Behaviour change

The next PBT seminar is on behaviour change. This article from the New York Times presents an interesting American perspective on the European trend to bring about mode shift through making driving a car too inconvenient or too costly.

some fantastic quotes and factoids from the article:

• 'Our goal is to reconquer public space for pedestrians, not to make it easy for drivers'


• 91% of delegates tot the Swiss parliament catch the tram to work.


• 70% of Sihl City shopping mall in Zurich get there by public transport because it only has a sixth of the parking that an American shopping mall would have.


• Pedestrianised streets in central Zurich saw a 30% to 40% increase in pedestrian traffic when cars were banned.


• 'When I'm in other cities (outside Zurich) I always feel like I'm always waiting to cross a street. I can't get used to the idea that I am worth less than a car.'

Now compare it to a recent article in The Age where some retailers are bemoaning the impending closure of Swanston Street to traffic - part of the redevelopment of the street. Melbourne City Council are following the lead of European cities but are the retailers (and the media) willing to throw their weight behind 'reconquering public space for pedestrians'.

I look forward to seeing the outcomes of this brave and visionary political leadership.

Bicycle oposition

The roll out of improved facilities for cycling receives its fair share of negative press. Retrofitting bicycle facilities in our busy cities will result in pain because, for the most part, it means you have to take space from one mode and give it to the other.

Is it inevitable that improving safe cycle routes will result in articles like these against cycling?

• Daily Telegraph bemoaning cycle lanes as an Orwellian plot
  
• Daily Telegraph again bemoaning lawless cyclists
• Daily Telegraph once again against the roll out of cycleways in Sydney
• Daily Telegraph about bike lanes and bus stops
• Sydney Morning Herald on a class action against cycle lanes in the inner city
• The Age on the Melbourne Bike Hire scheme

There are many articles in support of cycling but this clearly illustrates the conflict caused by reallocating space to cyclists. Or is it just the line of a particular editor?

It does raise the question as to how we communicate with the public and how we deal with the pain that reallocating space will result in. Brisbane has largely taken the easy path in the inner city by largely using Bicycle Awareness Zones instead of Sydney's network of separated cycle paths. Brisbane may have avoided the negative backlash but will the BAZ signs make life better for cyclists in the CBD?

Bicycle Safety

In the Augusat 2010 issue of the Journal of the Australian College of Road Safety is a special issue dedicated to Bicycling Safety. They have these peer-reviewed papers on safety issues:

• Crash prediction models and the factors that influence cycle safety
• Cycling injuries in Australia: Road safety’s blind spot?
• Child cyclist traffic casualties: The situation in South Australia
• The effects of bicycle helmet legislation on cycling-related injury
• Cyclist visibility at night
• The role of traffic violations in police-reported bicycle crashes in Queensland
• Painting a designated space: Cyclist and driver compliance at cycling infrastructure at intersections

They also have the following articles:

• A note on the central stories of fatal and other cyclist accidents in Adelaide
• Piloting a Safe Cycle education program
• Encouraging safer cycling through the NSW BikePlan
• Cycling safety in the Australian Capital Territory
• Cycling safety in Victoria
• The Australian Bicycle Council and the National Cycling Strategy
• The Amy Gillett Foundation ‘A metre matters’ campaign and other initiatives
• The politics of cycling and cycling advocacy

There is lots to read and I have just started but an interesting peer reviewed article is the one on crash prediction models. The graph showing the improved safety due to increased numbers of cyclists is quite well known.
The reduction in risk as length of cycle lane increases:
And the reduced risk as speeds reduce:
Kerbside parking is always a problem for cyclists. It is interesting though that low parking utilisation in the kerbside lane is more dangerous for cyclists than high parking use. This is likely due to the fact that cyclists use the empty lane and then need to enter traffic when there is a parked car. This increases the risk as drivers may not expect them.

Bike share

Public bicycle hire schemes are the current international trend. Denver opened a new 500 bicycle share scheme in Denver on 22 April as reported in Transit Miami. The Company rolling out the scheme is B-Cycle, a partnership between Trek bicycles and Humana.
The B-cycle bikes are fitted with computers that track mileage and interpret this for the rider in terms of calories burned and carbon offsets earned. This info is downloaded when the bicycle is docked and registered users can access the information on-line to track their personal fitness.

