How to contact the City of Port Phillip councillors

To fix a small issue like a pot hole or missing curb ramp, the fastest way is the use the app Snap Send Solve. If the issue isn’t resolved quickly, email portphillipbug@gmail.com and we’ll follow up at our regular meetings with Council officers.

But sometimes we need a BIG ISSUE fixed: we need a safe route to school, or a protected bike lane. Time to email our councillors!

Councillors are Heather Cunsolo Heather.Cunsolo@portphillip.vic.gov.au, Marcus Pearl Marcus.Pearl@portphillip.vic.gov.au, Tim Baxter Tim.Baxter@portphillip.vic.gov.au, Andrew Bond Andrew.Bond@portphillip.vic.gov.au, Louise Crawford Louise.Crawford@portphillip.vic.gov.au, Rhonda Clark Rhonda.Clark@portphillip.vic.gov.au, Peter Martin Peter.Martin@portphillip.vic.gov.au, Christina Sirakoff Christina.Sirakoff@portphillip.vic.gov.au, Robbie Nyaguy robbie.nyaguy@portphillip.vic.gov.au

Why we need a protected bike lane on Inkerman St

Inkerman St is one of the most dangerous routes in Port phillip

This is not just for people on bikes, but also for pedestrians and drivers. In the 5 year period to 2022, 33 crashes were recorded, with 13 involving bike riders and 10 involving pedestrians [1]. The plans for a protected bike lane also include the option of slowing traffic down to 40km/hr and incorporating extra pedestrian crossing points, which should improve safety for all users.

A painted bike lane is not consistent with road design guidelines for a road this busy

There are around 6300 vehicle movements in each direction daily along Inkerman St [2]. Australian roads guidance is that a road with this level of vehicles, and speed limit 50km/hr, should have segregated lanes [3].

BIKE LANES ALLOW KIDS AND YOUNG PEOPLE TO TRAVEL INDEPENDENTLY

Young people need to get around: to go to school, to visit friends and family, to get to sports and other activities— to live their lives as full members of our community. If they can ride or scooter safely, they can get out of ‘mum’s taxi’ and develop their own independence.

To reduce air pollution

Air pollution in East St Kilda is well above WHO safe air recommendations: a recent Guardian report estimated the PM2.5 levels as 7.4 µg/m3 [4]; the safe air recommendation is less than 5 µg/m3. By encouraging a modal shift towards less polluting modes of transport, we can improve the air quality, particularly for people living directly alongside very busy streets.

To fill in the missing link for travel to and from the south-east

There are very few protected bike lanes for travel to and from the south-east of Melbourne. Gardiner’s Creek trail is about 4km north of Inkerman. The Bay Trail is about 4km south. With a bike lane along Inkerman St and Inkerman Rd, the new St Kilda Rd bike lanes would join with the Djerring Trail (under the sky rail), allowing convenient access from the city, through East St Kilda, to Caulfield and beyond to Dandenong.

This missing link is a vital part of the network!

Sources:

[1] Report to City of Port Phillip Council, October 2023

[2] VicRoads Open Data Hub, accessed September 2023.

[3] Source: VicRoads Guidance for Strategically Important Cycling Corridors

[4] Source: Guardian Australia, 4th May 2023.

Update: Kerferd Rd bike lane August 2023

The Shrine to Sea project is starting consultation on their (much downgraded) masterplan, with the bike lane removed.  

Also, this Wednesday, the Port Phillip Council is deciding on what their position will be.   They have identified 3 options:  1. advocating for no bike lane, 2. advocating for the protected bike lane, or 3. advocating for a bike path in the median strip.  The report before council  clearly lays out that Option 1 does not address the significant safety issues already existing on the corridor, and Option 3 will lead to more substantial traffic disruptions.    On the other hand, Option 2 is consistent with achieving a more sustainable city, with liveable streets for everyone to enjoy. 

Despite the clear path forward here, I expect some Councillors to continue to amplify the scare campaign run by a small number of residents.   

Please come to Council this Wednesday 16th August (either in person or online) to make a short statement about how the bike lane would be good for you.   To do this, fill in the Request to Speak form by 4pm Wednesday, for agenda item 10.1.  If you don't feel comfortable speaking, your presence in support would be wonderful.   The meeting is at St Kilda Town Hall, 6.30pm.  Public comment is at the beginning, so you should be finished by 7.30pm.    

And if not, you can write to your local councillors--- email addresses are here. 

Separate to Council, the Vic Government is consulting on their draft masterplan (the one that had the bike lanes removed). To ask for their reinstatement— please fill in the survey at https://engage.vic.gov.au/shrinetosea.

Update: the outcome of the August council meeting was that the Council decided not to support the protected bike lane on Kerferd Rd. Voting for this were Cunsolo, Clarke, Sirakoff, Bond, Pearl. Supporting the protected bike lane were Baxter, Nyaguy, Martin, Crawford.

Community support for separated bike paths on Kerferd Rd

Press release here.

A diverse range of community and not-for-profit groups are calling on State Government to construct a safe bike lane on Kerferd Rd.   This would have many benefits for the whole community.

A separated bike lane would

• Encourage scooter users off the footpath, ensuring that footpaths remain usable for pedestrians, particularly older people and people with a disability 

• By making it possible for more people to ride, play an important role in improving cardiovascular health

• By making it possible for more people to ride, reduce transport emissions that contribute to climate change

• Enable kids and young people to make safer independent journeys to school and around town

A separated bike path along the length of Kerferd Rd-Albert Rd corridor was a key recommendation of the community panel for the Shrine to Sea project.  The panel made their recommendations after a year-long deliberative process.

A separated bike path on this corridor is supported by:

• The Heart Foundation

• Victoria Walks

• Port Phillip Emergency Climate Action Network (PECAN) 

• Bicycle Network 

• Port Phillip Bicycle Users Group

• Disability Resource Centre

• Better Streets Australia

• Port Phillip Ecocentre and Port Phillip Baykeeper

Supporters of a protected bike lane gather on Kerferd Rd.

