The Premier of Victoria recently announced that the State Government would deliver $13 million per year for cycling and walking facilities across Victoria.
Funding has been provided for further bike lanes on main roads – great idea – and local councils have been encouraged to undertake the provision of shared pathways.
This funding seems quite significant given it is an increase from the current spend of $7 million.
This includes an increase to VicRoads funding for cycling and walking facilities from $4 million per year to over $10.4 million for the next 10 years, which equates to $64 million dollars in new funding.
Recently I visited Tokyo and was struck – but not literally – by the Japanese bike riders who actually use the footpath rather than the street and ride in a very casual, polite and respectful manner, paying careful attention to other users of the footpath.
This was in the Ginza district, which is one of the most urbanised areas of Tokyo.
Not only did I witness this in the main streets but the back streets as well.
The Japanese seem to encourage bike riding by strategically locating bike rental shops at train and bus stations and at tourist precincts.
Some ‘ryokan’, which are the traditional Japanese inns, even loan or rent out bikes to their guests.
I frankly love the idea that the bikes for hire are called ‘mama chari’ which translates to ‘mama’s bicycles’.
The bikes cannot by any stretch of the imagination be described as performance machines and appear to be two-speed shopping bikes.
I cannot imagine the bike riders of Melbourne riding on these and I defy whoever is on these bikes to even contemplate speeding.
Given the type of bikes for hire I would imagine a subsequent loss of sales for lycra sportswear which is so prevalent in Melbourne.
The Japanese bike riders may be showing us that life is a journey and not a race.
I believe that both walking and riding a bike should be encouraged and this move towards encouraging alternative transport modes is a national initiative that is shared by all State Governments.
However, in terms of implementation, I would encourage recreation planners and engineers to consider ‘super sizing’ the pathways or, better still, completely separating walkers from bike riders.
As a self-declared walker, my allegiances are out in the open and, frankly, so are my grievances. As I step onto the shared paths of Melbourne, ‘sharing’ takes on a totally different concept, which I refer to as defensive sharing.
The narrow pathways in Melbourne only allow someone to walk single-file in one direction, so the concept of a walk with a friend means you need to form a queue and hope the wind is blowing in a favourable direction to allow your conversation to carry back to your partner on the walk.
As a walker you need to be extremely careful of not to make any rash movements like adjusting a backpack or reaching for an object because you need to look right, left and behind you for the flash of lycra.
The bicycle brigade that flash by me on the track along the Yarra seem extremely keen to end their working day imagining they are on the last leg of the Tour de France.
How these narrow shared pathways of Melbourne bear any resemblance to the French Alps is beyond me, but imagination is clearly helped by assuming the disguise, or in marketing terms ‘dressing the part’.
The narrowness of the shared pathways and the stream of walkers would certainly inhibit breaking any potential speed records.
So I plead with all the riders to ring your bells and indicate your whereabouts to your fellow travellers of the track or at least yell the word, “Passing”.
In the past, I have lost my own voice shouting after them in the wake of their G-force such complimentary terms as, “Idiot” or something slightly more colourful, robust and meaningful.
But can you do this 50 times in a matter of 30 minutes? It is exhausting and so now when I hear the rare, “Passing” or the tinkle of the bells, I yell after these rare and noble riders, “Thank you!”
Maureen Jackson is director – urban planning at Davis Langdon
Maureen Jackson |
Monday, 22 September 2008 12:01 AM |
