The near elimination of private and commercial motor vehicles from Swanston St will make it a more pleasant space for pedestrians and cyclists, but the tram stops themselves will do nothing for cyclist–passenger interaction. By design, foot traffic and bikes are on conflicting paths—just like every at other tram stop that doesn’t have a safety zone.

Visual cues: misread or faulty?

The super stops lack the usual visual cues that help passengers be aware of other through traffic. At a normal tram stop, the overwhelming visual cue is “road”. Passengers can step down in (relative) safety and most people generally cross quickly and directly to the kerb. But at the super stops, the dominant visual cue is something like “train station”, and you don’t think about through-traffic on a train station platform. This means people wander in all directions and at all different paces, helpful line markings and signage notwithstanding. And (as I have noted previously) the pedestrian-friendly design practically encourages people to walk along rather than across.

Looks more like a train station platform than a road

More misread cues

It wasn’t until today that I realised that the super stops are also signalling the wrong thing to cyclists as well—and as a result some riders believe they have absolute right of way here.

Here’s what happened. I was a tram passenger today and at the State Library I noticed a cyclist riding through the stop and past the tram that I was boarding. Normally I’d just shake my head and sigh at such selfishness.

But then the rider shouted at someone for crossing his path to board the tram—a perfectly legal and reasonable thing for a passenger to do. The (usually dormant) angry cyclist in me emerged, leaping to my fellow passenger’s defence. A brief heated exchange followed, including these gems:

"Keep Clear"—doesn't hand over right of way

As you can see, it was a dazzling display of repartee and wit. But the point is that this guy clearly felt that the “Keep Clear” stencils grant riders priority. They don’t: Swanston Street is and always will be street. Road safety rules still apply to everyone. This includes the one about stopping behind a tram with its doors open.

But I’m sure my Selfish Cyclist is not the only cyclist who thinks there’s something special about the super stops.

“It’ll never work…”

We need to adjust our expectations about the new Swanston St tram stops. Stop thinking that this work is being done for “us”—because it’s not—then we’re much less likely to be disappointed when the new super stops “don’t work”.

Of course, they aren’t going to “work”—at least, not for cyclists. And they were never intended to.

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.

I’ve had my eye on this innovation on-and-off for two years now, and was pleased to hear that it is coming up for commercial release. Its presence at Interbike suggests that the release date is getting closer, and that’s got to be a good thing because training wheels suck. [twitterer]

Who-oa!

Hadar Metal Design—bikes that are works of art. Then again, isn’t every bike a work of art? [via MetaFilter]

A solution

“The bicycle is a simple solution to some of the world’s most complicated problems.” [twitterer]

Magda’s clanger

I’ve always had much respect for Magda Szubanski. Unfortunately that’s all gone now following her misguided rant on Good News Week. [twitterer]

A good reputation is such a fragile thing.

Truth and the media

Yehuda Moon on road accidents in the news. Sigh. Too true.

What women want

How to get more bicyclists on the road:

An emerging body of research suggests that a superior strategy to increase pedal pushing could be had by asking the perennial question: What do women want?

Waxing lyrical

The bicycle enjoys a renaissance:

One of the wondrous things about cycling is that it’s a great equalizer. You can be on a junkyard beater, a three-wheeler with a granny seat or a high-performance racing bike and you’re still cycling. You’re still going places, seeing the smallest of sights, smelling the faintest of smells, hearing the most distant of sounds. I’m not knocking road trips by car; I love those, too. But from my car, I’m often thinking, I wish I were on two wheels, outside.

Pay up you feckin freeloaders

Why licensing cyclists just won’t work [twitterer]

DIY

• Bicycle top tube protector
• Extreme fat tire bicycle
• Make an electric bike powered by drill batteries
• Using the GoogleMap CueSheet Scriptlet

And if that’s not enough, here’s 10 cheap and easy DIY bike projects anyone can do.

Bloggage

• Blue Steel Roads
• Cycling Weapon of Mass Destruction

Who’s who in the zoo

An Illustrated Guide to the Cycle Zoo:

In this book, Stephen Nurse shows a comprehensive range of bicycles, family cycles, tandems, recumbents, trikes and load carriers and discusses their design with original examples.

World’s toughest MTB race

Tour de Timor.

Oooh, look! It folds!