QUOTES:

“Kerferd Rd is an extraordinarily wide corridor, with ample room for people walking, on bikes, driving and parking.  A separated bike lane would be a wonderful community asset that gives people more options for sustainable travel.  It would connect Anzac station and the new St Kilda Rd bike lanes, Albert Park, and the beach.”   

Port Phillip Bicycle Users Group president, Julie Clutterbuck.  

“The Heart Foundation supports the construction of protected bike lanes on Kerferd and Albert Roads. Active transport plays an important role in improving cardiovascular health. However, many are put-off cycling on busy roads with high levels of traffic where there is a greater risk of collision between cyclists and vehicles. Installing a separated cycle lane on Kerford and Albert Roads would help reduce potential collisions and provide cyclists with a safe and convenient way to travel by bike, making cycling a more attractive option for everybody.”

Peter Thomas, Heart Foundation National Manager,  Public and Local Affairs

“Victoria Walks supports the construction of protected bike lanes on Kerferd and Albert Roads. Research has demonstrated that people walking, especially older people and those living with disability, are often intimidated sharing paths with bikes. When we surveyed seniors on walking – generally, not specific to shared paths or cycling – and asked what measures might improve feelings of safety, the top rating suggestions were:
1. Better cyclist behaviour on shared paths
2. Reduce cycling speed on shared paths

The reasons for providing separated paths are further explained in Victoria Walks’ position statements on shared paths and footpath cycling and associated background research.

The increasing popularity of e-scooters, e-bikes and other emerging devices means that attractive, separated bike lanes will only become more essential to support those transport options and ensure that footpaths remain usable for pedestrians, particularly older people and people with disability.”

Dr Ben Rossitor, Executive Officer, Victoria Walks 

“The Port Phillip Emergency Climate Action Network (PECAN) supports the construction of protected bike lanes on Kerferd and Albert Roads. This very wide corridor has ample space to share for people walking, cycling and driving safely.  We know that well-designed and networked bike lanes will increase cycling, giving Melbournians more options for sustainable active transport.   

With the recent boom in e-scooters, attractive, separated bike lanes are also essential for ensuring that footpaths remain usable for pedestrians, particularly for older people and people with disabilities.”

Rhonda Small, for PECAN Co-ordinating Group    pecan.org.au@gmail.com

“Kerferd Road is a broad boulevard through the beach-side suburb that has plenty of road space for high quality bike infrastructure.   And just as critically, the route is also mapped as a Strategic Cycling Corridor (SCC) in the government’s plan for Melbourne’s arterial bike facility network.  It runs from the Albert Park Beach to the future new Metro underground station, which is just a few years from being operational.

Bike transport is no longer discretionary.  The Kerford and Albert Road corridor has been years in the planning and is part of multiple strategies which have been subject to much review and consultation.  It is incumbent on the government to proceed swiftly, efficiently and with singular purpose.”

Bicycle Network, www.bicyclenetwork.com.au

"The BetterStreets for Victoria and Australia coalition supports the construction of protected bike lanes on Kerford and Abbott Roads. These bike lanes would support our coalition members vision for safe, healthy, people-friendly, climate-friendly streets that are accessible to all of us, to give people more options to move around safely and enjoyably. When would be a good time to make streets safe for our children? If not NOW, when? The time to choose better is now. The benefits to the community go beyond just local children, teenager, and elderly independence - these corridors would elevate tourism, access to key destinations in Melbourne and Port Phillip generating significant economic activity to local businesses."

Dr. Megan Sharkey, Board, BetterStreets for Victoria and Australia

Port Phillip Ecocentre and Port Phillip Baykeeper

“Port Phillip EcoCentre wholeheartedly supports the construction of protected bike lanes on Kerferd and Albert Roads. Availability of well-designed and networked lanes for bikes and scooters will increase choice of these modes of transport, reducing our collective carbon footprint. 

Well defined lanes clearly separating transport modes will increase safety: reducing conflict between cyclists/scooters and cars on roads, and with pedestrians on footpaths; resulting in less stress for all concerned. Provision of sustainable active transport options to the beach, will also promote personal wellbeing through more time spent enjoying our beautiful Port Phillip Bay.”

Neil Blake, Port Phillip Baykeeper.

Background on the Kerferd Rd bike lane at the Port Phillip Bicycle Users Group blog.

Kerferd Rd bike lane (update April 2023)

TAKE action:

Write to your representatives! contact details are here.

The history

2018: The City of Port Phillip’s integrated transport strategy Move Live Connect designates Albert/Kerferd Roads as a priority bike route. CoPP prepares a Kerferd Rd safety trial, including a protected bike lane, supported by extensive traffic modelling.

However in the 2018/19 budget, the State Government committed $13m to the Shrine to Sea project, upgrading the Albert Rd/ Kerferd Rd boulevard including active transport links.

In the face of this, the Council decided not to proceed with their own trial.

The Shrine to Sea project has proceeded glacially, with extensive community consultation.

Over 2020-2021, a community panel met, considered evidence from subject matter experts, and together developed a vision for the boulevard. Among a suite of thoughtful recommendations: “Bike lanes to be interconnected for the entire length of the boulevard; Use landscaping to define a separate bike pathway on Kerferd Road to isolate bikes from cars.

Kerferd Rd bike lane, 2020

Pop-up lanes project

In 2022, VicRoads announced that as part of their pop-up bike lanes project, “40km of new and protected bike lanes” would be installed in the City of Port Phillip. Most of this was so-called “light touch” measures: renewing paint on existing on-road lanes, wayfaring signs, and speed humps.

The single substantive measure was a trial of a parking-protected bike lane on Kerferd Rd, between Richardson St and Canterbury Rd. This would include a bollard protected bike lane under the light rail near the Albert Rd/Canterbury Rd intersection. Protection from cars is essential on this stretch of road, as can be seen in the photo below.

In April 2022 VicRoads announced that following “community consultation” the trial would not go ahead.

