Undeniably an attractive design (before the line painters got there)

Well, entirely unsurprisingly, it hasn’t magically made the inherent conflict between tram passengers and cyclists go away.

There is no magical solution for the fact that pedestrians and cyclist still cross paths.

But has it improved the situation or made it worse?

I’ve traversed the area as both cyclist and pedestrian, and these are my initial impressions.

Cyclist approach

Well, it’s wide and smooth to ride on, but despite Robert Doyle’s protestations, it isn’t immediately obvious where one is supposed to ride and where the waiting passengers are supposed to stand and walk.

I was a bit concerned that the fancy bluestone surface might be a bit slick in the wet but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Stepping on

Part of the design is to separate the road level for each mode—foot, bike and tram—the act of stepping down from the pedestrian area to the shared space should cue-in pedestrians that they are moving into a different space. This effect is diluted as for much of the length of the curb there are wide, gently sloping ramps (presumably for mobility aid access—a major reason for installing a raised-platform tram stop), which means there is no sense of stepping down (at least, I didn’t notice it). But elsewhere there is a noticeable step down at the edge of the footpath.

Like water

People, like water, follow the path of least resistance. In the afternoon large numbers of people get off trams on the southbound side, then queue to cross at the lights, heading for the train station. And in order to get to the crossing, they take the shortest route—down the bike lane:

People, like water, follow the path of least resistance

As a tram passenger, I found this was the natural thing to do. Bear in mind that this doesn’t feel like stepping down onto a road or even a safety zone—it feels like stepping down into a safe pedestrian-friendly space. Inevitably, people are going to walk with a bit less caution than they otherwise would when leaving a tram.

The cyclist’s experience of this is to ride through a narrow tunnel of people wandering aimlessly along the bike lane. This is sure to lead to verbal, and possibly physcial, clashes between cyclists and pedestrians.

Inviting criticism

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle invited criticism by making much of the top-notch bluestone that’s been used in the upgrade, saying it’s like paving the streets in gold—the sort of thing every rate-payer loves to hear. I don’t see it myself—it appears to be largely indistinguishable from concrete. I guess it’s attractive. But in an interview with 3AW’s Neil Mitchell, Doyle states that this installation is effectively a prototype: “We always said we would open this one first, we would see how it operates knowing there would be difficulty and confusion. And that means when we do Bourke St and Collins St then the onus is on us to get it right”. Why then would you use the most expensive materials when the design may need later modification as we learn more?

Counter-intuitive

But one of the main criticisms of the new setup is that it’s confusing. But is this really a problem? Let me run a half-baked idea past you: maybe a lack of signage and markings (and the consequent ambiguity) is a good thing.

David Engwicht talks about intrigue and uncertainty as mechanisms to bring about calmer traffic—and this is a place that needs calm traffic flow (even after the removal of most motorised vehicles).

Engwicht’s first proposition is “It is a myth that the only way to improve safety is to increase predictability”. It’s counter-intuitive, but it makes sense when you think about it: increase predictability and vehicles (in this case, bikes) can move faster, which increases the risk of collisions with pedestrians. But decrease predictability and increase the need for ‘negotiation’ and vehicles will move slower.

Hang on, I’m a commuting cyclist—why am I advocating slowing down cyclists? Because everything about the design of this new tram stop screams “shared space”. No amount of yellow lines and bike stencils on the ground is going to stop people sauntering along in the ‘wrong’ place, in the ‘wrong’ direction, without paying enough attention.

But it seems that the City wants to increase predictability on the new tram stop with lines and stencils being laid down, and no doubt all sorts of warning signage is also being prepared. Interestingly, if I hadn’t been specifically looking out for them I’d scarcely have noticed the new road surface markings. Like some others, I’m a bit disappointed that we weren’t prepared to give a fair trial to a true shared space before giving up and daubing paint all over the place and putting up ‘thou shalt not’ signs.

Conclusion

Overall, it doesn’t seem significantly different from the previous arrangement. From a traffic movement perspective, the same effect could have been had much more cheaply by making the same stretch of road car-free (e.g. by putting up some barriers to motor vehicles) and leaving the passengers, riders and tram drivers to sort it out on the unmodified roadway. But it does look great (or at least it did before the line-painters got to it)…I’ll leave others to decide whether looking fabulous is worth the price tag.

Imagine you’re approaching this stretch of road at about 40kph—actually quite easy to do, as you’ve just come off a steeper downhill section, so it’s not unusual for anyone to be coasting along at a fair clip here. Notice any particular hazards at this point?

Could you spot the hazard here at 40kph?

Let’s go in a bit closer:

If you hit this, where will you land?

Yep, that’s a base of one of those flexi-poles that I didn’t much like when they were installed last year. A number of these poles have been bent and a couple have snapped off, leaving the near-invisible base as a collision hazard for cyclists. And if a cyclist gets tipped off after crashing with that, where are they going to land…?

