BIKESydney has been advocating for the repositioning of the on-road bike logos in the City of Sydney for about 18 months. Positioning the logos in the centre of the lane helps communicate to drivers that bike riders have a legitimate place in the lane and encourages riders out of the door danger zone. We’re really excited to see this now happening on the streets.

Thank you to Adrian (and BikeWise) for the photo – which is from Shepherd Street in Darlington, just behind Sydney Uni.

On the the last Friday of the month we gather to  bang on about bikes over beers and battered barramundi at the Alexandria Hotel.

From 6:30-8:00pm we catch up after work with drinks and dinner.

From 8:00pm people have 5 mins to pitch an idea to those gathered to either:

• just tell them about it;
• get some feedback;
• or recruit volunteers to a project.

BIKESydney will be pitching ideas but the floor will be open to all. Register for your five minutes with the BIKESydney meeters and greeters when you arrive.

For more details see our Events page.

A Discussion Paper has just been released with a view to encouraging your input. You can view it at:

http://haveyoursay.nsw.gov.au/article/nsw-long-term-transport-master-plan-discussion-paper

BIKESydney will be making a submission (submissions close: 27 April 2012).  Why not join our open Masterplan Brainstorming Session on Sat 10 March in the city?   Alternatively, leave a comment below as to things you’d like to see changed by the Transport Masterplan. Once completed, we will be making our submission freely available here.

The Discussion Paper clearly calls for enhanced provision for cycling. (There are 28 instances of the the word “cycling”, and 7 of the word “bicycle” in the Discussion Paper. No instances of “active transport”….)

Potential themes: Overarching Planning Philosophy?, Safety, Integration of Services, Infrastructure, Accessibility and Social Equity, car love, Innovation, The Road is there to Share, Economic Benefits, Health, RTA [cough] (now called the RMS), Road Speeds, What can we learn from other countries?, Funding, Bikes on Trains, Ferries, Buses, the relationship between State and Local Govt, (what about the Feds?), short local trips, car dependency, Population Growth, telecommuting, price of oil, car addiction, price of oil, GreenWay, City West Cycle Link, Harbourlink…. you get the drift

What should be included in the new Transport Masterplan?

Overall BIKESydney was very supportive of the Draft City Plan which we saw as a progressive and ambitious planning instrument. We did have some concerns with elements of its constituent Draft Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2011 (LEP) and Draft Sydney
Development Control Plan 2010 (DCP) and encouraged the City of Sydney to review these items.

In particular we urged the City to minimise on-street parking in precincts of high human occupation.

“Car door lanes” (bicycle lanes situated immediately adjacent to lanes of parked cars) are a significant impediment to the uptake of cycling. Approximately 40% of cycling injuries relate to “car doorings”. The road is a valuable resource for the movement of people, and is often wasted on the storage of vehicles. (The City has already embraced this progressive view as exemplified by its Memorandum of Understanding with the State Government which seeks to remove on-street parking from critical city thoroughfares due to the severe, disproportionate impact on peak hour bus flows caused by only a few parked cars.)

BIKESydney recommended that the DCP encourage all developments to:

1. capture all its vehicle parking provision within the building envelope and
2. provide all its parking provision below street level where feasible (as is the current practice in Copenhagen, for example).

While we were generally very supportive of the End of Journey Floorspace provisions in the City Plan, we were concerned by two sections which limited access to end of trip facilities to occupants of the buildings in which the facilities are provided. While access to these facilities should be prioritised for occupants of the building, we believe it unnecessarily restrictive to limit use of the facilities to only the occupants of that building. We recommended that this restriction be removed.

We were pleased to be advised today that both of these recommendations have been accepted and the City Plan will be amended accordingly.

In February 2012 BIKESydney submitted a response to the NSW Department of Planning and Infrastructure’s review of the State Environmental Planning Policy No 65 – Design Quality of Residential Flat Development and the Residential Flat Design Code.

There is compelling evidence to suggest that an increase in active transport can deliver significant cost savings to government, reduce traffic congestion, improve the health of the population, and contribute to a greater sense of community cohesion and well-being.

Our submission highlighted that:

• A growing number of State and Federal planning guidelines promote the need for sustainable transport, active living and integrated transport and land use planning.
• The primary community opposition to new developments relates to traffic impacts.  It is in the interest of developers and consent authorities to minimise car use by potential residents to improve the acceptability of new developments.
• To reduce car use and encourage active transport the SEPP 65 Design Principles and Residential Flat Building Design Code should explicitly include references to active transport.
• The SEPP should include minimum rates for bicycle parking/storage.
• The Residential Flat Design Code should explicitly direct developments to provide adequate storage space.  Secure, accessible and adequate storage is frequently overlooked in building design, but has been identified as one of the most important considerations in promoting active transport.  Storage should be multi-purpose and inclusive.  Adequate storage is not just useful for bicycles, but also for a range of other essential items such as prams, wheelchairs and sporting equipment.
• We also provide recommendations relating to accessibility, families and children, policy, decision making, resourcing and the use of case studies to demonstrate best practice.