Google streetview of lightrail underpass, showing a vehicle veering dangerously into the bike lane

Current situation:

The Shrine to Sea team is supposed to be releasing a draft plan in “early 2023”. They have been evaluating “5 different bike lane and road configurations”. As this is a Council road, council’s support is required for the project to go ahead. While some councillors have made their support for a protected bike lane clear, others are opposed to any changes. The support of Mayor Heather Cunsolo, who “talks the talk” on cycling, will be crucial.

Planning context

Kerferd Rd is an extraordinarily wide boulevard. At about 60m wide, it is similar to St Kilda Road, but has no tram lines or high density buildings. Few inner city streets offer such ample space for introducing simple safety improvements. There are two vehicle lanes in each direction, a very wide grassy median and a mix of angle parking and parallel parking against the curb. There are almost no driveways. After Canterbury Rd the boulevard is called Albert Rd, and runs alongside Albert Park, with service roads for much of the length. At the south-west end is the sea, at the north east end is the Shrine of Remembrance and the Domain. There are extensive sporting facilities in Albert Park, and nearby schools include Middle Park Primary, Albert Park Primary, South Melbourne Park Primary, and MacRob Girls High School.

Kerferd Rd is not a VicRoads declared road although Albert Road is. The Albert Rd/Kerferd Rd route is a State Strategic Cycling corridor, which are “the most important routes for cycling for transport”.

Strategic cycling corridors, December 2020

Albert Rd/Kerferd Rd is route 2 on the City of Port Phillip’s bicycle network, and has been identified as a high priority by Council for many years.

The need

Council’s original plan for Kerferd Rd identified the need for improvement here:

Kerferd Road has a very high number of crashes compared to other Council-managed roads in Port Phillip. Between 2016 and 2020, there were 24 recorded crashes along Kerferd Road. Of these, 11 involved cyclists; three received serious injuries. This site has the second highest number of crashes in the City of Port Phillip. This crash data has been provided by the Road Crash Information System (RCIS). This system is maintained and operated by the Department of Transport and Victoria Police.

Kerferd Road is a key link for bike riders and connects the Bay Trail bike path to the off-road paths in Albert Park Reserve, the new Anzac Station and to the proposed upgraded bike facilities on St Kilda Road and Moray Street.

Heat map from Strava shows existing heavy bike use of Kerferd Rd, similar to St Kilda Rd or Beaconsfield Parade

What the experts say

Separated bike lanes are essential for better mental and physical health: the Heart Foundation says that Victoria should be investing in separated bike lanes improve health, as well as support local businesses, save households money, and provide independence and freedom, especially for children, teenagers, the elderly and people with a disability. They estimate that $13 would be returned in value for every $1 spent.

Separated bike lanes make financial sense: Infrastructure Victoria says “if we provide alternatives that get more cars off the road, everyone benefits. For drivers, it means less time in traffic and travelling to the city becomes a better experience. For everyone else, the environmental and productivity benefits are huge.” An increase of 55% of people choosing to cycle is achievable and could save every inner Melbourne car driver around 18 minutes in traffic per week.

People with disabilities need bike lanes to get scooters off the footpath: Vision Australia advocacy manager Chris Edwards said vision-impaired Victorians were concerned about being hit by riders or tripping over parked hire scooters. “[In] our view there’s not the infrastructure that supports [scooters] – bike lanes, appropriate places where you can park the scooters so they’re not a hazard – still hasn’t caught up. Without [that]... they’ll be an ongoing issue.” Age article, Jan 2023.

Community views

Broad-based surveys of Port Phillip residents consistently reflect support for protected bike lanes (the pop-up painted bike lanes by the DoT in 2022, on the other hand, were controversial). For example, the most popular element of Council’s Integrated Transport Strategy was “Deliver a network of dedicated and continuous priority bike lanes to create safer routes for all ages and abilities”. Surveys completed in 2018 by the City of Melbourne found that 83% of respondents living in Melbourne and adjacent municipalities (including City of Port Phillip) would aim to ride if a protected bike lane was provided compared to 22% who say they would be confident to ride on conventional painted bike lanes (without buffers).

More community views (from Heart Foundation, Victoria Walks, PECAN, and others) in a joint statement here.

The concerns raised by the anti-bike lane lobby include: “Safety - a bike track between the walking path, nature strips and the road, puts the residents at risk of tripping over the concrete bollards. Many residents along this road are elderly and transition from car, pathway and then into their property and they would be at more risk if this plan goes ahead.  Duplication - There is already a bike path for our 'much loved' bike riders. Even bike riders will not benefit from these changes. Parking - Albert Park residents pay a fee to the City of Port Phillip council to park out the front of their own homes. Yet, this plan will reduce current parking for Kerferd Rd residents.  Traffic chaos- Kerferd Road currently does not have any traffic issues. One lane WILL cause traffic to bank up at the lights at Beaconsfield Parade. Expenses - it is believed that finance (in excess of $12-16m) has already been earmarked for this project with the Victorian State Government. “

These claims are either entirely without evidence, can be mitigated by good design, or are just the cost side of the ledger, without considering the benefit side. For example: while some car parks may be lost over a rather long stretch, car parking has been prioritised under most suggested plans, and almost all of it will be retained. For example: Kerferd Rd does have traffic issues, not only the safety issues mentioned above but also hooning. Traffic modelling specific to Kerferd Rd indicates that reducing the road to one lane will not induce “traffic chaos”. For example: the expense of cycle lanes is off-set by improved public health, reduced traffic congestion, improved air quality, and reduced greenhouse emissions.

Inkerman St safe cycling corridor background

TAKE ACTION!

Write to your Councillors and tell them you want a protected bike lane on Inkerman St.

Inkerman St is one of the routes identified in the City of Port Phillip’s Integrated Transport Strategy to be prioritised for protected safe cycling. It is also classified by the Victorian government as a strategic cycling corridor.

In May 2021 Port Phillip council officers prepared an update on the Inkerman Safe Travel Corridor. Inkerman St between Orrong Rd and Fitzroy St was identifed as the highest priority bike corridor for council delivery.

