Bike lanes are the latest conscripts in the City of Port Phillip culture wars: consistency and evidence are out.
Cycling is very popular in our city; most of us have a bike in the shed, and Port Phillip has the third-highest mode share in Melbourne [1]. Research research reveals that 70% of CoPP residents would like to ride more, but experience barriers--- chiefly, we don't want to ride with motor traffic [2]. Cities around the world have massively increased their ride share (and decreased air pollution and congestion) by building out protected bike lanes. Locally, the new lanes on St Kilda Rd have already increased ridership by around 300% [3].
In 2018, the council planned to build out a network of protected bike lanes over a decade [4]. This is a sparse skeleton of safe routes--- while everyone would be within 1km of a route, you may be riding the last 5 minutes home on shared neighbourhood streets. Back then, the bike lanes were the most popular among all the elements of the transport plan; in the review of the plan last year, protected bike lanes and intersections remained the popular actions for supporting people on bikes.
So this all sounds reasonable, right? Not according to some of our councillors: bike lanes are "popping up everywhere!" If only! The plan was for around 25km to be built by 2028; they've built only 2.5km of this.
According to one councillor, you "can't ride a bike if you've got groceries, small children, are elderly or disabled". Not only is this just wrong, it's missing the point-- having a bike lane nearby doesn't force you to use it, it just gives you more options. Even if you don't use it personally, it will get other cars off the road, leaving more space for you to drive and park.
Finally, to the claim that loss of parking will force small traders out of business. It's a reasonable fear, but there's no evidence for this: council studies show that remaining nearby parking will be adequate. The evidence is in the other direction: walking and cycling improvements can increase retail spend by up to 30% see e.g [5]. Similar studies also show that traders consistently overestimate the role that parking has in their success [6]. According to Shane Gardner, manager of bath house Wet on Wellington (City of Yarra) new bike lanes would "put 30 jobs at risk"--- that was 10 years ago. Now, the busy Wellington St bike lanes are rated as one of the safest places to cycle in the city--- and Wet on Wellington is still in business.
Last Wednesday, Council voted to replace the flagship bike lane policy with a weaker plan to make a "range of interventions" like painted bike symbols, sharrows, kerb outstands and street art. The thing is, when the DoT put exactly such a range of interventions in our streets two years ago, this very council demanded that they be ripped out.
On Wednesday, Council voted to "advocate to State Government to deliver protected bike corridors". Again, when the State Government proposed a protected bike corridor along Kerferd Rd (including substantial funding), this council advocated against it.
In a culture war, consistency goes out the window.
Cr Bond says "I'm proud to be part of the most anti-bike Council in Port Phillip's history", but the whole community is missing out: on state government investment in road safety, on reducing transport carbon emissions, on better health through active transport. And our kids are missing out on the simple pleasure of riding independently.
[1] Beck, Ben, et al. "Spatial variation in bicycling: a retrospective review of travel survey data from Greater Melbourne, Australia." (2021).
[2] Pearson, Lauren, et al. "Barriers and enablers of bike riding for transport and recreational purposes in Australia." Journal of Transport & Health 28 (2023): 101538.
[3] Department of Transport and Planning, Bicycle Counter Data. Link to latest stats.
[4] Move, Connect, Live, Integrated Transport Strategy 2018-28
[5] Transport for London, Walking and Cycling Economic Benefits summary pack, https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/economic-benefits-of-walking-and-cycling, and further references therein.
[6] Note to Store Owners: Not All Holiday Shoppers Drive, D. Zipper, Bloomberg, 9 Dec 2021, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-08/for-store-owners-bike-lanes-boost-the-bottom-line
