To send your own letter: email addresses are ben.carroll@parliament.vic.gov.au, martin.foley@parliament.vic.gov.au, please cc to portphillipbug@gmail.com.
Dear Mr Carroll, dear Mr Foley,
The Port Phillips Bicycle User Group wishes to express its frustration and disappointment with the announced abandonment of the Kerferd Rd pop-up bike lane trial. the abandonment of the Kerferd Rd pop-up bike lane trial.
This trial would have been
On a road with planned protected bike lanes, as part of a longer term project (Shrine to Sea)
On a very wide road, that extensive traffic modelling (by Port Phillip Council) had already established was suitable for space reallocated to active transport
The only component of the over-hyped "40km of new and improved bike lanes" that would deliver real safety improvements to people on bikes--- in fact we are getting 38km of paint and wayfaring signs
Providing safety to vulnerable road users at the dangerous pinch point under the light rail line.
Members of this Bicycle Users Group have engaged in consultations in good faith. We've met with the VicRoads team, and spent days working with the community consultation for the Shrine to Sea project.
The consultation for the Kerferd Rd project had many deficiencies. As we (the BUG) said to [VicRoads representative] when we met, the main way that residents were given to engage was via "drop a point on an online map". When an elderly BUG member pointed out that this isn't user friendly, we were told that they should "contact VicRoads directly"--- without contact details being given!
On the other hand, a misleading and scare-mongering anti-bike lane petition seems to have been over-valued.
We express strong concern that the ‘anti-bike’ lane petition is both misleading ((e.g. lots of concrete bollards) and scare-mongering. While we agree with some of the expressed local residents’ concerns - for instance how the pop-up lane would interact with the location of bins - the lack of consideration for design modification options or clarification of issues is dismaying. The outcome gives greater weight to these solvable issues rather than the safety of cyclists.
The Victorian government has delivered almost nothing for the safety of people riding bikes in Port Phillip. The St Kilda separated bike lane is stalled in the planning phase. The Shrine to Sea project is a very protracted consultation and now a chance is missed to demonstrate one of the key benefits of the project, which we believe raises doubts about the commitment to the whole project.
We would like to work with the project team to get the Kerferd Rd trial back on track while addressing reasonable resident concerns, such as flexible bollards being used rather than concrete bollards. Safer cycling for all should be the priority in a future with net zero carbon emissions.