Factors influencing this include:

• As a connector between the (soon-to-be-completed) St Kilda Rd separated bike lanes and Caulfield station/ Monash Caulfield/the Djerring trail (under the skyrail on the Dandenong line), this is of high strategic value

• This street has a poor safety record, with 50 crashes recorded in the 5 years to 2019, 16 involving bike riders and 17 involving pedestrians.

• The existing narrow painted bike lanes do not mitigate the safety risks to bike riders.

• Usage of the corridor by people on bikes is high and increasing.

OPtions for the safe cycling corridor

This report presented three options for improvement. (A fourth option, a bi-directional path on one side of the road, was not pursued due to low safety benefits.) The italicised text and images following are from the report.

Option 1: Wide protected bike lanes with parking on one side of the street

Option 1 separates the bike lane from parked cars with metre wide islands at kerb height that provide a place for passengers to enter or exit a parked vehicle. This is the safest option for all users. Inkerman Street is wide enough so that, with the removal of the central median, the bike corridor can be included without reducing the number of cars that can drive on the road.

Option 1 will require 124 of 189 parking spaces to be removed.

Option 1 is the safest option for bike riders and Council officers recommend developing a concept for this option.

Option 1 is the preferred option for keeping the street open for everyone to use: people on bikes, scooters, and e-bikes, travelling at different speeds, can easily share the bike lane. By making the protected lanes attractive for all these users, it also keeps the traffic lane free for faster-moving (40km/hr) vehicles.

Option 2: Narrow kerbside bike lanes with parking on both sides of the street.

Option 2, like Option 1 is a kerbside bike corridor with a protective kerb. Option 2 retains more parking by reducing the width of traffic and bike lanes. This will limit areas where faster riders (including e-bikes and e-scooters) can overtake to breaks in the separator kerb including areas where there is no parking, at intersections, or they may ride in the traffic.

While Option 2 retains parking on both sides of the road, about 46 parking spaces will be removed adjacent to driveways to provide sightlines between drivers and bike riders. In addition, up to 20 spaces will be removed to support turning movements and avoid reducing intersection capacity.

Option 3: Painted buffers without a physical barrier.

The third option uses painted buffers rather than a physical barrier (low kerbs). While bike lanes with painted buffers on both sides are safer than the current painted bike lane, they do not provide a physical barrier between moving or parked cars and people riding bikes.

City of Melbourne surveys found that 22% of respondents would be confident to ride on typical bike lanes painted on roads, 46% of would aim to ride if double buffered bike lanes were provided while 86% of respondents would ride in protected bike lanes.

Buffered bike lanes require a maximum of 50 parking spaces to be removed to improve sightlines at driveways and intersections.

What about the glen eira section?

Inkerman St is in the City of Port Phillip up to Hotham St. Between Hotham and Orrong Rd it is shared between the City of Port Phillip (north) and the City of Glen Eira (south). East of Orrong it is in Glen Eira (and then named Inkerman Rd).

The City of Glen Eira’s transport strategy has a target of 50% of all trips to be taken by non-car transport by 2031. However this is purely aspirational, with few actions to support it. The main action for cycling was to “Plan and design a pilot cycle corridor improvement project with a protected cycleway to encourage an increase in cycling.” The location chosen for this corridor was Inkerman Rd, which shares the same strategic benefits as the connecting Inkerman St.

Anti-bike lane campaign Starting in 2019, there was a concerted anti-bike lane campaign by some residents of Inkerman Rd. Key concerns were safety and loss of parking (as well some other expressed concerns such as people from outside the area using “their” street). The campaign was very heated, with councillors requesting that they not be harassed by people opposing the bike lanes.

In November 2022 Glen Eira Council officers released a massive report (over 500 pages) on the Inkerman Safe Cycling Corridor Trial. They recommended a bi-directional bike lane on one side of the road. (This was probably due to it requiring fewer car park removals, despite this lay out being identified by Port Phillip as having lower safety benefits for bike riders).

On 22 November, the Council carried a motion that Council “Ceases all work on the project and no longer proceeds to community consultation”. The motion was carried 5/4 with the support of Crs Esakoff, Magee, Cade, Parasol and Zmood.

Current situation

While the eastern section in Glen Eira is a lost cause with the existing Glen Eira Council members, in Port Phillip between Hotham and Fitzroy St we can still choose to make a street that is open for everyone to use.

As of writing (March 2023) we are waiting for the Port Phillip Council to consider the concept designs prepared by Council officers. After that, it will go out to community consultation.

We need a protected bike lane trial on Kerferd Rd

Sign our petition to reinstate the bike lane trial on Kerferd Rd

The history

2018: The City of Port Phillip’s integrated transport strategy Move Live Connect designates Albert/Kerferd Roads as a priority bike route. CoPP prepares a Kerferd Rd safety trial, including a protected bike lane, supported by extensive traffic modelling.

However in the 2018/19 budget, the State Government committed $13m to the Shrine to Sea project, upgrading the Albert Rd/ Kerferd Rd boulevard including active transport links.

In the face of this, the Council decided not to proceed with their own trial.

The Shrine to Sea project has proceeded glacially, with extensive community consultation, and a draft design expected to go out for consultation in 2022.

Kerferd Rd bike lane current condition

Pop-up lanes project

In 2022, VicRoads announced that as part of their pop-up bike lanes project, “40km of new and protected bike lanes” would be installed in the City of Port Phillip. Most of this was so-called “light touch” measures: renewing paint on existing on-road lanes, wayfaring signs, and speed humps.

The single substantive measure was a trial of a parking-protected bike lane on Kerferd Rd, between Richardson St and Canterbury Rd. This would include a bollard protected bike lane under the light rail near the Albert Rd/Canterbury Rd intersection. Protection from cars is essential on this stretch of road, as can be seen in the photo below.

In April 2022 VicRoads announced that following “community consultation” the trial would not go ahead.

