1

How many people can you carry on your bike? Photo: Jeremy Miller

No. 207 June - August 2012 ISSN 13211870 www.bisa.asn.au

PEDAL

UPDATE

2

As user of one of many transport options available, bicycle riders get it pretty easy.

While some still have cars and use them when required, those who have voluntarily

given up their personal car have access to an ever increasing amount of money,

some even choosing to weigh up the costs and benefit of working the hours needed

to pay for a car, in favour of more time for friends, family and personal growth.

The realisation that the private car was no longer essential was a watershed

moment for many. Documentary evidence that cars were killing the planet, spurned

many into action, while others took up further voluntary commitment to offset and

abate their emission over and above the statutory obligations and emissions

reduction legislation. This change spurned many other actions in the shape, form

and design of the urban and built environment. One of the biggest was in the design

of new homes. It seems quite ludicrous looking back that we once allowed so much

of the space in our homes and the costs associated with this, to provide space

under the main roof for our automobiles, stranger still was all the driveways, car

parking and circulation space embedded in planning laws and requirements for the

design and development of human settlements. When it was realised that so much

space was given over to the car both in the physical and mental landscapes of our

cities and towns, legislators took great care to redesign and scope out policy that

would not allow this one limited transport mode to dominate the space, form and

places of our environment. As a result, what we have now is very different to the

landscapes of only a few years ago.

Instead of moving cars around, the priority for urban form became the capture and

storage of water. Great care was made to slow, detain and reuse as much water as

possible. The result was an explosion of green spaces, community gardens and

street planting. As some communities became towns that transitioned away from

the car altogether, streets were extensively dug up and reconfigured. Service and

emergency vehicles were still allowed access, but the vast majority of the space was

given over to cycling and walking paths, pounding basins and swales, all existing

within cool dappled shady streets.

by JEREMY MILLER

a message from the chair

3

Dedicated bicycle parking is everywhere, outside local shops, schools, shopping

centres and in all workplaces. More importantly, this infrastructure was intimately

coupled with the concerted redevelopment of South Australia's urban and regional

public transport systems. Short and long term secure bicycle parking facilities exist

at every train and bus interchange. The smooth rollout of the electrification of the

urban rail system was complemented by the inclusion of Greenway travel corridors

along all lines and structural integration with the bus fleet. Bicycle riders, initially

slow to adopt the new bicycle racks on buses, soon found these indispensable

when planning longer trips across the metro area, so much so that the majority of

all busses ended up with having racks retrofitted, or demanded as standard, prior

to being delivered and commissioned into the fleet. The investment in regional

travel corridors was also a boon for not only the country towns that the trains then

serviced, but for cyclists who took advantage of the long distance transport routes

running parallel to the tracks. SA became recognized as a world destination for

cycle tourism with 100's of visitors every month visiting the regional delights of the

State. One of this author’s favourite things is the small and informal camping

grounds that sprang up along the routes allowing the traveller a place to stop and

stay for a night prior to continuing onto the next town the following day.

All in all, SA is one of the best cycling destinations in the world, with Adelaide

recognized around the world as a modern and forward thinking city that had the

vision and capacity to rebuild and reconfigure its transport systems, introducing

resiliency, community capacity and design based around a urban vibrancy

associated with community and mitigating the impact of environmental and

resource constraints. What a great place Adelaide is to live.

bike workshop news

In recent months the workshop have donated 30+ children's bikes to Port Augusta Park Primary School, and ‘Bikes for Refugees’ have allocated more than 25 bikes to students from Thebarton Senior College. Open for a little over a year the workshop is a great scheme and has seen many successes -but it needs your support! The Workshop relies on volunteers and donations from the public to remain open. So if you would like to get involved or donate a bike the workshop is located at 34 Long St, Plympton and open every Saturday 9-12pm.

Photo by Flowizm/ Flickr.com/CC

4

by KATIE GILFILLAN

city of west torrens OPAL program

The Bicycle Institute was invited by the City of West Torrens OPAL program to attend a community workshop to kick off their most recent initiative, Think Feet First – Step, Cycle, Scoot to School.

OPAL (Obesity Prevention and Active Living) is a community based healthy lifestyle program that works to create opportunities for children to eat well and be active in conjunction with local communities. OPAL currently operates in 15 local council areas of

South Australia. A range of community members from school teachers, sporting club staff and business owners, along with representatives from State Government and ourselves were invited to the workshop with the aim of building community commitment to the program.

