Traffic Stack

Perth is growing fast, threatening what we value most. Just in case we needed reminding, today’s West has three headlines about this:

• Traffic Gridlock Tightens
• Drive Times Grow as Roads Slow
• Perth to Swell by 500,000

A further recent headline points out that by continuing to just spread outwards we are building a dysfunctional city. Environmental damage, increased use of cars and longer distances for provision of water, power and sewerage make the outlook for Perth quite dismal.

Essentially, when we say at public meetings that we want the City to remain as it is, we do nothing and thus contribute to destroying what we love. South Perth's recent City Visioning exercise helped us describe the features that we do want in our future. The challenge now is to use this Vision to plan for a City that keeps these attributes while accommodating rapid growth.

We have a number of community forums in the near future. My hope is that we can use these to work towards what we do want in our future, not just to protest against change.

Canning Bridge Bus Turnaround

Canning Bridge area residents heard on Wednesday night about a new plan for bus movements. Increasing popularity of buses and the train service have meant that the bridge and facilities are often at maximum capacity. Buses are clogging the interchange area and the U-turn arrangements are confusing at best.

 

Figures show that use of public transport in Perth is growing rapidly, faster than in any other Australian city. Plans to expand Curtin Uni to thirty thousand students will create even more local demand. Freeway and city vehicle congestion continues to make public transport an even more popular option.

In a twenty- year time frame we’ll need a seriously re-planned facility here. Right now, we need a way to handle more buses. South Perth planners, working with Stage agencies, have drawn up a design to take the turn- around off the bridge. A new facility, much- used in Europe, UK and USA, known as a ‘dog- bone roundabout’ is proposed. (Here’s one from Holland.)

The proposed location of this is in the space to the north- west of the current interchange area. Buses would enter the dog- bone, drop off their passengers, turn around and then pick up new passengers on the other straight side of the loop. A short overhead walkway would connect with the rail station. All this would get pedestrians and buses safely out of the bridge interchange, a crowded area today.

The proposed vision for this goes to Council next month; it would then move to design stage for detailed planning.

We need a solution, for now and for later. Buses and trains are increasingly popular. There are way too many cars used every day. Our challenge is to plan our transport system so we don’t even think about using a car for most journeys.

The Mayor of South Perth tells me that there will be time for residents to have a say about this at Council’s briefing night on 21 September. One of my concerns would be about ease and safety of pedestrian access from both South Perth and Melville. If you’d like to contribute, how about talking with your neighbours and contacting the City in advance to get a representative on the agenda list?

Cycle Path Update

Wow, didn’t that get some responses? Heaps of emails and calls about the new cycle way on Sir James Mitchell Park, with bouquets and brickbats. I also realised that I had upset the engineer who designed the path and am embarrassed that I did so. My apologies are offered right now.

I have also found that the path was intentionally designed as a “shared recreation path,” with lots of pleasant meanders, not as a transit way. This of course leaves us with the issue that hundreds of people are now using it as a transit way.

Right across Australia cities are building bike transit ways and finding them used beyond expectation. This is a tremendous outcome; every cyclist has consciously not used motor transport. We have less road congestion, less pollution, less parking needs, smaller carbon footprint. I am so happy about this.

Now, lets use the popularity of this facility to really push for completion of the Perth Bicycle Network,  making a safe, efficient link to and around all points of the compass in Perth.

Canning Bridge Light Rail Info and Consultation

A reminder that on Thursday 12 August at 7 pm. Hon Lynn MacLaren MLC, Member for South Metropolitan Region and Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability at Curtin University and on the Board of Infrastructure Australia, will present the latest plans for light rail in our region.

You’ll be able to see examples of systems operating around the world, to see plans for the network and to talk about how to make this work for us. The event will be at the Canning Bridge Senior Citizens Centre, 64 Kishorn Road, Mt Pleasant. Just click the map to expand it. I recommend parking on the Esplanade or in the Centre car park on the river side of the building. The best road access is from the Esplanade, turning off Canning Highway beside the Shell service station. Coming from Fremantle you could turn right at the previous traffic lights by Thai Corner and that place with the Arches. There is plenty of room inside for bicycles.

I also have some discussion points around plans for redevelopment of Canning Bridge precinct, ahead of the forthcoming design presentation.

See you there from 6:30 pm on Thursday. Feel free to add your thoughts below by clicking on “Comments”

Cycle Way a Success

South Perth’s new cycle way on the foreshore is getting plenty of use from families on Sunday. However, for transit riders who try to use it daily the path is significantly more dangerous.
If you are designing a new cycle way for your city you might not do it this way. You might also get some cyclists involved in the design process. The problem here is that the path contains numerous very sharp bends. Both the Mayor and the CEO say that “We have to slow these cyclists down.” Cyclists maintain the opposite view.

There are two sort of cyclists- recreational slow users, out for a ride with children and faster transit cyclists on their way to and from work, using a bike instead of a car. We want to encourage both and must plan for both.
The new winding, bendy path is a pleasure to ride along at a leisurely place while you chat. It is a hazard to use if you are a serious cyclist. The bends are so tight that you must stop pedalling and lift your inside pedal. After dark and before dawn you cannot see where the path goes and risk serious injury. In each case, a cyclist with their shoes clipped or strapped to the pedals has no way of preventing a hard fall.
The unintended result of this is that transit cyclists will be discouraged from using the path and will:

• choose the old path instead, the one with pedestrians, because it is straight
• choose to use their cars, so losing the benefits of cycling: less road congestion, less pollution, less parking space, better health
• ride on Mill Point Road, so being in an environment of higher closing speeds and with much more serious accidents. We really don’t want to have bikes and cars mixed together.

Like the helmet law, this well- intentioned act will result in overall lower benefit to the community. The unfortunate attitude of wanting to slow the cyclists is very controlling. We should do the opposite and facilitate easy transit. Wanting to slow cyclists is like wanting to put speed bumps on the freeway- dangerous and way too controlling.
It seems that our engineers did not consult with users or with the Bicycle Transport Alliance. They did not understand that transit users have foot straps and clips that fasten their feet to the pedals. They certainly did not think of users after sunset and before sunrise, of which there are very many. They definitely did not understand that to get cars off the road we must make bike travel easy and that bike travel is not the same as a recreational doddle with the grandchildren.
C’mon! We say we are good at consultation. Cycling is fun and is a perfectly viable alternative to driving for many trips. We can do this better and this cycle way must be modified now and made safe.
Have your say. Just click on “Comments” below and log in as Name (preferred) or Anonymous, or email me and I’ll post your comments for you. What you say makes a difference.