That this has been broken for weeks (and possibly months) without repair reflects poorly on the City of Melbourne’s willingness and/or ability to maintain dedicated cycling facilities. Not good when these lanes carry 17% of total vehicles in the morning peak on Albert St.

Upgrated

In fairness, it’s not all downside. Both of you might remember this dangerous drain cover:

An unforgiving grate

Astonishingly, that wheel-jamming hazard was simply left there unmodified as part of the initial installation. Well, over a year later, it’s had an upgrade:

A grate upgraded

That’s an improvement, but really that should have been fixed in the first place.

Any good at all?

Having sworn off Albert St in favour of Victoria St, I have found myself back there a bit more often, in spite of my ongoing concerns including:

• increased likelihood of clashes with entering traffic on the eastbound/downhill lane,
• turning lane conflicts—being dumped into a turning lane is still dangerous by design,
• the increased difficulty in merging into the main traffic flow to make a right-hand turn, and
• those damn poles are still a collision hazard (even when they aren’t broken).

I’ve also noticed a tendency for cars to stop in (and block) the bike lane during clearway times, something that drivers wouldn’t have dreamt of doing before the bike lanes were there.

But if I’m back on Albert St, does that mean I’m a convert? No way: I remain a committed bike lane agnostic. Maybe Albert St is better with curbside lanes than without, but for me it is just the least worst option on that part of my commute route.

But today’s incident was so laughable, so rich in irony, I only regret that I didn’t have a video camera to share it with you.

First I need to explain a little about the road where it happened: heading north-to-south on Elzabeth St in North Melbourne there are two traffic lanes, and just before the Victoria St intersection the left lane splits into two left-turn lanes and the right-hand lane continues as the single through traffic lane (there is actually a second through traffic lane, but it’s separated by a traffic island). See this section of Google Maps to get the idea (note: left-hand rule of the road, if you’re not from around here).

I was riding a Bike Share blue bike and, as the traffic was pretty light, I was sure that I’d be of no inconvenience taking the inside lane while faster moving vehicles passed on the outside.

Apparently not.

My man came up behind honking and carrying on. I really couldn’t work out his problem—why didn’t he just go around? I was going straight ahead at Victoria St, so I changed over to the right-hand lane without a problem—why couldn’t he do the same?

He pulled up beside me at the traffic light, me in the right hand (through traffic) lane, he in the second left-hand turn lane. His window was down. Here we go…

Driver: What do you think you’re doing, holding up the traffic?

Me: [never believing I'd actually say this] Mate, I am traffic.

Driver: Well, what’s the bike lane for?

Me: [pointing out the obvious] Where is the bike lane here?

Driver: Well, ride on the footpath. [AKA sidewalk, if you're not from around here]

Me: It’s illegal for an adult to ride on the footpath.

I was in the middle of suggesting that if he was so ignorant of the road rules perhaps he should hand-in his license, when the the green turning arrow appeared and his line of traffic started moving, and he along with it. But then he pulled up at the intersection, even though the green arrow was still showing—thus holding up the row of traffic behind him!

I was already hooting with laughter and pouring derision on his driving ‘skill’ when the left turn light went red, the through traffic light changed to green and he leapt away from the line like a startled rabbit—going straight ahead. Yep, it turns out that he should have been in the right-hand, through traffic lane all the time—where he would have been if he’d just pulled his head in and gone around me in the first place.

Astonishing ignorance and stupidity, and he had the gall to abuse me for operating my vehicle completely legally and safely.

How then could I resist, a little further down the road, from ringing my bell and giving him a cheerful wave as I breezed past his car, stationary in a line of traffic? I mean, I was riding in the bike lane—just as he’d instructed me to.

Melbournism calls for Melbourne’s best cycling paths

What do they ride at Microsoft?

Apple’s campus bikes are classically minimal—a plain silver mixte, to be precise.

Perhaps I’m reading too much into it, but if you think about it, this simple, classic bike seems like exactly the thing Apple would pick to get its employees around the campus. I wonder what Microsoft uses? Probably electric golf carts. Or even (shudder) Segways.

[thanks flipsockgrrl]

Once was car city

Detroit Bike City [Thanks tom]

Not quite bike city

Melbourne gains ‘bike city’ status. Oh, really?

Actually is bike city

NYTimes.com on The Dutch Way – Bicycles and Fresh Bread.

Number crunch

Mez Dispenser on checking the numbers on bike trips in Toronto—how did the city get it so wrong?

Design

• Plastic bike looks like a toy, but rides like the future [Thanks tom]
• Brian Cloyd’s Recumbent Trike impresses NASA [Thanks tom]
• Apparently Toyota is working on the bicycle of the future that shifts gears via brain waves. OK, cool idea and good on them, but I can’t see myself replacing reliable cable and levers any time in the foreseeable future.

