NOVEMBER

Current issues we’re following up

• Bike hazard caused by new chicanes in the intersection of Anzac Pde and Robertson Rd
• Local road speed limits
• Alexandra Canal Cycleway – filling the gaps

Current projects we’re working on

• Bike Festival 2011
• Community outreach: Sydney Sustainability Markets
• Bicycle Valet Parking service for events
• Maps of themed social rides
• Legal resources for bicycle riders
• BIKESydney membership strategy
• BIKESydney IT strategy

What we’ve done

Sunday 28 November: BIKESydney Ride to Meet the Artist at Newington Armory

Saturday 27 November: BIKESydney Artcycle: Spring

Saturday27 November: Outreach at Sydney Sustainable Markets

We spent a fruitful morning in gorgeous sunshine at the markets and spent most of our time handing out cycling maps for the City and surrounding local government areas. Most people were interested in maps for the inner west.

Friday26 November: Work starts on Legal Resources for Bicycle Riders

Redfern Legal Centre agreed today to develop a legal resources fact sheet for bicycle riders. BIKESydney will be working with the RLC to help scope the issues, provide feedback on content and distribute the information once complete. We kicked off the project by asking our members and supporters what type of information would be useful to them.

Friday26 November: Submission to City of Sydney’s proposed Car Share Policy

BIKESydney strongly supports the City of Sydney’s proposed Car Share Policy.

Car share schemes successfully reduce the ownership and use of private cars and they encourage people to consider other transport options such as walking, cycling and public transport. These outcomes are essential to make Sydney’s roads more welcoming for people on bicycles and walking.

With the current car share program taking an estimated 550 cars off the streets and reducing on-street parking demand by at least 250 spaces, the programs deserve policies that encourage their development and expansion.

We hope that, consistent with the principle of promoting car-sharing in the City’s walking, cycling, and public transport marketing, so should the reciprocal arrangement apply, ie, that car share operators and schemes be required to cross-promote the City’s walking, cycling and public transport alternatives.

We also encourage the City to investigate providing bicycle parking rings or racks near the car share parking bays to ensure that people who choose to cycle to a car may securely park their bicycle.

In the future we hope that public bike hire stations will be coupled with prominent car share parking spots so as to encourage transport mode shift.

Thursday 25 November: Submitted letter to Verity Firth regarding proposals for Callan Park

Dear Verity

BIKESydney notes that your website (www.verityfirth.com.au) is presently conducting a “Snap Poll” which calls for opinions on which of two options will best serve cycling through Callan Park, Rozelle.

BIKESydney is the not-for-profit cycling advocacy group for the City of Sydney local government area and surrounds. We have a strong interest in Callan Park and the Bay Run as they both serve as catchments for people cycling to the city via Glebe and the Anzac Bridge shared path. Once joined to the Greenway shared path, the Bay Run will become a very important cycling connector.

There are presently three projects in development that will meaningfully affect the cycling provision through Callan Park and King George V Park:

a) The completion of the Bay Run through Callan Park – the subject of your call for opinions;

b) the Victoria Rd upgrade which will provide a shared path from the new Iron Cove Bridge to King George V Park, and

c) The Greenway which – although yet to have its detailed design ratified – will connect into the Bay Run at Iron Cove.

Notably, the State Government has means to influence all three projects.

Noting their differing stages of design, as currently presented, each of these concepts presents a less-than-optimal design and more importantly, concerns relating to pedestrian and cyclist safety. In many cases, these issues are easily resolved.

By way of example, the proposed shared path to King George V Park from the new Iron Cove Bridge (Item b) above) does not provide adequate sight lines between the path and the entrance to the redeveloped playground (Constellation Park). It would be a relatively simple fix to correct this (by relocating plantings and a small section of the BBQ area wall) so as to remove the potential for conflict between westbound cyclists and children running out from the playground.

So too could the design of the Greenway (Item c) above) be improved by placing its shared path to the eastern rather than western side of Hawthorne Canal, so as to much enhance its utility to city-bound cyclists and improve its integration with the Bay Run.

However, the focus of this submission is the proposed upgrade of the Bay Run through Callan Park. The points above are included to emphasise the importance of integrating the three inter-connecting projects and to highlight that in some cases, the improvements required are relatively simple ones.

With respect to the two standing proposals for the Callan Park Bay Run upgrade, BIKESydney prefers the concept proposed by Leichhardt Council (so called “Option 2”) to the concept put forward by your office (“Option 1”). Essentially, this is because we strongly believe that a wider path (5.5m versus 3m) will much better serve to minimise conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists on what will soon become a very popular route thanks to the upcoming connections to the Greenway and Iron Cove Bridge shared paths. Second, we think that the money required to complete the eastern end of your “Option 1” proposal (ie, along the already-existing Waterfont Drive) would be better directed to correcting the pinch points at both Glover St (Leichhardt Rowers Club) and the western approach to King George V Park.

In short, if forced to choose, we would prefer Leichhardt Council’s proposal (“Option 2”). However, the real opportunity here – and the approach of most interest to us – is to request a meeting with you and your staff so that we might canvass the ways in which your proposal might be amended to achieve these better outcomes and therefore a concept even better than either of the presented options.

We are very supportive of your good work in obtaining funding for the completion of the Bay Run through Callan Park and we’re keen to see that it is spent most effectively for the best outcomes for cycling and pedestrians.

Would you be willing to meet with BIKESydney and other relevant cycling groups such as Leichhardt Bicycle Users Group (Bob Moore) and BicycleNSW (Elizabeth Hole) with a view to enhancing the concept design?