It was exciting for us to see and hear people from a range of community sectors making personal and organisational commitments to support the program. Increasing the number of people riding bicycles is a large part of the initiative, with many people committing to getting the bike out especially for all those trips made under 3kms. It was evident from the discussion that there is some anxiety for those who are not used to riding and people need support to feel more confident when on the road. There were also big issues with people having bikes that weren’t working. They were pleased to hear about the Adelaide Bicycle Workshop in Plympton where they can get some support to fix up their bikes. For us, the session was a great source of information about how people feel about riding, and also an opportunity to explain who we are and what we do.

Overall it was an invigorating afternoon session that showed there is plenty of will in communities to make changes to the way they travel. As an organisation that is passionate about promoting cycling we are pleased to continue working with the OPAL program to get more people on bikes. We thank the OPAL team for the invitation to attend.

5

coober pedy to oodnadatta bike ride adventure I was in Coober Pedy for work and was fortunate enough to see the start of a bike ride that commenced in Coober Pedy and continued over three days for 160 km along the unsealed road to Oodnadatta. I work with one of the companies that helped sponsor the ride and the bosses said get down there with your camera (I always carry a camera with me).

The ride was planned and supported by the Umoona Pjutagku Health Service (part of Health SA) in Coober Pedy and is part of a program to raise awareness of health and nutrition in the aboriginal community. There were about 20 people on the ride and there was a mix of younger kids, teenagers and their dads accompanied by the Health SA workers and support crew.

At the start, just next to the oval, kids were on their new bikes doing monos and skids while waiting for the official start. I wanted to jump on a bike and join in! There was a bit of urgent running around at the last minute for gel seat covers (they're gonna need them) and I wonder if any of them knew how much it was going to hurt after 20km let alone 160 km!

I talked to one of the organisers and he said that after the first day there were a lot of aching and tired riders, but they had a great camping spot and an unseasonably warm night .

Good luck to all involved, keep the rubber side down, and Coober Pedy-up!

by PETER HILL

6

a ferry tale by BRIAN JENKINS

For the last week in May, I had a commute with no sets of lights or roundabouts to contend with. There was barely a side-road to watch out for. I had only one outside influence that would cause me to wait – which side of the Murray River was the ferry when I got to the crossing. I was camped in the Swan Reach Caravan Park, riding out each day to the Swan Reach Conservation Park 13 kms along the road to Sedan.

I was one of a large group of volunteers who, with a few officers from the SA Murray-Darling Basin Natural Management Resources Board there to record findings, were walking grids back and forth across the Conservation Park. We were looking out for any Mexican Wheel Cactus, Boxthorn, and feral animals (the bad guys), and active wombat warrens, mallee fowl nests, and bush-stone curlew (the good guys). With maintaining one’s position in the line while stepping around bushes and mallee trees, over mallee limbs, spotting and ducking under the orb-weaver webs with resident spider suspended in the middle, it was quite a tricky exercise. The Park came up well for vegetation after recent good rain seasons. We found some active southern hairy-nosed wombat warrens. The clearest wombat sighting showed some fur loss, which is a wide-spread concern over their health. There was almost no cactus found in the Park.

I took a different route back to Swan Reach late in the week, using a bumpy back road. Well beyond the Park, I rode past a major infestation of cactus that was on the roadside verge and in private properties. Getting access to private properties to treat the cactus is often a difficult exercise for the Board officers.

A bad guy, not in the Conservation Park

7

The daily rides were rewarding. There was plenty of greenery with bird sightings. A rare close-up of a wedge-tailed eagle taking flight – startled from a road-side tree by some passing bike-rider – topped the bill. The line of the Adelaide Hills filling the western horizon fascinated me in the morning. The best view was on the afternoon return when coming to the edge of the Murray Valley, with the blue of the winding river edged by river red-gums, and crowned by the orange cliffs. As for the daily crossings (Gerry and the Pacemakers kept humming in my head), there were pelicans overhead, the ever-present swallows hitching a ride, or the flow of the river to watch.

A week after returning home, it was reported that the Transport Department would close the Cadell ferry. The closest alternative for locals is the Morgan ferry 10 kms away, or Waikerie 30 kms away. The $400,000 savings were set to be used for other ferry upgrades. The locals rallied to fight the decision. In the metropolitan area, the duplication of the Southern Expressway goes on (between Main South Rd. and Lonsdale Rd.) The people of Cadell were worried about the reduction in traffic to their town. A reduction in traffic to Adelaide doesn’t appear too likely in the near future.

After being left alone in the scrub all day, the Bike would get a river cruise to make up

8

In the current climate of economic uncertainty and fiscal restraint, governments are quick to reassure us that they are making every effort to “do more with less”. Providing mobility for citizens in Australia’s rapidly growing cities is a key public policy goal. When faced with alternative transport options, sensible governments will invest in measures that achieve maximum benefits for the least cost, right? Well, um, maybe.

