I couldnt believe this when i read it

TAXPAYERS are pouring millions of dollars into lining motorways with cycleways that are barely used - and are building a new bicycle lane the NRMA says will effectively cost $300,000 for every cyclist that uses it.

Despite pleas from Sydney’s Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, for bicycles to reclaim the streets, the motoring organisation says residents are sticking to four wheels.

In a submission to the Roads and Traffic Authority it accuses the Government of wasting millions on cyclists at the expense of motorists, who are forced to battle worsening congestion as lanes are removed from busy roads.

The cycling lane on the M2 attracted just 130 cyclists a day. The Iemma Government is building a cycleway alongside choked Epping Road, despite as few as 25 cyclists using that corridor each day.



have a peak at the rest here

I'd write a letter to the editor stating something along the lines of:

"NRMA doesn't want to spend money on cycling infrastructure? Fine with me. I'll just ride in the middle of the appropriate lane that suits my direction. Motorists can move over and pass as they get the opportunity. I don't care if they have to slow to 25 KmH until then."

i know such a crazy thign eh

I actually had to move out of a bicycle lane today on my commute as a police officer was boing someone and standing in the bike lane, i ran my bell many times but he just stood there forcing me into the lane with fast moving traffic im still wondering if i should complain this discrimination is al the way through society

I don't understand how a basic cycleway could possibly costs this amount of money:



1 km of concrete costs 1 Million Dollars? come on. if thats what they are payign then yes it probably is a waste of money.

- never been through here?



- several HUNDRED MILLION dollars because Club Fed won't arrange mandatory flex-time work schedules, forcing the daily influx and egress of nearly 1,000,000 automobiles and trucks through the BelchWay and I95 corridor...

- WASTING millions of barrels of oil and the lives of local citizenry and travelers...

- anyone who has lived here knows that you do not go out on the road from 0500 to 1000 and 1530 to 1930 Monday through Friday...

- any talk of energy conservation by Congress is fatuous pap and mere lip service...

I wouldn't mind too much if they spent $300,000 on me.

[I just grabbed myself by the neck and chucked my sorry canid opinions out of P&R for the good of tender sensibilities, BUT. . .] I gotta' say time is on our side here. With the End of Gasoline As We Know It preceded by the Metaphysical Certainty of $4 and $7 Per Gallon Within the Decade, there will be many opportunities for complaining at high levels about such inevitable infrastructure changes. All for naught. The future is about changes. Thus has it always been.

When gasoline hits $10/gallon or $3/litre, those bike lanes will start filling up -- perhaps?

It would be interesting to know why so few people use it. Could it be that just getting to the cycleway is such a pain(trash, traffic etc) that cyclists use other routes, or that the M2 doesn't go where they are going? Or even that they have been brainwashed into being scared of bicycle commuting by groups like the NRMA.

And the NRMA, well, they would find something to complain about. It's their job to promote using cars.

Hate to tell you, but there are a lot more contractors than actual federal employees living in the DC area, and the government can kiss my ass before I start working 2nd shift. The DC area is large and growing, and large transportation projects are what happens in large, growing areas. Additionally, the general point of having government employees work in Washington is to have them available in whatever capacity they function, which would be pointless if you have them work when people aren't working. Otherwise, you might as well locate the office in Wyoming.

Not to mention, there is a push to move work to outlying areas, as you should know, with the Army moving a lot of work south to Fort Belvoir.

BTW, that should be Monday through *Thursday*, as anyone who lives here knows that many of the govvies and contractors work the 9/80 schedule which gives them alternating Fridays off, lightening traffic considerably.

Also, if you think the Springfield mixing bowl was a big deal, that's got nothing on Boston's "big dig".

Yeh I caught that. About what I'd expect from the crusty old farts running the NRMA cager's club. The good news is that petrol is up to $1.50 per litre and rising, makes me feel good every time I go past a service station.

Stateside I see MUPs go up because they increase the property value of the neighborhood. Never see anyone riding OR walking on most of 'em, though.

+1

Most of my old town is covered with them now, allowing you to go most places in town without getting onto a surface road, or... most times, even seeing one. There are some that get some use, but the time I was there, I saw no more than 5 folks using em. That is, until you got close to the beach.

Having been through the area recently, my immediate thoughts (which local users may be able to correct me on) are:

- I can't see how the cycle lanes cost so much. For most of what I saw, they were literally just lines down the side of the highway in the emergency lane

- there were quite a few roadies out on the days I was there

- I'm a pretty rugged commuter, but we're talking about lanes drawn up the emergency lane of a three lane (each direction) highway with cars whipping past at 110km and exits every 3-4km. It's totally impractical for cycle commuting, I would have thought. The alternative would have to be pretty extreme for me to consider it. No wonder not many people use them.

What kind of consultation happened before the lanes were built? Was it just a cheap way for the govt to say "we built 300km of cycleway last year"?

But the flip side is otherwise no one would even have the opportunity. You can lead a human to exercise and take care of themselves, but you can't make them do it.

Of course,the figures the NRMA gives can be trusted....

I'd rather have the $300,000 in cash.

and to think at some point the highway will become the bike path....

You should see the stink that some of the McMansionites here in Lake Forest Park are putting up about the MUP which runs through their private roads. Sure, they're happy that their dog walkers and nannies have someplace nice to take the pup and kids, but they're more than happy to pass illegal city ordinances to put stop signs on the MUP (and now they're fighting the repeal of their stopsign ordinance, and passing a new one to put in barricades at every intersection) because they might have to stop and wait 10 seconds for someone to cross the street.
The Lake Sammamish corridor of the regional trail network had a bear of a time getting land passage because the homeowners fought it tooth and nail. The main argument was that "bike trails bring crime to neighbourhoods", citing the incedents of majour metropolitan bike trails and crime statistics (when defending their stance against a bike trail through their very very suburban area nowhere near a metropolitan center.)

Does rather remind me of the apocryphal early 20th C Yorkshire city alderman who is reputed to have said, "What do'we want to build a swimming pool for. Nobody goes swimming."

It's a waste of money if only stripes are being added.
If actual pavement width is being added, it is good use of money.

Since lanes that motorists can use are being removed, I suspect it is the former.

Al

mmmm... must remember to use the phrase "fatuous pap" in the office today.

There is an easy solution. All lanes at the sides of roads designated for cyclists will now be known as "emergency lanes." Emergency vehicles, motorists experiencing an emergency, and cyclists may use them.....

One would hope. However, I'm afraid that those clever car makers will simply push up the efficiency of their cars so that people don't have to stop driving - they'll have to buy new cars, though!

Same here, but that's because ours don't actually go anywhere - not that would be useful for a commuter anyway. They're strictly recreational trails - exactly as the designers intended.