The City Of Melbourne has released details of its Bicycle Plan 2016-20 to be considered by Council next Tuesday.
Lord Mayor Robert Doyle commented on the plan today:
“We’ve consulted widely, invested millions in infrastructure and are now ready to implement our plan to make Melbourne a safer, more connected city for all bike riders.”
“We have more than 136 kilometres of bike lanes in our city and the number of cyclists using them has almost doubled since 2008. “One of the major changes in the plan includes new signage connecting people to the central network: this is about providing bike riders of all abilities with options when coming in and moving around the city.”
“We also plan to increase bike parking from 800 to 2000 new bike hoops and aim to eliminate the likelihood of serious crashes by 2020.
“The City of Melbourne is investigating a possible second major east-west connection for cyclists through the central city to complement the existing La Trobe Street route and bringing forward the investigation of separated bike lanes in St Kilda Road as an immediate priority, in conjunction with VicRoads.”
The finalised Bicycle Plan 2016 – 20 aims to:
Create neighbourhood routes in Kensington, North Melbourne, Carlton and Southbank, connecting to schools, shops and community facilities.
Improve connections into and through the city centre along the State Government’s four strategic cycling corridors.
Increase bicycle parking by 2000 hoops in key public locations.
Install bicycle maintenance stations and counters at entrances to the city.
Eliminate cycling related fatalities and serious injury crashes.
Have bicycles account for one in four vehicles entering the central city in morning peak.
Priority locations identified as ‘gaps’ in the network:
Exhibition Street between Little Bourke and Bourke Streets
Haymarket roundabout
Albert Street between Nicholson and Gisborne Streets
Clarendon Street at the Melbourne Convention Centre
Queensbridge Street between Yarra River and Flinders Street
Victoria Street on southern edge of Carlton Gardens
Peel Street at the Queen Victoria Market
College Crescent, north of the University of Melbourne
Some practical design measures for building/upgrading routes include installing:
Physically-separated bike lanes
Double chevron line marking
Controlled right turns
Early start signals
High quality road surfaces
Speed limit reductions
Major changes from draft to final plan:
An emphasis on enhanced signage and line markings to improve safety and connectivity.
A change to one of the targeted outcomes. The draft plan stated that the City of Melbourne would seek to reduce the number of fatalities and serious injury crashes achieved by 2020 by a total of 10 per cent. The revised target is zero fatalities and serious injury crashes.
The investigation of a possible second bike friendly east-west connection through the central City. Complementing La Trobe Street, a second connection would improve bicycle access and transit across the southern part of the central city.
Extra bike parking spaces to be installed over the four years of the Plan. The draft Plan nominated a figure of 800. This has been increased to 2000.
St Kilda Road bicycle works. The investigation of separated bike lanes in St Kilda Road (in conjunction with VicRoads) brought forward as an immediate priority.
Consultation done to inform the final plan:
An extensive public engagement process was undertaken to inform the development of the draft Plan. This included 7000 contributions received from the community on the Participate Melbourne platform in May 2015. These comments shaped the draft Plan.
A further 154 individuals and agencies provided feedback on the draft Plan which was again made available through Participate Melbourne. Individual agencies were sent a copy of the Plan. Agencies that responded included The Victorian Government, RACV, Victoria Walks, Melbourne Bicycle Users Group, Bicycle Network Victoria and the Amy Gillett Foundation.
Cycling statistics in the City of Melbourne:
17 per cent of all vehicles travelling into the city during the morning peak are cyclists. In 2012, that figure was 11 per cent, and in 2008 it was 9 per cent.
We now have 136 kilometres of bike lanes throughout our city. We have added 16 km of new bike lanes since 2012, and have upgraded many existing bike lanes.
A further 6km of new and upgraded bike lanes will be installed over the coming year, as the final stage of the current Bicycle Plan.
Last financial year, we committed $3 million to bike projects. In the last three years, we have invested more than $10 million on bike projects.
A bicycle travelling through the city only needs 5m2 of space compared to 140m2 for a car.
Bike parking saves space – 12 bikes can fit into one car space.
30 minutes of cycling daily can reduce your chance of obesity and diabetes by half.
Riding a bike burns 1200 kilojoules per hour.
Riding 7.5km each way to work would save 1,000kg of carbon emissions each year.
The costs of operating and maintaining a bike are around 5 per cent of the equivalent costs for a car.
The full plan can be viewed online: Bicycle Plan 2016-20