Wednesday24 November: BIKESydney Monthly Meeting

Monday22 November: Call for Safer Cycling in Sydney

Elaena Gardner was interviewed by Central Sydney about the need for a whole of government approach to safety after a bicycle rider was killed on Gardeners Road in Alexandria.

http://sydney-central.whereilive.com.au/news/story/call-for-cycle-safety/

Saturday 20 November: Bicycle Valet Parking at the BFF Street Fair

We parked 160 bikes at the BFF Street Fair. And wow was there some bling in there. A big thank you to Abhi, Naomi, Keeli, Brian and our marshal Yogi. And special thanks to Susan from Rocket Fuel for the Frosty Fruits. They went down a treat.

Tuesday 16 November: BIKESydney BrainsTrust does Bike Culture

More than 60 people packed BIKESydney BrainsTtust Bike Culture talk.  Jonathan Daly (GHD consulting), Elizabeth Cage (University of Sydney) and Josh Capelin (Bicycle Film Festival Sydney)  presented a wide range of views about the role of bike culture in Sydney.

Monday 15 November: BIKESydney submission to the Cruise Passenger Terminal at White Bay

The plans for the proposed Cruise Passenger Terminal at White Bay fail to connect with public transport and fail to address the needs of pedestrians and cyclists.

In December 2008 the NSW Government decided to permanently relocate the Darling Harbour No. 8 Cruise Passenger Terminal to facilitate and enhance the Barangaroo redevelopment project. In November 2009, its Passenger Cruise Terminal Steering Committee concluded that the preferred option was to construct a new purpose-built Cruise Passenger Terminal facility at White Bay Wharves 4 and 5.

With public submissions in response to the Environmental Assessment of the project closing today BIKESydney has opposed both the principle of siting a Cruise Passenger Terminal at the White Bay wharves and, separately, the specific scheme proposed in the Environmental Assessment for doing so.

The basis of our objection relates largely to the fact that key components of the Director-General’s  Requirements for the Proposal have not been addressed.

This notwithstanding, in the event that the Director-General deems the Proposal suitable to proceed, BIKESydney has also offered recommendations to address the deficiencies of the Environmental Assessment with a view to improving conditions for people who cycle.

In summary, these recommendations are that:

• The Director-General should defer consideration of this Proposal until AFTER a Bays Precinct Masterplan has been completed;
• The Director-General require the Proponent to provide a publicly-available Preferred Project Report which addresses the recommendations of this submission;
• In doing so, the Director-General requires the Proponent to consult with local cycling advocacy groups such as BIKESydney, Leichhardt Bicycle Users Group (LBUG) and Bicycle NSW;
• The EA should explicitly detail an integrated internal cycling and pedestrian network and its connection to the existing routes nominated in the City of Sydney and Leichhardt Council Bicycle Plans. Such connections should be made with, but not be limited to, Robert St, Buchanan St, Victoria Rd, Lilyfield Rd, City West Link, The Crescent, Quirk St, Anzac Bridge and the Glebe Island Swing Bridge;
• The EA must be amended to explicitly account for the Principles and Actions outlined in Section 2.8 of the Glebe Island and White Bay Master Plan (SPC, 2000) as is required by the Director-General’s Requirements. Specifically, the Proposal must be amended to provide cycleway connections to the Leichhardt Bicycle network and “continuous public access along the edge of the Port”;
• The EA be amended to explicitly indicate connections to public transport (including light rail) networks;
• The EA must explicitly present an assessment of the Proposal’s role in facilitating a connection to the Greenway cycleway.

BIKESydney is a stakeholder of the White Bay Precinct which is situated on a major cycling and pedestrian corridor to the Sydney CBD, and itself only a short, walking and cycling distance from the CBD.

Part of BIKESydney’s motivation for submitting to the Environmental Assessment is to ensure that the corridor between White Bay remains open to accept future cycleways that may one day form provide an integral, off-road connection between the Glebe Island Swing Bridge and Iron Cove (ie, the northern end of the Greenway shared path).

You can view the project’s Environmental Assessment here.

You can view BIKESydney’s full response here.

Monday 15 November: BIKESydney submission to Sydney Light Rail Inner West Extension Environmental Assessment

BIKESydney is in general, strongly supportive of the Greenway shared path scheme. The scheme will provide an excellent off-road, low-gradient and largely, grade-separated route for established and new cyclists.

BIKESydney endorses the proposed alignment of the Greenway from Dulwich Hill to the Taverners Hill Stop, but recommends an alternative alignment for that section of the Greenway north of the Taverners Hill Stop.

This submission proposes enhancements to the scheme with a view to further increasing the utility and financial return of the Greenway.

The two primary improvements BIKESydney is advocating for are:

• A grade-separated crossing over Marion St, and

• That the Greenway provide for an off-road connection to the City’s CBD via the existing Lilyfield Tunnel.

The submission also proposes other improvements to the scheme.

View the complete submission.

Sunday 14 November: Bikes at Newtown Festival

We parked more than 210 bikes at Newtown Festival. A big thanks to all of our volunteers: Abhi, Edmund, Gianni, Naomi, Keeli, Craig and our Marshal Yogi.

Wednesday 11 November: Bicycle Valet at Sydney City Talks

We parked about 60 bikes in the coral at the Sydney Town Hall for the City Talks which featured New York’s Commissioner of Transportation Janette Sadik-Khan . A big thank you to our volunteers  Abhi, John, Colin  and our marshal Yogi.