The article in Transit Miami reports that Broward County in Florida recently approved B-cycle as the preferred supplier to deliver 200 bicycles at 18 stations in Fort Lauderdale, Hollywood Beach, and Pompano Beach. Here is an artists impression of one of the bike stations .

Weekend training cycle

The Saturday morning training ride just got a little safer in Sydney when Kingston Council approved a 12 month trial of no-standing restrictions on one of the most popular cycling circuits on Saturday mornings. An article in The Age gives the details.

The media has been full of articles recently that accuse cyclists of being a lawless bunch. It is good to hear of measures being taken to make the sports cyclists lot a bit safer. Creating safe sports cycling routes on weekends would be an excellent initiative to reduce the risk.

The city of Durban in South Africa reserves one lane of the main arterial into the city from the north (NMR Avenue) for cyclists on weekends. It is a popular training route running parallel to the beach and has had several deaths.

In 2009 New York City closed city streets on three consecutive Saturday mornings and gave them to cyclists, joggers and impromptu markets. It was called Summer Streets and was a huge success. They are doing it again in 2010 because of the popularity. Wouldn't it be great to try something like this in Brisbane as part of Bike Week?

Swanston Street redevelopment

I posted previously about how the Melbourne public supports a car free Swanston Street. The plans remove car parking and give cyclists a 2 meter wide bike lane next to the trams in both directions. The redevelopment will be completed by 2013 costing $25.6 million according to an article in The Age. The Council's media release says that the redevelopment of Swanston Street will have:

• A 24-hour ban on all cars (excluding taxis and authorised vehicles) to be implemented during 2010
• Taxis to be banned from mid-2012
• Four new public spaces with disability-compliant tram stops
• Tram tracks lowered and the bluestone and granite paving extended to the platform edge
• Two metre wide bike lanes – road rules will apply, cyclists must give way to tram passengers
• Service and delivery vehicles at restricted times in limited sections of the street
• New and consistent lighting, additional trees, florals, artworks and public seating installed along the street
• Additional pavement-based activity including outdoor cafes and innovative retail encouraged
• It remain Melbourne’s premier civic parade street.

This is a big win for pedestrians and cyclists although the shared space for cyclists and tram passengers at the stops is likely to be a major conflict point and will need to be watched. Pedestrians are already used to keeping an eye out for cars but once they are removed from the street will they remember to look out for cyclists before crossing?

The proposal was to be presented to Council on 2 February but no news yet as to decisions. What is interesting about this is the Lord Mayor's admission that his original views on returning cars to Swanston Street were wrong. He calls it his 'road to Damascus' where he 'saw the light'. Part of his conversion could be thanks to meeting New York's Mayor Bloomberg and seeing how he has given some of the busiest intersections in New York to pedestrians and cyclists and in doing so reduced congestion. Paul Steely White commented that New York's example can convince other cities to look after pedestrians and cyclists. This proves him right.

From a visit in 2008 I would say that cyclists and pedestrians on St Kilda Road around Flinders Street Station would welcome a bit more space at the expense of cars. Bicycle Victoria confirms that this is one of the most popular routes and dangerous spots for cyclists in the city.

Brisbane Cycle Centre

The Brisbane City Council has undertaken an assessment of the performance of the Cycle Centre located in the King George Square Bus Station. The assessment included a survey of current users of the facility. They have not published the report on-line but the Brisbane Times has a good article on it.

The Cycle Centre is owned by the Council but operated by Cycle2City. The photos are from their web site where they also have a video tour of the facility.

The main concern of the report is the slow growth in membership. At the time the research was done (June 2009) the centre was only at 50% capacity of the 420 spaces available. I popped in there a week ago to get stuff from the cycle workshop and they said they were around 75% full now. For the first week back after New Year I was impressed by how busy it was.Some of the reasons cited for the slow growth in membership were

• location: the centre is far from the main business centre of the city and around a third of members have to walk or catch a bus over 800m from the centre to their places of employment. Including a second Cycle Centre as part of a future Cross River Rail station in the Riverside precinct would be good. Although the Roma Street precinct is set rapidly growing the new buildings are all most likely to have their own cycle facilities for staff and so the need for the centre is reduced.
• Fee structure: At $4 a day for a 6 month membership or $8 for casual use ($5 to just park the bike) the cost puts many off using the facility. Reading the comments at the end of the article are interesting as cost seems to be the main reason many don't use the facility. Yet current users are happy that the cost is less than public transport and includes secure parking, a locker, shower and towel it is too expensive for many.
  
