I was down in Sydney at the end of this week and so I took a morning jog to see the separated cycleways the city has built. It was good seeing what I had read so much about.
The first thing I noticed was that Sydney-siders get up far later than us Queenslanders. The cycleways were empty at 7:30am and most cyclists I saw were in general traffic. I was starting to wonder whether the cycleways were in the right place because at that time of the morning Brisbane's bikeways are packed.
But by 8am the cycleways were filled with riders. The cycleway along College Street was very busy and cyclists coming up the hill spread over the whole bi-directional cycleway. Fortunately the flow appears very tidal so there was no conflict.
It was good to see how Sydney has tried several different designs.
There are the standard kerbside bike lanes.
shared bus lanes (which are the bane of bus passengers who hate travelling at bicycle speeds)
shared pathways
separated bike lanes on the road pavement
and separated bike lanes at the footpath level.
Lots of style out there on the bikes - no wonder there is now a Sydney Cycle Chic web site.
There are some good points and some things that do not appear to work well. But more of that in my next post.
5 comments:
".. the bane of bus passengers who hate travelling at bicycle speeds.."?
Actually I think inner city bus lanes are often ideal for cyclists with little, if any, impact on the time taken by the bus to move passengers from block to block - certainly this is true during peak hour. There may be some exceptions, if there are (upwards) hills to encounter, but with typical average peak hour speeds in the CBD of less than 20km/hr, I doubt bus passengers notice cyclists at all. Unless it is as the cyclist breezes past while the bus waits for a left turning vehicle!
.. it is very useful and You will not increase modal share just by installing bike lanes without reducing speeds or having some physical protection.Bikes Sydney
There are several sections of shared bus and bike lanes where they are on an incline and I have been told by bus commuters that they often trundle along behind a bike struggling up the hill. A seperate bike lane would be better in these spots.
Get bicyclists off the footpath - dangerous, disrespectful and dumb
Nice friend Sydney separated bike lanes.
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