Google streetview of lightrail underpass, showing a vehicle veering dangerously into the bike lane

Planning context

Kerferd Rd is an extraordinarily wide boulevard. Few inner city streets offer such ample space for introducing simple safety improvements. There are two vehicle lanes in each direction, a very wide grassy median and a mix of angle parking and parallel parking against the curb. There are almost no driveways. After Canterbury Rd it becomes Albert Rd, and runs alongside Albert Park, with service roads for much of the length. At the south-west end is the sea, at the north east end is the Shrine of Remembrance and the Domain. There are extensive sporting facilities in Albert Park, and nearby schools include Middle Park Primary, Albert Park Primary, South Melbourne Park Primary, and MacRob Girls High School.

Kerferd Rd is not a VicRoads declared road although Albert Road is. The Albert Rd/Kerferd Rd route is a State Strategic Cycling corridor, which are “the most important routes for cycling for transport”.

Strategic cycling corridors, December 2020

Albert Rd/Kerferd Rd is route 2 on the City of Port Phillip’s bicycle network, and has been identified as a high priority by Council for many years.

The need

Council’s original plan for Kerferd Rd identified the need for improvement here:

Kerferd Road has a very high number of crashes compared to other Council-managed roads in Port Phillip. In the five-year period ending in June 2017, there were 25 recorded crashes on Kerferd Road that resulted in injury to bike riders, drivers and pedestrians.

• 15 crashes resulted in injury to bike riders

• 1 crash resulted in injury to a pedestrian

• 10 crashes caused serious injuries

Kerferd Road is a key link for bike riders and connects the Bay Trail bike path to the off-road paths in Albert Park Reserve, the new Anzac Station and to the proposed upgraded bike facilities on St Kilda Road and Moray Street.

Heat map from Strava shows existing heavy bike use of Kerferd Rd, similar to St Kilda Rd or Beaconsfield Parade

What the experts say

Separated bike lanes are essential for better mental and physical health: the Heart Foundation says that Victoria should be investing in separated bike lanes improve health, as well as support local businesses, save households money, and provide independence and freedom, especially for children, teenagers, the elderly and people with a disability. They estimate that $13 would be returned in value for every $1 spent.

Separated bike lanes make financial sense: Infrastructure Victoria says “if we provide alternatives that get more cars off the road, everyone benefits. For drivers, it means less time in traffic and travelling to the city becomes a better experience. For everyone else, the environmental and productivity benefits are huge.”

Community concerns

Many community concerns were raised about the trial, include a scaremongering petition that was circulated claiming that the trial would “mean a loss of parking spots, a bike lane (where one already exists) and using ugly concrete bollards between the nature strip and the parked cars”.

Screenshot from the anti-bike lane trial petition

Rather than respond to these concerns with either modifying the design or by correcting misinformation, or even by pointing out that a trial would give everyone the chance to identify issues and correct them, VicRoads abandoned the project.

Sign ouR Petition to Local Member of Parliament, Minister Martin Foley, and Roads Minister, Ben Carroll.

In our petition, we ask for the re-instatement of the trial. This will allow any issues to be addressed ahead of the planned installation of permanent, separated bike lanes in the Shrine to Sea project.

Latest Park St bike plan misses the mark

PARK ST SOUTH MELBOURNE.    At the Port Phillip Council meeting on 20th October, the Council resolved send a revised bike lane design for Park St out to consultation.    The revision is a significant downgrading of the plan presented to Council in March.  The March plan had protected, on-road lanes between St Kilda Rd and Moray St (and was a substantial improvement on the first plan).  In order to preserve parking, the new plan moves the bike lane on to the footpath between St Kilda Rd and Kings Way.    This makes it a worse experience for both pedestrians and cyclists, with no separation beyond paint, and a loss of directness as the bike lane winds up onto the footpath from the road.   It's also rated by the engineers as significantly less safe.    It's disappointing that Council has decided that walking and cycling needs to make way for parking, despite stating that their priorities are the opposite.  

Nevertheless, the project does implement the council's bike lane strategy and is an improvement on what is now there.   

Our submission to the consultation:

The current plans for the bike lanes are significantly worse than the plans proposed in March. In the earlier plan, the cycle lanes between St Kilda Road and Kingsway were protected and on-road. In this plan, they are moved onto the footpath.

This change...

* Provides a less attractive experience for cyclists, with a less direct path winding up and down from the footpath.

* Has worse sightlines, with lack of clear priority at side-streets

* Is more dangerous for pedestrians, as quantified in the supporting documents provided

* Is more dangerous for cyclists, as quantified in the supporting documents provided

* Takes space away from pedestrians, in direct contravention of the Move Live Connect strategy which is supposed to prioritise them.

This change has been implemented in order to provide a handful of car parks, again in contravention to the Move Live Connect strategy which is supposed to prioritise active transport.

Between Kings Way and Moray St, the temporary bike lanes are a very good solution and we hope they become permanent.

While the changes are an improvement to current conditions and hence we support them, they also represent a significant missed opportunity for an excellent bike connection to the new station and will be a weak point in our future network.

Please make a submission to the consultation by 12 December: https://haveyoursay.portphillip.vic.gov.au/park-street-streetscape-improvement-project

Safe space for cycling and walking

Proposal: that the City of Port Phillip and VicRoads install pop-up bikes lanes on key routes to ensure safe distancing during exercise and commuting. We also request that Council widens footpaths in well-used shopping streets to allow safe space for walking.

During the pandemic shut down, we’ve seen popular recreational routes (such as the Bay Trail) become quite busy, with poor prospects for maintaining social distancing.

As we consider easing restrictions and returning to work, maintaining social distancing on public transport will be challenging and by some estimates, will reduce capacity by 90%.

In order to ensure safe exercising now and safe commuting in the future, we are asking CoPP to install temporary bike lanes with bollards, water barriers, or even by just removing parking lanes.

Precedents: This has been implemented extensively overseas in cities such as Berlin and Milan, and also by the City of Melbourne.

Supporting council’s long-term transport planning: The routes we suggest below are either State strategic bike routes, or part of the Council’s planned bicycle network. Pop-up bicycle lanes in these locations would support a more informed consultation process when the time comes to consider making them permanent.

Suggested routes: Prioritise routes that are popular for recreation, key commuter routes, or routes where there are ample alternatives for car parking or vehicle traffic, and routes that join up with City of Melbourne improved routes.