• Marketing: The report highlights poor marketing as a reason for the slow growth and the managers admit they took time to realise people would not just walk in the door. From a discussion with the manager six months ago I learned that one of their big marketing coups was approaching businesses instead of individuals. Approaching business without their own cycle facilities to buy memberships for their staff brought in quite a few new memberships. Businesses wanting better 'green' credentials but constrained by their facilities were willing to buy into this. Being located in an older part of the city where most buildings don't have end of trip facilities for cyclists would be good.

The Cycle Centre may have taken a bit of time to get going but I would hesitate to call it a white elephant (one of the comments on the news article). Although growth in membership may be slow there is further growth potential as the Roma Street precinct grows and improved cycle facilities are provided through the city. Within 5 years there will probably be a need for a second Cycle Centre in the city.

Brisbane's second Cycle Centre has now opened at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital busway station serving a very different market. It will be interesting to see how it performs over the next 12 months.

Bicycle accidents

According to The Age, recent research by the Monash University's Victorian Injury Surveillance Unithas shown that in Victoria the number of cyclists hospitalised or treated for injuries at emergency departments almost doubled between 1999 and 2007 from 1,236 to 2,294. Better news is that the number of deaths from cycling related crashes has leveled out though and is not seeing a similar increase.

According to the Census Journey to Work data the number of people commuting to work by bicycle increased just over 33% between the 2001 and 2006 Census. This however does not take into account the massive growth in the popularity of cycling as a recreational activity. According to Tony Fox, Chief Executive of the Amy Gillett Foundation, the rate of increase in injuries is lower than the rate of increase in cycling activity levels. Unfortunately I was unable to find any statistics to validate this claim.

Has anyone done any similar analysis for Queensland?

Outer suburbs, cycling and walking

I find it very interesting that the advertising for most of the new residential developments on the urban fringe emphasise walking and cycling in their advertising. Most of these developments have good cycling and walking networks within the developments but are too far from most employment to make cycling or walking to work viable.

This article in The Age highlights the problem in Melbourne based on a report by the Institute for Sensible Transport. Residents in wealthier inner suburbs travel as much as four times less per week by car (50km vs over 200km in outer suburbs) due to distance from employment and services and lack of public transport.

If the cycling and walking facilities in these new outer suburbs were integrated with high quality, frequent public transport services to the major centres the level of transport disadvantage in these areas can be significantly reduced. We should be building massive cycle and ride facilities at these line-haul stations and minimising the amount of park and ride provided.

Bikes and buses

There have been several articles recently about cyclists assaulting bus drivers. A high profile Sydney Morning Herald article recently reported about a cyclist illegally riding on the NW Transitway in Sydney assaulting a bus driver who had hooted and tried to run the cyclist off the transitway (or so the footage appears to show).

An interesting follow up article in the Sydney Morning Herald points to one of the factors that results in cyclists illegally using the Transitway. Apparently there are gaps in the cycleway constructed along the corridor that force cyclists onto the motorway. These issues were raised by interested parties when the Transitway first opened, although the RTA denies there are gaps in the cycleway.

CAMWEST, a group advocating better cycle infrastructure for Sydney's west, identified that "there is a barely passable alternative by going under Old Windsor Rd into Fletcher Close, Sherwood St & Hammers Rd. It involves a short walk of 20 or so metres. They identify a real danger of the intersection of Old Windsor Rd and Hart Drive (Cumberland Hwy) & point out that they would really prefer a bridge there to connect the cycle path.

The screen grab from Whereis.com clearly shows the issue cyclists have. South of Hart Drive there is a fantastic off-road facility and north of the intersection none.

What the incident highlights is that cyclists find it more attractive to use the Transitway than to use whatever facility is provided in these "gaps". Consistency in the provision of cycling infrastructure like this is vital or cyclists will find the path of least resistance. In this case, it is the Transitway.

Women and cycling

A recent article in Scientific American about increasing cycling quotes Jan Garrard, a senior lecturer at Deakin University in Melbourne, as saying

“If you want to know if an urban environment supports cycling, you can forget about all the detailed ‘bikeability indexes’—just measure the proportion of cyclists who are female,”

Research shows that women are more risk averse than men (in most aspects of life, not just cycling). Measuring the proportion of male to female cyclists thus is a good measure of the degree to which a city's cycle network adequately caters for more risk averse cyclists.