In fact, governments of all persuasions in Australia have been slow to align transport policies with comprehensive assessments of the benefits and costs of alternative transport modes. A recent example of this mismatch is the Victorian Government’s decision to stop funding the VicRoads Bicycle Program. Funding for the program (which averaged $15 million a year over the last three years) has effectively been abolished.

A recent review of 16 economic valuations of transport infrastructure or policies reported a median benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of five for walking and cycling projects (that is, you get five dollars in benefits for every dollar spent). Based on this finding, reducing funding for bicycle infrastructure in Victoria from $15 million to zero means that the Victorian Government is, in all likelihood, foregoing an estimated $75 million in benefits.

To add insult to economic injury, the government plans to provide further subsidies for motor vehicle travel. In contrast to the favourable BCRs for bicycle infrastructure, many road construction projects struggle to break even. For some projects, the costs outweigh the benefits. Sir Rod Eddington’s 2008 report ‘Investing in Transport’, included an assessment of the economic benefits and costs of a proposed East-West road tunnel across inner Melbourne. The BCR for the road tunnel, which is expected to cost several billion dollars, was less than 0.7; that is, a net cost. Furthermore, the Victorian Government is now asking the Australian public (via Infrastructure Australia) for $30 million to develop a plan to construct this financial black hole.

Cutting cycling funding is economic non-sense

by JAN GARRARD

Want value for public money? Build bike infrastructure. Brisbane City Council

9

The reasons for the large disparities in BCRs for bicycle infrastructure compared with road infrastructure are not difficult to unpack. In transport terms, it is hard to beat the efficiency of moving people by bicycle. A single-occupant car requires 20 times more space than a cyclist (see this image), and freeways cost about a hundred times more to construct (per km) than off-road bicycle paths.

Cycling is usually a faster mode of transport than car travel for trips up to about 5km in urban areas. For longer trips the travel time differences are small. In the morning peak (7.30 to 9.00 am) in Melbourne, average travel speeds in 2009/10 were 22.2km/h on inner Melbourne (approximately 10 km radius from CBD) undivided arterial roads, and 20.2km/h on arterial roads with trams. For a typical cycling speed of 20km/h, the average cycling trip to work (7.7 km) would take about 2 minutes (on undivided arterial roads) to 18 seconds (on arterial roads with trams) longer by bicycle than by car.

Car parking facilities are also more costly than bicycle parking – not that most Australians would notice, as the concept of “user pays” is rarely applied to car parking in countries like the USA and Australia. As Donald Shoup has shown, the real cost of “free” parking is in fact borne by all citizens via business or government subsidies, regardless of whether they benefit from free parking.

Cycling is also one of the healthiest ways to travel, with reduced health costs accounting for between two-thirds and one-half of the total benefits in cycling BCRs.

Sitting in a car is the ultimate in sedentary behaviour; and the longer we sit, the fatter we get. Cycling, on the other hand, is an excellent way to get the recommended daily dose of 30 minutes or more of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity. Physical activity is one of the best buys in public health, and active transport like walking or cycling is one of the best buys in physical activity. For busy people, active transport is a good way to combine exercise time with travel time.

Countries, states and cities that have high rates of active transport have lower rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes than those with low rates of active transport. Large longitudinal health studies have reported 28% lower mortality rates among people who cycle to work compared with those who do not.

This is probably a bad investment. Leposava Beljac

Bike parking takes up very little room Lindy Evans

10

Investing in bicycle infrastructure is also an investment in reducing road trauma.

Road crashes cost $27 billion per annum in Australia, and nearly all of this harm is

caused by motor vehicles. Motor vehicles are especially hazardous to cyclists and

pedestrians who are not encased in a protective shell. Cycling injury rates in

Australia are high by international standards, and increasing. Improved cycling

infrastructure makes cycling safer for current cyclists, and also assists more people

who want to cycle to start.

This benevolent circle can lead to an overall reduction in road traffic injuries as

more people swap from dangerous (to other road users) motor vehicles to low-

harm bicycles. This is the situation in the Netherlands, which enjoys one of the

lowest road crash fatality rates in the world (close to one-half of Australia’s fatality

rate). They also reap the benefits that flow from having more trips made by bike

than almost any country in the developed world (27% of trips, compared with

about 1% in Australia).

The pattern of benefits associated with a shift from car use to active travel has been

summarised by Todd Litman in the table below.He argues that the failure of

traditional transport planning to comprehensively value the costs and benefits of

alternative travel modes has contributed to poor transport planning.