• Beach Road/ Marine Parade/ Beaconsfield Parade: This is a popular com- muter cycle route, yet on the beach side there is no continuous on-road bike lane, and on the other side, it is in the door zone. Even with reduced motor traffic volumes, it is unsafe. Furthermore, installing a pop-up bike lane would take pressure off the parallel Bay Trail, which has become very crowded with joggers and recreational cyclists. This could easily be done by re-allocating the clear way/car parking along Beaconsfield Parade into an on-road bike lane, protected by temporary bollards.

• St Kilda Rd: A key commuter route, and one that was recognised by the RACV Strategic Cycling corridor review (January 2019) as offering the most potential for meeting the objectives of the Victorian Cycling Strategy. Again, this could be easily done by removing car parking, or reallocating a traffic lane.

• Chapel St: Another important commuter route recognised by the RACV review, and one where the car parking could be removed to form a bike lane.

• Albert Rd/ Kerferd Rd: There are plans for separated bike routes (with State government agencies leading), but in the meantime temporary bike routes can be installed. Council has already made extensive traffic studies of this route.

• Moray St: An important commuter route connecting to the City of Melbourne. This has protected cycle routes on half its length already.

Safe space for walking: We also suggest widening footpaths in well-used retail areas. As cafes and restaurants have moved to take-away only, on our narrow streets it’s difficult for customers to queue while leaving room for pedestrians to safely walk past.

• Allow shop owners the option of reserving curbside car parking areas directly in front of their shops as "safe space for standing" zones, marked off by bollards or the like.

• Re-allocate curbside carparks in retail streets with narrow footpaths to walking. Suitable streets here include stretches of Carlisle St, Bay St, Barkly St, and Ormond Rd Elwood.

Councillor's Ride February 2020

Our latest Councillor’s ride was for Canal Ward, but in fact we spent a good deal of time in Lake Ward. Our focus was the planned protected bike routes on council’s Integrated Transport Strategy.

Slightly blurry, but the traditional pre-ride photo!

Councillors Tim Baxter, Katherine Copsey, Dick Gross and Louise Crawford joined us. Mayor Bernadene Voss sent her apologies, as did local MPs James Newbury and Martin Foley.

The route we took is here. Highlights were:

• Old bike friendly pinch points on north end of Tennyson St, Elwood. While these are a little narrow for people on wide bikes or trailers, they do the job of traffic calming while keeping people on bikes from being squeezed. We compared this to the new plastic medians further south on Tennyson. The councillors indicated that those pinch points were a mistake and would not be repeated (and some have been removed).

• Future ITS bike route 8, on Dickens St. This is a fairly wide street forming a great connection between Balaclava and the beach. Currently there is very little bike infrastructure on the route, though there is an advanced stop box at Beach Rd.

• St Kilda Marina. The council is currently planning the renovation of this. The design will be done by the successful private tenderer, but the guidelines emphasise the primacy of pedestrian and cyclist movement through the site. There were some different opinions about the possibility of a drawbridge across the entrance—- while this would give people more access to the breakwater, it also has an estimated cost of $5 million.

• Bay Trail between Marina and the Jetty. We spoke about the conflict in these areas at peak times, with cyclists who just want to pass through mixing it with pedestrians, dawdlers and tourists enjoying the space. We suggested the possibility of re-routing the path behind the sea baths. Another possibility is to make the on-road lane fully separated at this point, to accommodate both the roadies and the people using the Bay Trail.

• Bay Trail at Catani Gardens. In 2019 the Bay Trail here was closed for two weeks to accommodate a music festival, with cyclists given a so-called “detour” along Beaconsfield Parade. This was not suitable for many Bay Trail users. The councillors said that that would not be repeated, so thank you to everyone who gave feedback to council at the time.

• Connection between the Bay Trail and Fitzroy St. This is a bit of a mess.

• Fitzroy St. The bidirectional trail here is often nominated as one of the areas where cyclists feel least safe, because drivers do not think to look for people travelling in the counterflow direction. Let’s not build more of these.

• ITS route 6, Grey St and Inkerman St. Glen Eira Council recently confirmed that the continuation of this route, along Inkerman Rd to Caulfield, will be their Safe Cycling Corridor pilot project. It will connect the off-road bike path below the SkyRail, to the future protected bike lanes on St Kilda Rd. This is currently quite challenging to ride, with Grey St having no bike lanes and Inkerman St having only narrow lanes in the door zone. We discussed whether it would be possible to retain two lanes of parking on Inkerman St with separated bike lanes. There is currently a median that could be removed to free up space for this.

Thanks to every one who came along!

Park St-- an eloquent plea to Port Phillip Council

An address to Port Phillip Council by Middle Park resident, and public health expert, Dr Claudia Marck, 18/9.

I’m Claudia Marck and I’ve been a resident of Port Phillip for over 10 years.
However I grew up in the Netherlands where, just like 43% of the population, I cycled daily from a young age so I’m a confident cyclist and know what good cycling infrastructure looks like.
I cycle almost daily from Middle Park to my work at Melbourne University. It keeps me fit and active. It’s an efficient and cost-effective method of getting to and from work as it’s faster and cheaper than public transport or driving. I should mention, I do also drive a car when I have to.
As a public health academic, I’m well aware of the range of health benefits of active transport. In Australia 55% of adults don’t reach recommended physical activity levels and two thirds of adults and one quarter of young people are overweight. This is a major cause of chronic disease. I can also touch on the climate emergency but others have done that already tonight. So I think the benefits of promoting cycling is overwhelming. Getting more people on bikes also clears up the road for people who have to drive because of disability or other reasons.
In terms of behaviour change, science is clear that behaviour that is learned early in life is more likely to stick. So wouldn’t it be great to get kids and young people cycling to school and help them reach recommended physical activity levels and prevent overweight and associated chronic disease. For students to cycle to universities and TAFE. For people like us to cycle to work and the supermarket and not having to take the car to the gym. The biggest problem at the moment is that it’s simply unsafe to do so.
I’ll get to my point now, I’d like to ask that you prioritise safe cycling infrastructure. What does that mean? It means bike lanes that you would feel comfortable letting young kids cycle on. This means a bike lane that is physically separated from the foot path from parked cars and most importantly, physically separated from the road. If there is no physical barrier, it means cars, taxis, Ubers, delivery vans and trucks will use bike lanes as an overtaking lane, pick up spot, loading zone or swerve into when they’re looking at their phone. This is a reality for me every single day. I get cut off, pushed into the traffic by parked cars pulling out, get doored, have to go onto the road because it’s blocked etc. This doesn’t happen on bike lanes with physical barriers.