The article cites recent research in the USA shows that women are more likely to deviate from the shortest path to their destination to use off road pathways, bicycle boulevards and traffic calmed streets instead of cycle lanes on busy roads.

Queensland Transport and Main Roads' analysis of journey to work data in Bribane and the rollout of the city's bikeways illustrates the impact high quality cycle routes on off-road pathways and quiet streets can have on cycling activity levels. It would be interesting to look at the gender balance of cyclists using these corridors.

If we want more cyclists it is essential that we accommodate more risk averse cyclists - since most new cyclists are risk averse. There is a common misconception that commuter cyclists prefer on-road cycle lanes to off road pathways. The truth is that commuter cyclists prefer high speed routes with minimal delay AND minimal conflict with general traffic. The first two needs are delivered by on-road cycle lanes along main roads but not the last need.

For as long as our cycle networks are predominantly on-road the levels of cycling will remain low with a predominance of male cyclists.

Why we can't resist bicycle infrastructure

Elliot Fishman, the Director for the Institute for Sensible Transport, has written a commentary on the Federal Government's commitment of $40 million for cycle path infrastructure as part of its stimulus package. He supports the move but urges Canberra to think bigger, citing the USA's lead in investing US$4.5 billion since 2005 in walking and cycling infrastructure, and allowing people who cycle to work to claim US$20 per month for expenses.
$40 million will not go all that far when spread across Australia, but it is a start. Lets hope there is more in store once the global financial crisis is past.

BBC News Make London like Bogota (25 June 09)

By Martin Wiseman

VIEWPOINT
Professor Martin Wiseman
World Cancer Research Fund

Cycling 'People still cannot cycle safely'

UK towns and cities should become more like the Colombian capital of Bogota, at least in their transport policies, according to Professor Martin Wiseman, medical and scientific adviser at the World Cancer Research Fund.

In this week's Scrubbing Up health column, he says following the South American city's example would help prevent cancer.

When he became mayor of Bogota in Colombia in 1998, Enrique Peñalosa made it one of his priorities to make life easier for pedestrians and cyclists.

Eleven years later, the city has expanded cycle paths and pedestrian zones and improved parks.

Every Sunday and public holiday, over 120km of streets are closed to motor vehicles from 7am to 2pm and are used for walking, skating and cycling.

These are the kind of changes that make a city a nicer place to be, but it is about much more than that.

One of the major challenges we face as a country - and indeed all round the world - is that people are becoming less and less active.

This is obviously bad news for our health generally, but what is less well known is that being physically active also reduces risk of cancer.

'Not about the gym'

According to a recent YouGov survey, over half of us do not know about the link between physical activity and cancer prevention.

When it comes to our attitude towards our public spaces, we in the UK need to become a bit more like Bogota

But the stark fact is that the decline in physical activity levels across the world is one of the reasons scientists are projecting a doubling in global cancer rates over the next 40 years.

This does not mean we should all join a gym tomorrow.

In fact, it is the smaller changes that fit into our existing routines, such as walking or cycling to work rather than driving that can make a difference and we are also more likely to stick to them in the long run.

But it is no good people like me recommending that you trade in your car for a bike if the roads around where you live seem too dangerous to cycle safely.

This is why when it comes to our attitude towards our public spaces, we in the UK need to become a bit more like Bogota.

We at the World Cancer Research Fund want to see widespread safe walking and cycling routes throughout the country.

Right direction

To be fair, the UK is not doing badly at the moment.

According to Transport for London, there has been a 66% increase in cycling in central London between 2002 and 2007.

Cyclist in Bogota
A man cycling through Bogota on a car-free day last year

Also, three "sustainable travel demonstration towns" have been created that, within two years, led to an increase in walking of about 20% and in cycling of about 50%.

So there is no doubt we are moving in the right direction.

But have we got to the point where all of us can safely cycle to wherever we want to go?

The answer is "no" and that is why there is still a lot more work to do.

You could argue that it would be too expensive to make these sorts of changes, particularly in the current economic climate, but this is an investment in the health of the population.

Making these changes would help prevent many thousands of cases of cancer.

In fact, scientists estimate about a third of the most common cancers could be prevented if people ate healthily, maintained a healthy weight and were regularly physically active.

This is how high the stakes are, and this is why places like Bogota, with all the problems that exist there, are grasping the nettle and prioritising these kinds of changes.

And while they may cost a significant amount of money, the cost of doing nothing and sleepwalking our way towards a public health catastrophe is surely too high to bear thinking about.