11

Several wealthy European and Asian countries have been ticking many of the boxes

in Table 1 for several decades. The Netherlands is well-known for its high levels of

cycling for transport. Less well-known is that the Netherlands also has an excellent

network of high-volume, high-speed motorways (34,000km of highways, including

3270km of expressways) for the efficient movement of freight and people over long

distances. In fact, transport services (including road-based freight distribution)

comprise about a third of the Dutch economy.

The Netherlands recognised several decades ago that for the multiple short-to-

medium distance trips that characterise daily living, the most efficient vehicle is the

bicycle. This is also feasible for Australia, where about 50% of household trips in

urban areas are less than 5km.

Despite already having excellent cycling infrastructure, the Netherlands continues

to invest about $25 per head per annum in cycling infrastructure. Annual

investment in cycling infrastructure varies across Australia’s states, territories and

local government areas, but rarely exceeds $10 a head. The Victorian Government’s

decision to no longer fund bicycle infrastructure may well mean that Victoria now

takes the wooden spoon for state-funded cycling investment in a country where the

competition is not excessive by international standards.

There is also high latent demand for more cycling in Australia. Surveys consistently

report that people would like to cycle more, but are constrained by poor cycling

conditions. So we need not fear that well-placed and well-designed cycling

infrastructure will go unused. Build it and they will indeed come.

Investing in improved bicycle infrastructure makes economic, transport, health and

environmental sense. It is time to correct our long-standing bias for investing in

infrastructure aimed at moving cars rather than people. Healthy, productive,

sustainable and liveable cities of the future will need to do a better job in meeting

communities’ diverse transport needs.

Jan Garrard is a Senior Lecturer at the School of Health & Social Development, Deakin University

This article was originally published on the website The Conversation on 18 June

2012. http://theconversation.edu.au/cutting-cycling-funding-is-economic-non-

sense-7547.

12

Firstly I would like to thank everyone who has provided us with feedback on the choice (and change) of magazine that the Bicycle Institute (BI) undertook about 12 months ago. Feedback has been mixed, with a good dose of both the positive and the negative regarding the decision and choice of magazine that we decided to offer as part of our membership package. I would like to expand a bit on the decision here.

Prior to the 2011 AGM there were several discussions going on within the BI committee as to the type of publication we wanted to offer to our existing membership and as an inducement to attract new members. These discussions, and the options we considered (and reasons behind them), were canvassed in Pedal Update and ultimately taken to the 2011 AGM with samples of several magazines. At the 2011 AGM members who attended were asked to vote on a magazine and Treadlie was elected the magazine of choice.

At the time, the options boiled down to remaining with Australian Cyclist, or going with either Ride On (a publication of The Bicycle Network), or a relatively new magazine called Treadlie (published by Green Press). It was felt that Australian Cyclist had run aground somewhat – personally as a long term reader of this magazine (I have issues that date back to the early 90’s) - I was increasing (frustrated) in finding it driven by a recreational / sports cycling agenda with little coverage of commuting or cycling activism. Ride On, while ticking some of the right boxes and having a high degree of support as the possible magazine of choice, was felt reasonably similar to Australian Cyclist. On the other hand, Treadlie was a somewhat radical departure from both – a new magazine in the Australian market with a focus on everyday cycling culture, fashion and cycling for transport. I might add that one other reason for the choice of Treadlie (though not the only one!) was also logistic as The Bicycle Institute had decided to publish our newsletter, Pedal Update, 4 timers per year, and Treadlie aligned with this timeframe in its publication schedule.

There were (and I would argue still are) issues with all magazines choices, as any publication will have a certain bias, or an editorial / content direction that does not appeal to all readers. So whatever our decision was, we were aware that not everyone would be happy.

treadlie vs australian cyclist magazine

by JEREMY MILLER

13

sharrows At a recent meeting of the Marion BUG Peter Watts of OCW introduced the concept of a Sharrow.

A Sharrow is a road marking used on low volume, residential roads to indicate a cycling route to cyclists and to alert motorists that the particular road is used by cyclists. These markings are used in both North America and Europe.

Sharrows also encourage cyclists to travel away from parked vehicles so to avoid ‘dooring’.

Apparently the Unley and Holdfast Bay Councils are keen on them and we will be seeing Sharrows soon, especially along the Noarlunga rail line Greenway. Marion Council still prefer a separate path but this is expensive.

Peter indicated that Sharrows could be used on these low volume, low speed roads in conjunction with traffic calming and diversion (LATM), signage and shared-use path connections where needed. BI expects these low cost options will become common as the Government continues to tighten its fiscal belt.