As a driver, I also prefer a physically separated bike lane, as it can be scary overtaking cyclists on narrow roads.
So in conclusion, a safe network of connected bike lanes should be priority for a healthy and active community. I hope you can find a way to prioritise a continuous separated bike lane on Park St as part of the domain precinct master plan.

More on Park St

First post on Park St is here.

We are continuing to argue for completely separated and safe bike lanes on Park St. The draft masterplan shows separated lanes east of Kings Way, and painted lanes between car parking and moving vehicles west of Kings Way.

In August the BUG met with Port Phillip Mayor Dick Gross and council officers, who said that while active transport was being “prioritised” on this route, they did not want to lose a number of car parking places, particularly the ones in front of the properties on the north side of Park St, between Law St and Kings Way which do not have off-street parking from Park St (there is however rear lane access). The properties on the south side of the street have off-street parking.

Council’s masterplan prioritises on-street car parking here

While there is currently a lot of room on this section of Park St, the plan is for new tram tracks to be installed, as part of the Melbourne Metro project. With the new tram tracks, there will still be sufficient room for completely separated bike lanes: this is a matter of priorities.

Council plans to build the separated lanes on the east end in FY 2019/2020. The new tram tracks are not expected to be built for another 5 years or so, when Melbourne Metro is finished.

We are advocating that when council builds the east end separated lanes this year, they mark parking-protected lanes, with temporary flexible bollards, on the west end. This will allow people to connect the separated lanes on Moray St with the ones on Park St, at least for some years. Our submission is here.

Councillors' Ride of the Gateway Ward

On Saturday 30th March the BUG took Councillor Ogy Simic and Mayor Dick Gross for a ride around Gateway Ward to look at some bicycle infrastructure, both the problems and the good new things. Our route and list of issues is here.

Despite the chilly temperature, strong winds and looming grey clouds, we were lucky to get sunshine to ride in. Here we are starting at the Port Melbourne Rotunda.

We made an early stop on the Bay Trail at the Sandridge lifesaving club. Here, the trail diverts away from the waterfront and runs along Beacon Rd. We were concerned that the bus stop (below) is a hazard, as the advertising blocks sight lines, making it difficult for cyclists to see people waiting at the bus stop or oncoming cyclists.

Next was a ride along Route 4 of the Integrated Transport Strategy (ITS), the Garden City extension. Beacon Rd needs an on-road protected route, especially through this roundabout—-

Route 4 then becomes a shared path through the Garden City Reserve. Shared paths are not optimal (they are unpleasant for cyclists and pedestrians), and we hope no new shared paths will be constructed as part of this project. There is a short connection missing between Garden City and the Sandridge Trail.

On to the Sandridge Trail itself: we had a look at those irritating railing chicanes.

Then over to Cecil and Moray Streets. We were impressed with the new separated path on the north end of Moray St, and the associated protected roundabouts. Hopefully all the new ITS routes are up to this standard.

On the protected bike lane on Moray St

All good things must come to an end! Moray St fizzles out when it crosses the border into the City of Melbourne, and our hours of sunshine were also up.

Thanks to Ogy and Dick for your support for cycling; Pierre and Brendan for braving the weather and coming along; Simon for the photos; Dennis and Rochelle for keeping us on track; and Liz, Geraldine and Jo for the route planning and the admin support.

Port Phillip Council's new Transport Strategy: a massive leap forward

The Move Connect Live Integrated Transport Strategy rightly emphasises Active Transport, and backs this up with strategic and ambitions plans for action.

At the heart of the cycling strategy is a plan to build separated cycle lanes along 11 cycling corridors, with plans for 3 more after 2028.   

Proposed cycling corridors. Original map here.

This is excellent:  we've seen cycling strategies come and go with mealy-mouthed "action items" focussing on "encouraging behaviour change"  but study after study has shown that the single best way to substantially increase the number of people cycling is to protect them from heavier vehicles.

In the absence of protected lanes, the proportion of trips taken by bike is likely to remain under 3%, undertaken mainly by committed enthusiasts.       By building a network of separated lanes, cities like Seville and London have massively boosted their cycling rates.   Separated lanes also result in higher cycling rates among women, children, and the elderly.

The network proposed is reasonably comprehensive, although Fisherman's Bend seems rather under-served.   

Of course the success of this policy will be in the implementation, but comparing this strategy to our neighbouring councils shows that City of Port Phillip is light years ahead:  Glen Eira's recent Integrated Transport Strategy could come up with no better than to "plan and design a pilot cycle corridor improvement project with a protected cycleway to encourage an increase in cycling"; similarly, Stonnington's cycling strategy has a lot of auditing, liaising, encouraging participation, and "investigating opportunities", but the only plan for actual provision of safe cycling routes is improving some existing off-road trails.  Well done CoPP!

The strategy is not perfect.   Omissions include:

• Fisherman's Bend needs to be included in the cycle network.

• The following roads should be included in the network, for construction post-2028 if necessary: Glen Huntly Road; Glen Eira Rd east of Brighton Rd.

• The signalised crossing of the Elwood Canal with Glen Huntly Road has already been supported by Council, and should appear on either in the pedestrian or cycling section of the plan.

• The off-road shared/cycle paths form important commuter links, and should be included in the map to give a full picture. These include the cycle lanes in Albert Park, the Sandridge cycle trail, and the Elwood Canal. (The Bay trail is included.)

• Route 9, labelled as Acland St/Mitford St/Beach St, seems to be mapped to Selwyn Avenue, rather than Beach St.