Download:   Putting People First: Promoting sustainable transport and active living through improved residential flat building
775Kb PDF

One Wednesday evening in late November members of the state’s peak cycling body, Bicycle NSW, assembled for their general meeting at Y Hotel Hyde Park. The gathering was no ordinary AGM for Bicycle NSW. Typically, the organisation has struggled to attract new people to run for board positions. But this year nine men and women were contesting positions.

And the agenda for the meeting included four resolutions, backed by more than 50 signatories, that directly challenged the authority of the board and watered down its power in favour of the membership.

The chief executive of Bicycle NSW, Omar Khalifa, told the 40 or so people in the room that the organisation was at a ”crossroads” and needed to clarify what it stood for.

By the end of the meeting, the resolutions were defeated largely on proxy votes directed by board members. Within a fortnight, Khalifa had quit.

On the move … John Holstein of Camwest, third from left, is a long-time cycling advocate and a former member of the Bicycle NSW board who believes there needs to be change at the peak cycling body. Photo: Kate Geraghty

The divisions within Bicycle NSW, a not-for-profit group that helps organise group rides and insurance for cyclists, are a reflection, insiders say, of the political growing pains of an increasingly popular activity.

While most cycling enthusiasts agree on what they want – more respect from road users, better facilities and infrastructure – the differing views on how to arrive at these things have been coming to a head.

Several local bike groups say they want Bicycle NSW to put more effort into advocating for local infrastructure projects instead of organising high profile ride events.

Khalifa will not talk about why he quit but some say his exit is a big loss for an organisation that has been struggling with identity problems. ”I’m very, very concerned with his resignation, because I felt he had done such good work,” Russ Webber, the president of the North Shore Bicycle Group, said.

Webber was vice-president of Bicycle NSW for 17 years until 2001 and might be said to represent the traditional rump of the organisation. He played a major part in forming Bicycle NSW from an amalgam of bicycle user groups. His criticism is that some time over the past decade, the board stopped energetically promoting local initiatives to improve the lot of cyclists.

”I think there’s a lot of cyclists who want to see the organisation being much more involved in making sure that cycling is part of everyday life,” Webber said.

His concern is that Bicycle NSW has done relatively little to promote initiatives like HarbourLink, a proposal to build a ramp from the northern end of the Harbour Bridge so cyclists no longer have to carry their bicycles up the stairs.

The comments are mirrored by other long-time cycling advocates.

”The staff are excellent … but I think the board is pretty much out of touch with what the membership wants and the way that cycling is going,” John Holstein said.

Holstein has been a Bicycle NSW board member and now runs Camwest, which advocates better cycling facilities in western Sydney.

David Borella, of BikeSydney, another bicycle user group, characterises the debate within Bicycle NSW as being whether the organisation should ”look upwards or look down”. The question is whether Bicycle NSW should focus more on gaining sponsorship and becoming a larger corporate presence, or if it should continue to reflect its origins among smaller user groups.

To some degree this tension is reflected in the make-up of the board, which was once populated by user group representatives but now features commercial lawyers, lobbyists and management consultants.

Bicycle NSW says it is resolved to represent all cyclists, and even those people who do not yet cycle.

”In the past the organisation might have been directed at, or focused on, commuters or passive cycling as opposed to cyclists and sports or BMX or the different disciplines,” the board spokesman, vice-president John Richardson, said. The new strategy is for all cyclists.

By Jacob Saulwick, Sydney Morning Herald

Bikewise brought along their popular bbq bike and Cheeky Transport their blender bike for fruity flavoured beverages.

The Watershed had all of the bikes from the bike library ready and available for people to try out and take for a quick spin.

Thanks to Nick Bonich for the images. And big thanks to City of Sydney and the Watershed for their support of the event.

Swipe cards providing permanent access, 24 hours a day, to 28 securely caged spaces on the ground level are available on payment of a $20 deposit.

Casual users can visit Daniel Cresswell on site and get a temporary pin number (valid for 24 hours) any time they need secure parking – for example, when seeing a show at the Capital Theatre, having noodles in Chinatown or going to the cinema.

City of Sydney has installed more than 100 new bike parking locations this year and are continuously installing more. You can suggest locations on the City’s website  at www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/AboutSydney/ParkingAndTransport/Cycling/BikeParking.asp.

Bike parking is now available next to one fifth of the City’s car share spaces. The City is currently investigating opportunities for installing bike parking next to car share spaces.

Information | Goulburn Street Parking Station bike parking: Contact Daniel Cresswell 0459 848 039 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              0459 848 039      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or dcresswell@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au