Recognition

Dave Moulton on distinctive bike designs.

Retro

• In the Doone Valley by Frank Patterson [twitterer]
• Bicycles. Sears, Roebuck & Co. Advertising Booklet, 1914.
• The trend today is to BSA [twitterer]

You go girl

Bicycle Thief, Interrupted:

Some idiot has the brass balls to steal a bike in broad daylight. But Kristen Bell and her co-workers saw what was happening and sprung into action, taking revenge for theft victims everywhere.

[Thanks tom]

Light up those hoops

Project Aura: Bicycle Safety Lighting System [Thanks tom]

“These jeans hate me”

Commute by Bike on Levi’s Nerd-Repellent Commuter Jeans:

I’m working on finding out if Levi’s makes an uncool version of these pants, and if they do, I’ll review them sometime in the future — and I’ll find out if “higher back rise” means, “covers your butt crack.”

Park it there

Apple shaped multi-story bike park in Alphen aan de Rijn [Thanks tom]

Counterintuitive

New road sign: Lane Closed to Ease Congestion [twitterer]

Best advice ever

Keep calm and ride on.

Another way a bike is better

Simple way to cool down your car after it’s been baking in the sun.

Too much Tour de France is barely enough

• Dave Moulton calls it A Perfect Result.
• The Conversation on the science of the Tour de France time trial.
• I’ve really come to look forward to the Boston Globe’s two-part folio of shots from the Tour de France: Part 1 and Part 2.
  (Incidentally, if anyone ever tries to suggest that every single one of these riders isn’t an incredibly hard man, just point them this photo of Laurens ten Dam.)
• road.cc reminded me of the wonderful TdF film Vive le tour! Sure, you’ve probably seen it before but go and watch it again.
• And I just need to keep a bookmark of Senor Coconut – Tour de France for future reference.

Sadly, we need to keep it in perspective

Amy Gillett Foundation on a stark reminder of the dangers cyclists face on our roads:

As the nation celebrates Cadel Evans’ famous Tour De France victory, it is also a time to highlight the issues of safety for cyclists on our roads as we mourn the death of another cyclist on Beach Road in Melbourne last Friday.

Work it out

Triathleteurope on effective hour-long bike workouts:

Not everyone has the time to put in five-hour rides every week. Fortunately, there are a few hour-long sessions that you can do that are invaluable for developing your bike fitness.

Energy supply

Interesting article on Why do we get exhausted?

Futile

KarlOnSea on the futility of culture change through exhortation:

Supposedly, all we have to do to make the roads attractive to the 98% of the population who don’t ride bikes on a regular basis, is to change the behaviour of these drivers. Yeah. Like that’s going to happen by just asking drivers nicely to pay a lot more attention, and curb any aggressive tendencies they may have.

Apropos: Bike crashes in Queensland: cyclists most likely to be at fault. [twitterer]

And when cycling infrastructure is everywhere, you get installations like this. [twitterer]

Accessorise, dahling!

@noteon: “Finally, somebody makes an affordable saddle scrotum”.

Handlebar clearance

Heidi Swift suggests Don’t look down. Mmmmmokay!

The debate the just keeps on giving

Cycle helmets: safety essential or health risk?

Cycle helmets should not be made compulsory, according to medical experts. The surprise finding from a poll of readers of the British Medical Journal suggests there is no simple answer to improving cycling safety.

Back to the drawing board

Human Powered Cycles reports on a prototype utility bike:

Not long after we built the first prototype furniture removalist bike, we tried moving some wood. Well actually it was a few hundred kilograms of wood.

Ah. Oops.

Cook now

TravellingTwo offers a free bicycle touring cookbook (from 1979):

There are hints on proportions (note that the book was aimed at groups of cyclists, so all recipes serve 10 people!), nutrition and how to carry tricky things, like sticky jars of honey.

Girls in the biz

Oregon Business reports from Interbike on why women lag in bike riding and business. [twitterer]

Jens says

The Jens Voigt Soundboard: ’nuff said!

The Pillars of French Cycling

Interesting film on the French bike industry, in two parts: Chapter 1 and Chapter 2.

Treadlie on the left, The Wheeler on the right

Treadlie

Treadlie, issue 3

Melbourne-based but aimed at a national audience, Treadlie is a stylish piece of work that looks somewhat incongruous in the news stand beside all those hardcore sport-oriented cycling mags. It would fit in just as nicely among the lifestyle and fashion mags. If not entirely non-sport, the sporting aspects of cycling seem to be the least of Treadlie’s concerns. I checked every page in the first edition and there was not a thread of lycra to be seen—and that includes the advertising.