Given this tension in the decision we decided to run with Treadlie, but with the op-tion to review the decision after a suitable period of time. Hence at the 2012 AGM we again took it on notice to examine the magazine choice. Again this was dis-cussed with the decision made to remain with Treadlie for the foreseeable future.

I would encourage anyone that has an opinion on this to contact me as I would re-ally be interested in knowing what people think of the magazine choice – converse-ly, if anyone wants to put forth practical alternatives for magazine options then please do so and hopefully we can consider these in any future debates.

By STEPHEN JANES

14

Over the last year The Bicycle Institute has been attending a series of seminars presented by the Centre for Automotive Safety Research (CASR) in conjunction with the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (DPTI), timed to coincide with the release of South Australia’s Road Safety Strategy 2020. The seminars were designed to disseminate information on best practices in key areas of road safety and identify issues and challenges that will face South Australia over the next decade. The target audience included policy makers and practitioners working in the areas of engineering, transport planning, road design, local government, health and more. Some topics covered included:

• Road Safety - Past Present and Future

• Priority issues for safer urban roads

• Speed and Speed Management

• High Risk Road Users

• Using road safety data

Our interest in attending has been threefold. Firstly we wanted to understand what information was being shared and how cyclists were considered in the debates on road safety. Secondly, to give a voice to Adelaide cyclists in a forum with a range of practitioners and representatives from local and state government. And thirdly, to learn something new about how we can best support Adelaide bike riders. Each of these is touched on below.

Regarding the information being disseminated as best practice for road safety it was exciting for us to hear that CASR and DPTI were both promoting speed reductions as the single most effective method to reduce road crashes, wanting to see speed reductions on many roads to 40k/h. Presenters called on attendees to support such reductions in their professional roles, acknowledging there is often strident public opposition to such reductions. A collective effort was called for. Something The Bicycle Institute was very pleased to hear, and continue to support.

road safety knowledge transfer sessions by KATIE GILFILLAN

15

Discussions regarding infrastructure were less encouraging and we were pleased to be present to raise our concerns for the safety of cyclists when infrastructure to improve motor vehicle safety was prioritised over other road users. Presenting motor-vehicle crash data information CASR advocated for road treatments includ-ing roundabouts, road side/centre barriers and intersection interventions such as centre barriers on approach to reduce motor vehicle accidents. It was worrying to hear these road interventions being advocated knowing the safety concerns they can cause for non-motorised transport. When questioned, the response was that there has to be some trade off for improved safety. Our clear response was that the safety of one transport mode should not be traded for another. That is, it is not OK for the safety of cyclists to be reduced because a road treatment is installed to improve motor vehicle safety.

Regarding what we learnt to better support cyclists in Adelaide, there was a broad range of information that has been helpful from ways accident data is recorded, to expectations of technological improvements such as cyclists alerts in cars, trends in road safety and future policy directions.

The Bicycle Institute has a keen interest in road safety and will continue to engage in policy discussions on behalf of Adelaide cyclists. We would like to thank CASR and DPTI for the invitations to attend and we look forward to future sessions, one of which we hear will focus specifically on cycling!

http://www.dpti.sa.gov.au/roadsafety/towards_zero_together

This year I attended the Melburn Roobaix, an annual fun ride inspired by the Queen

of classics, the Paris-Roubaix. Twelve sectors of Melbourne's bumpiest cobbled

alleyways were included in the 40km route and in its 7th year a record 2000

cyclists showed up to take part! The Roobaix is not a race, with no prizes for first,

second or third… just a great event showcasing the wonderful cycling city of

Melbourne, the off-road bike tracks along the river, the drains and the freeways.

The days ride ended with a celebratory lap of the Brunswick outdoor velodrome,

smiling faces, beer, food and the pledge to do it all again next year!

melburn roobaix By NICOLE DOWLING

16

Pedal Update is a newsletter of the Bicycle Institute of South Australia Inc.,

published four times per year. The Bicycle Institute is incorporated in South

Australia. Material published in Pedal Update is copyright unless otherwise stated.

Articles and graphics may be copied and republished by non-profit organisations,

provided the author and Pedal Update are given credit. Opinions published in Pedal

Update are not necessarily those of the Bicycle Institute.

We are always looking for contributions, send any stories, ideas or feedback to

Nicole Dowling: editor@bisa.asn.au

Road Hazards? Call DPTI: 1800 018 313

Reporting Dangerous Drivers? Call Traffic Watch: 131 444

www.sapolice.sa.gov.au/sapol/road_safety/traffic_watch.jsp