• Eco//07 Folding Bicycle Shows Flexibility Like A Yogi [thanks tom]
• Peculiar folding bicycles
• Flickr stuff tagged with foldingbikes

tom blogs here

• The Happy Helmet Bike Camera Mount
• Beer, Pizza, Music… What Else Does A Bicycle Need?
• Circumnavigation for Good

[thanks tom]

Overtaking

Prevously mentioned, now going to the source on The effect of cycle lanes on the proximity between motor traffic and cycle traffic.

Plus here’s some analysis by The Independent.

Undriver

You can now officially become and Undriver with Undriving and Undriver Licensing:

With the playfulness of an Undriver License, we are engaging people to consider their car use patterns in a new light, to challenge an assumption by trying something different of their own devising, and perhaps to discover that there’s a better way of getting from here to there for one thing they do.

Absolute stupidity

Speaking of undriving, here’s a clown who’s shown that he lacks the maturity and intelligence to hold a driver’s license:

A Victorian teenager had his car impounded just seven hours after getting his probationary licence…

“The car was seen to be sliding sideways, and when intercepted by police, the driver has informed them that he only got his licence in the morning”

And the quotes of the day go to Sergeant Geoff Annand:

“I don’t know whether this is a record for a new driver to show absolute stupidity, but it would certainly go close”

Plus, this droll understatement:

“It’s probably best that he doesn’t have that car now.”

Perhaps the “driver” (and I use the word hesitantly) should consider an Undriver License.

More chicks and more bikes

A Girl’s Bike—New York women and their bikes. [via Sydney Body Art Ride]

From the man himself

Peter Heal talks to ABC Canberra about his unsupported cycle across Australia. [twitterer]

Conference

The 7th New Zealand Cycling Conference will be held on 12–13 November 2009. The conference theme is “Communities, connections and the economy”.

Lego Man jumps the red light

Red Light: Biking Rules PSA [twitterer]

Herald Sun, 6 September 2007

Bikers riders speed through city

Cycle hoons blatantly ignoring speed limits are endangering the lives of pedestrians, according to a Herald Sun survey yesterday.

A Herald Sun survey yesterday found fewer than 3 per cent of bike riders along Southbank Promenade obeyed the speed limit signs restricting them to 10km/h.

Bike riders were weaving between peak-hour pedestrians at speeds of up to 29km/h, despite the prominent speed restriction signs…

Few of the cyclists appeared to slow down yesterday, even after seeing the radar gun, but only one became abusive and suggested pedestrians should get out of his way.

Herald Sun, 24 September 2006

Fears as bikes put walkers in danger

Hundreds of cyclists speeding at up to three times the legal limit are putting pedestrians at risk in Melbourne.

A Sunday Herald Sun survey found all but one cyclist breaking the speed limit at Southbank, narrowly missing walkers on the promenade.

One cyclist, clocked at 30km/h in a 10km/h zone, abused people in his way. And in morning peak hour, more than 300 law-breaking cyclists were clocked with a radar speed gun at Southbank, in the Bourke St mall and on the bike path at St Kilda.

Let me be clear: I don’t endorse cyclists behaving in any way that endangers other people. But this is a tired and uninspired attempt at beating-up a non-issue.

So, if the Herald Sun can’t be bothered to come up with anything fresh, I don’t see why I should bother either. My comments from last year should suffice.

Anyway, the good Doc had seen an advert on TV promoting mutual respect between cyclists and motorists and pushing the Share the Road message. He thought it was good but wasn’t sure who was responsible for it—it turns out it was the one produced by the Amy Gillett Foundation, which I’ve only ever seen online.

But in the process of tracking it down online, he also found the stop.think web site from South Australia’s Department for Transport, Energy and Infrastructure. The DTEI has been running a Share the Road campaign:

This campaign reinforces that both motor vehicles and bicycles are legitimate road users and deserve each other’s respect and consideration.

There are three easy steps for motorists:

1. All road users need to be responsible and give way in accordance with the Australian Road Rules.
2. Motorists need to leave adequate space between themselves and cyclists, particularly when overtaking.
3. All road users need to look out for one another.

And one easy step for cyclists:

1. Cyclists must obey the Australian Road Rules.

The campaign included several media spots during July and August that reinforced this message, including a TV ad featuring Stuart O’Grady and another reminding drivers and cyclists that [it takes two to tango][]. The O’Grady video is a bit insipid (as all celebrity endorsements seem to be), but the two to tango one is pretty good and it wouldn’t hurt for other states to run it for a while.

Thanks for the contribution Doc Homebrew—OK, so I took my sweet time getting around to it and it would have been considerably more current if I’d mentioned this when you sent it to me, but at least I got there in the end.