• Route 7, Sandringham Line/ Westbury St - Ripponlea to Windsor, should include connection to Glen Eira. There is already a well used route to Glen Huntly Rd on both sides of the railway line east of the railway line, but there needs to be a safe crossing of Hotham St. This route could include a contraflow lane on Lyndon St, which is currently one-way.

Otherwise, an excellent step forward.   

I encourage filling in the survey (before 30th July) to show your support (and identify any other gaps).

Councillors' tour of the Lake Ward

On Tuesday 12th June we took Port Phillip Councillors Katherine Copsey, Andrew Bond, David Brand, Dick Gross and Ogy Simic on a tour of some interesting sites in the Lake Ward in Port Phillip. (Councillor Tim Baxter and Albert Park MP Martin Foley sent their apologies.)  Lake Ward covers St Kilda, Albert Park, and Middle Park.   The handout with the route is here. I've added some of the extra things we noticed on the ride to the map below (in purple).

11 km. Route taken by Councillors Ride, Lake Ward, June 2018.

We started at St Kilda Town Hall.   The first thing we observed was the time it took for us to walk across the pedestrian crossing at Brighton Road.   These crossings seem optimised for cars, rather than pedestrians.    (A recent article describes this problem.)

We headed up towards the Junction.   We briefly stopped at Inkerman St, where a single car parking place creates a pinch point in a merging zone.

Going up the hill, we looked at how the St Kilda Rd separated bicycle lanes project can be fairly easily implemented as a Copenhagen lane on the edge of the road.   By contrast, the challenge of fitting protected lanes into the Junction are considerable.   However creating a safe way for people on bikes to get through this intersection will be crucial.

We then headed down the bidirectional path on Fitzroy St.  This has been identified as one of the place where cyclists feel most unsafe in surveys by BikeSpot and VicRoads.   There is a protected lane for cyclists, but because drivers do not expect cyclists to be moving in a counterflow direction, they often fail to yield at intersections.   

On the way we tried to use the council public bike pump outside Woolworths.  Unfortunately it deflated Councillor Bond's tyre!   Liz had a pump that we fixed the problem with.

A faulty bike pump.

Then on through the quiet back streets of West St Kilda to Middle Park shops, where we looked at the suboptimal crossing of Canterbury Rd at Armstrong St.   

From Albert Park, we stopped at the intersection of Albert and Kerferd Rd.   The crossing here is yet another that doesn't allow sufficient time for pedestrians to cross.   There is some new marking for bicycles at this intersection, but the stretch under the tramway (travelling north) is still feels difficult for cyclist.  We looked at the option of converting the pedestrian underpass (just up Ferrars St) to a shared path, giving access to the service road on the north side of Albert Rd.

Looking out of the underpass.

Council is planning to put separated cycle lanes on Kerferd Rd, after a trial in which they reduce the number of lanes to one.   

Kerferd Rd is very wide!

Our last stop was another parking place, outside Donovans on Marine Parade.   This parking place/loading zone forces on-road cyclists to merge with traffic, while creating a little door zone.   We note that as this is an accessible parking place (for people with a disabled permit) it may be of high utility and should be relocated rather than removed.

Thanks to our councillors and council officer Kathleen Kemp for coming along.  Many thanks to Simon for the photographs.

Canal Ward update

Some good news:  Following our bike tour and Ed Cook's petition, Port Phillip Council has supported a crossing with signals on Glen Huntly Rd.    Moreover, they have contributed $50000 towards the cost.  The remaining cost will need to come from VicRoads, and council has written to the roads minister Luke Donnellan requesting this. 

Furthermore, the list of comments and sites was given to Council's Transport Safety Engineering Team.   Here is the list of their responses.

As we have become accustomed to, VicRoads seems to be the biggest hold up, with many comments along the lines of "We'll ask VicRoads if they can do this".   

It's also worrying that they consider a 1.5m wide bike lane (on Brighton Rd) sufficient to avoid the door zone--- Austroads guidance is that on a 60kph road, there should be a buffer of 1-1.5m between cyclists and passing trucks.   So it seems that we can be buffered from the doors, OR the trucks, but not both!

Thanks to everyone who helped.  The Lake Ward tour will be coming up in June.

Councillors' tour of bike infrastructure in the Canal Ward

On Thursday 8th March we took Councillors Katherine Copsey, Tim Baxter and Dick Gross for a tour around the Canal Ward to look at the infrastructure that makes riding a joy... or a nightmare.  (Handout with map and site descriptions here.)

8.35km

It was a beautiful day for a ride!

We observed the absence of a safe crossing on the Canal path at Glen Huntly Road.

And discussed the promised counter-flow bike lane on Blessington St--- when will this happen?

Thanks to our hard-working councillors Dick, Katherine and Tim, and to Simon for the photos, and to our volunteers Georgie and Rochelle for keeping everyone on track.  

We'll tour the Lakeside and Gateway wards later this year.

We need a crossing where the canal path meets Glen Huntly Road

At this point, the canal bike path is cut by a busy road, and is difficult for vulnerable users to cross.    There is a crossing 40 or so metres down the road, staffed by a crossing guard during school times.  This is great when it is staffed, but of no use outside those times.   

This problem is recognised by CoPP:  in 2012, the Sustainable Transport Plan stated:

Issue: Elwood Canal is a major attractor of pedestrian movements however there is no formal pedestrian crossing provision at the entrance to Elwood Canal on Glen Huntly Road

Proposed solution:  Design and construct new pedestrian operated signals along Glen Huntly Road near to the entrances to the Elwood Canal path.   

When we met with VicRoads in May 2017, we found that VicRoads "recognises the importance of providing a signalised pedestrian operation near Elwood Canal and Elwood Primary School on Glen Huntly Rd.  In consultation with the City of Port Phillip, VicRoads has developed a proposal to provide a pedestrian operated signal at this location. This proposal will be reviewed for funding consideration in a future program."

We also raised this issue with local MP Martin Foley in August 2017 but have not heard anything from him on this.  

Update 6/3/18:  one of the parents at Elwood Primary School has started a change.org petition to council.