’ve seen a few close calls down that hill already—actual collisions seem likely.

And finally, at the risk of sounding churlish, you can’t get away from the possible conflicts with drivers crossing back and forth to the parking ticket machines. Sure it sounds trivial, but it’s a completely avoidable conflict that didn’t exist before these lanes went it. We need to ride carefully, but if someone is struck by a bike in these lanes it will at least partly be because unnecessary pedestrian-bicycle conflict has been designed-in to them.

Smooth moves prevented

Being able to smoothly merge into the right-hand lane in advance of making a right-turn used to be one of the pleasures of using Albert St. This option is now largely cut-off, as a rider is pretty much obliged to take the bike lane and becomes trapped behind a wall of parked cars or (during clearway times) must slalom through the row of flexi-poles and across the rumble-strip to access the main traffic lanes.

Bike lane behind a wall of cars

The alternative is to dart across two traffic lanes where the bike lane ends close to the intersection (the quick and dangerous option) or to make a hook-turn (i.e. right turn from the left) after the change of lights (the safer but considerably slower option).

Hacks

There’s nothing wrong with a good hack—some creative thinking happens when a hack is required. And then there are crappy, ugly hacks—those flexi-poles qualify as one of the latter kind.

I can’t see them on the original plan (or are they those unlabelled dots?) and it seems that they have been installed as a lazy afterthought. I’m sure they help to keep the cars aligned into the parking lane, but I don’t fancy a high-speed (or even moderate-speed) impact with one of them.

Gutter-ball

There are real downsides in forcing bikes right into the gutter lane:

• it’s where all the crap from the road tends to accumulate—to date there’s not much evidence that the Council is doing much about sweeping the lanes, and I doubt that the new poles will make it any easier to keep the lanes clean;
• there’s the lovely heritage bluestone guttering itself, which reduces the effective lane width (OK, not by much);
• but the king-hit is hazards like this (which can also be seen in BV’s video above at 27 sec):

Hazards of riding beside the gutter

How can they paint green textured paint around this and just leave it like that? Sure, I’ve seen worse but it’s not what you expect in something masquerading as a bike lane.

A better option?

By way of contrast, here’s the bike lane in nearby Clarendon St:

Bike lane in Clarendon St

I’m no road engineer but I presume (assuming we need a dedicated bike lane in Abert St at all) that there was a good reason why this model couldn’t have been used. Note the wide traffic lane, wide bike lane (wide enough to minimise exposure to the door zone), and parking space that is not shared with the bike lane.

Of course, there is less traffic flow on Clarendon St but that bike lane feels like a better and safer place to ride.

Clarification

In any case, I notice that the whole schemozzle is up for review and council may reverse its decision to install these lanes—of course, after you’ve installed them is the right time to “attempt to clarify the purpose of the bikes lanes”, isn’t it?

Looks like money well spent, as the whole thing descends into farce.

That said, while many others share my concerns, I’m sure heaps of people are finding the new bike lanes absolutely delightful.

Gone for good

According to the Herald Sun

Police are warning cyclists to take greater care of their bikes after a rapid rise in thefts as road users switch from cars to pedal power…

Most stolen bikes are never recovered for their owners.

On the topic, Chris had this to say via the YarraBUG list:

Vic Police have several useful tips on Virtual Bike including a form for ID purposes:

Types of Locks: http://www.virtualbike.com.au/?Section=2.1
Around Home: http://www.virtualbike.com.au/?Section=2.2
Out and About: http://www.virtualbike.com.au/?Section=2.3
Bike ID: http://www.virtualbike.com.au/?Section=2.4
Downloadable Form: http://www.virtualbike.com.au/?Section=2.5

Or maybe you could consider the Italian bike lock [via Commute by Bike]

And I wonder if a bike-mounted police presence helps with this sort of thing?

Camelbak-to-front

The Beerbelly and Wine Rack—new approach to hydration…? [via bicycles.net.au]

The weird world of advertising

Have you had a good laugh at this ad for a popular over-the-counter analgesic yet? Talk about inept.

Traffic in Beijing

More on Beijing traffic congestion in The Age this week: Honk, which way you going, China? (Check out the photo: I’d probably get off and walk my bike too.)

The economics of cycling

The Cycling Promotion Fund has come up with another interesting paper, Economic Benefits of Cycling for Australia, addressing the topic under the broad headings Health, Traffic Congestion Reduction, Greenhouse gas abatement, and Fuel costs:

Cycling provides economic benefit in terms of improved public health, reduced levels of traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as reductions in expenditure on transport fuel.