Editor Faith Hunter explained the motivation in her first editorial:

The recent Melbourne Bikefest and Sydney Bicycle Film Festival are wonderful celebrations of these passions. Whether it involves art, grease, film, sweat, music, design, knitting, talking, fashion, dance or the opportunity to ride, these festivals celebrate all bike riders’ enthusiasms however they are expressed. And I guess this is what we are hoping to achieve with Treadlie. It’s not only the diversity of bike riders that fascinates us, but the myriad ways they find to express their passions.

That’s got to be a magazine with broader appeal than most in the cycling section.

The design of Treadlie is gorgeous, the photos are lush, it looks great and feels substantial in your hand. With its wider than normal page size, you could just about pass it off as a coffee table book (if it weren’t for the egregious spelling error in its title!)

The variety of stories is interesting, including profiles of celebrity and quirky urban cyclists, and quite an emphasis on design and clever bike gadgets.

A highlight of the first issue was an article by Tim Rodgers, in which he demolished the empty criticism of cyclists who wear racing team jerseys (although not a lycra lad himself):

Just as I festoon myself in full North Melbourne kit circa 1975 to challenge both my hamstrings and mid-life plight at footy training of a Wednesday and Sunday, so shall my treadling brethren furnish themselves for celerity.

I have long noticed this similarity between football strip and cycling kit, but Rodgers puts it so much better than I could.

Stand-outs in the latest issue included a profile of Catherine Baba, a report on bikes-for-transport projects in Africa, and an article on the nearly lost art of pinstriping.

Of course, these days any magazine with aspirations to style must include a section of ‘fashion seen on the street’, and the Treadlie Street column delivers this with a line up of fashionably turned out inner-city creatives and their equally stunning bikes. (As soon as they want a shot of someone in khaki shorts and a baggy T-shirt, they’re welcome to give me a call.)

Distributed through Gordon & Gotch, Treadlie is available in ‘all good newsagents’ for a cover price of $8.95.

http://www.treadlie.com.au

The Wheeler

The Wheeler, issue 4

The Wheeler manages to feels a bit more grungy and grassroots, while still being every bit as slick a production as Treadlie. Melbourne-based and unashamedly Melbourne-centric (at least in its first few issues), The Wheeler is a bit more accepting of spandex than Treadlie. In his opening editorial, Brad Collis said:

This is what The Wheeler celebrates—the spirit of cycling in all its guises, from gritty competition, to bunch rides, café mateship, the lycra regalia of the corporates, and the never-to-be-forgotten hardy, passionate, two-wheel commuter.

The format of The Wheeler is fairly similar to Treadlie, only with a bit more sport and a bit more coffee. Profiled riders are not usually celebrities (although the overexposed Charlie Pickering and the lovely Emma Ayres were in the first issue), perhaps not quite as much emphasis on gadgets and gear, and a bit more coverage of ‘events’. And The Wheeler shows beautiful people and their beautiful bikes in the street in its Vox Pop section.

In keeping with its street-level style, The Wheeler is distributed independently through bike shops, cafes and other non-traditional outlets like the French Shop at the Vic Market. Sure that’s a pretty cool idea, but it can lead to a bit of inconsistency in availability. I initially sought the current issue at bsc in Elizabeth St but they hadn’t seen The Wheeler in months; enquiry at bsc in the QVB found a huge pile of issues (and they seemed to quite happy that I took one).

As of issue 4, The Wheeler went into national distribution and (having dropped the $7 cover price) is now available for free.

http://thewheeler.com.au

Cool enough?

Sporting ability and a sense of cool share a common trait: while they can be developed, they both largely rely on the individual’s innate capacity. You’re either sporty or you’re not. You’re either cool or you’re not. Some lucky people are both. I suspect that the majority of people are, like me, neither.

The difference is that if you lack athletic ability, you generally have this confirmed well before you leave primary school. But if you lack coolness, you’ll still be working this out until much later in life, and even into adulthood you may cling to the forlorn hope that one day you’ll “get it”.

I’ve had years (i.e. decades) to get used to the idea that sports media is about other people, and I’m comfortable with that. But a cycling mag that is just so stylish as Treadlie is a small, unhappy reminder that I am not (and never will be) cool.

For me, this gives The Wheeler an ever-so-slight advantage. With its broad appeal to all riders, The Wheeler is the magazine that Bicycle Victoria’s dull and patronising Ride On, could have been, isn’t, and probably never will be.

But it’s splitting hairs really—Treadlie and The Wheeler are both great mags, both of which I devour cover-to-cover. The time is clearly ripe for a quality cycling/lifestyle magazine, but I do worry if there’s room enough in the Australian marketplace for two such titles to flourish. I think there are enough points of difference for them to find their own niches and thrive. I do hope so.

Over to you

So, what do you think? Have you read either or both? Do you have a favourite?