These benefits accrue most readily when the bicycle is used as a substitute for car journeys. Though many trips are too long to be comfortably undertaken by bicycle alone…a large proportion of our car trips are of a distance suited to cycling.

More Copenhagenisation

A touch of Copenhagen for the streets of East Melbourne

Just one thing I’d say about this article: the suggestion by the Victorian Employers Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Wayne Kayler-Thomson that “a bike lane down the middle of the median strip [in Victoria Parade] would more effectively remove bikes from the dangers of road and pedestrian traffic” is badly misinformed. I can’t think of a more dangerous way of separating cars and bikes—drivers barely expect bikes to be approaching them on the left, let alone on the right in the median strip.

Bike culture

• Restricting underwear to less than seven pounds

• The big question: Is Britain really getting on its bike and turning into a nation of cyclists?

• Helmet or no helmet?

Bloody showoff

Note to Ines Brunn: no one likes a bloody showoff. Seriously impressive. [Thanks tom]

[Photo credit: riding-in-rain by ehnmark on Flickr]

Blast from the past

Lubricating your chain with paraffin wax (complete with an excerpt from the 1992 Bridgestone Bicycle Catalogue).

Wow, I haven’t done that since the 80s! I used to have an old can filled with wax that would get reheated and reused exactly as described there. I wonder why I stopped doing that? Maybe it’s time to go back to those old ways…

Vox populi

Adrian has produced a short documentary on the recent Ride to Work Day.

Rings true

Spotted on the BV Forums: The 3 Phases of Riding in the City:

Each phase lasted about one year, for me:

1. Fear and Timidity

2. Anger and Aggression

3. Equanimity and Caution

Flattening the flatland myth

Cycleliciousness debunks the flat country/bike country myth—it’s not just Copenhagen and Amsterdam that love bikes you know!

Don’t ask why

Just say, “Cool!”—DIY Wooden Mudguards. (Cedar is better than redwood, apparently.)

Holiday reading, anyone?

The Lure of the Open Road: Wartime wandering through the Eastern states by bicycle, truck, and riverboat.

[Photo credit: i need a hacksaw by faster panda kill kill on Flickr]

But yesterday, for some inexplicable reason, I turned the other way and headed for Swanston. Surely those fancy “Copenhagen” lanes would whiz me down the hill just as quickly? Uh-uh. Sad to say, it was not a pleasant experience.

Here’s the scenario: a Mr Speedy jumped the lights in front of me then promptly slowed to about half my cruising speed. Can I pass on the right? No. Slip through on the left? Forget it. These lanes are just too narrow for overtaking.

So I’m stuck in Mr Speedy’s wake—but not too close, because I don’t trust him. And a good thing too. Not much further on a pedestrian (yes, over there on the footpath) waves a car into a driveway, despite several bikes approaching on the downhill. The driver noses into the bike lane and Mr Speedy almost gets turned into a hood ornament. I brake heavily and avoid making a mess of it.

And then I hear a lot of rubber being laid-down behind me—another rider under heavy, heavy brakes. I’m boxed-in: bike and car in front, gutter on the left, raised pavement and parked car on the right…and rapidly decelerating rider behind. Likewise, Mr Deceleration has no options: he can’t swerve because there’s nowhere to go that wouldn’t make things uglier.

Fortunately—amazingly—there were no collisions. But it could so easily have been a three-bike-plus-car pile-up. So very easily.

I didn’t really like the Copenhagen-style lanes before but now they really f•cking scare me. They give you no real room to manoeuvre, which leaves you exposed to the inability and inattention of whoever happens to be riding nearby. When we ride on the open road, we don’t have this safety restriction—it’s almost always possible to swerve your way out of trouble. And it’s easier to just give a potential problem a wider berth.

I’m not the only one who is disturbed by the Copenhagen lanes: members of the BV Forums have discussed the issue several times. Most interestingly is an entry by Euan that points to a report from April this year: Road safety and perceived risk of cycle facilities in Copenhagen. It’s worth reading the whole report (only nine pages) but this section jumped out at me:

…it can be deduced that the construction of cycle tracks has resulted in three important gains in road safety: fewer accidents in which cars hit or ran over cyclists from the rear, fewer accidents with cyclists turning left and fewer accidents in which cyclists rode into a parked car. These gains where more than outweighed by new safety problems: more accidents in which cyclists rode into other cyclists often when overtaking, more accidents with cars turning right, more accidents in which cars turning left drove into cyclists as well as more accidents between cyclists and pedestrians and exiting or entering bus passengers.

Sheesh. I think I’ll avoid Swanston St from now on.