Design Perth streets for bikes and increase our kids' independence

It's time for Perth to embrace the three-mode transport approach that makes for a more socially connected, happier and healthier city.

While cities around the world are lowering speed limits and tearing down freeways, Perth continues to build a road network that facilitates the movement of only two modes - car and foot.

Most parents would love for their children to ride home from school on a safe path.

People on bikes are currently expected to share with motor traffic or share with pedestrians, and the conflict problems are obvious.

Designing for a third mode, the bicycle, not only improves mobility options, it can deliver a number of positive social benefits too. This is seen most notably in the Netherlands, which since the 1970s has adopted the gold standard of this three-mode approach.

It's about changing our thinking from two modes to three.

The Dutch have done it and their streets function in a way that is fairer for all people. 

Better for children, seniors and those with disabilities

Thanks to the network of separate bike paths and low-speed neighbourhood streets, Dutch children are able to have independent mobility by the time they are eight or nine.

Meanwhile in Australia, the majority of our children have restricted mobility and must wait to be taken places by car. Being a parent in Australia also means being a taxi driver.

The three-mode system also allows Dutch seniors to have independent mobility without the stress of driving. They can do their own errands and are able to have a more active social life than older Australians.

People with disabilities also benefit from bike-friendly street design. Smooth, continuous paths designed for bicycles are also ideal for wheel chairs and other motorised mobility aids.

Enlightened cities around the world are cottoning on and are progressively installing separated bike infrastructure. New York, London, Chicago and even Auckland increasing understand the importance of providing an option of bicycle riding for all people.

Failed system

Our Western Australian state and local governments want more people on bicycles but the current strategies are not working.

A new approach is needed that targets the 56 per cent of the population who have bikes in the shed but will not use their bikes for transport unless there is a dramatic change to the urban environment.

The majority of people will simple not ride a bike next to motor vehicles travelling at 50 or 60 km/h.

Lemnos Street near Shenton College.

For example, the on-road bicycle lane next to Shenton College does not get used. The students riding bikes prefer the safer option of being on the footpath (legal but not ideal).

Change in thinking

The issue is not about Australia having enough space or money. It's about changing our thinking from two modes to three.

The Dutch have done it and their streets function in a way that is fairer for all people.

Once we stop thinking about the bicycle as just a piece of sporting equipment and remember our history of using it for transport, we can stop having the pointless debates about a minority group called 'cyclists' and get on with providing transport options for the majority of people.

In Western Australia, only 1.3 per cent of people ride a bike to work or school, yet there is at least one working bike in 61 per cent of households.

Obviously most people, even when they own a bike, do not want to travel to work, school or the shops wearing Lycra and a helmet, in single-file next to fast moving motor vehicles. That's the main option available right now.

Most parents would love for their children to be able to ride home from school, relaxed, chatting with a friend, on a safe path that's separated from motor vehicles. The kids want it too.

Perth, it's time to stop taking baby steps with infrastructure and treat the bicycle as an efficient transport option for all people.

Tim Burns writes the Bicycle Perth blog.

This article was recently published by WA Today using alternative photographs (see below). I have re-published it here using my original photographs which are more relevant to the content. My images were supplied to WA Today but they decided not to use them.

The article is based my earlier "Australia, start counting to-three" blog post.

Mosman Park intersection downgrade

An article in the Post newspaper this week has caught my attention. The Town of Mosman Park, one of Perth's smaller local government areas, has decided they need to change the intersection at Glyde Street and Stirling Highway. They want to modify the lanes to allow two rows of vehicles to turn right at the same time. The idea is to reduce the waiting time of motorists queuing. It seems the deputy mayor thinks this is the town's most important community project. 

It is not clearly stated in the article but the main benefit will be easing congestion for traffic traveling to the highway after accessing the schools at the eastern end of Glyde Street. The peak times are "at 8am and 3pm". They want to make it easier for parents to drive their children to school.

These sorts of modifications are surprisingly costly. The total for the works is expected to be $315,000. Glyde Street is a local government road and Stirling Highway is a WA State Government road. Logically, the people at the Town of Mosman Park are expecting the costs to be split between the two. To find the money, the Town of Mosman Park is considering delaying spending on local community works including a children's playground.

In total the Town of Mosman Park is proposing to spend $228,000 on this project. If I was a resident of the town, I would prefer my money was spent on transport solutions to have less motor vehicles through my neighbourhood, not encouraging them.

Some potential alternative projects can be found in the Town of Mosman Park's Cycling & Pedestrian Plan 2012-2032 done two years ago. (The document is still in "draft" form. It is clearly not their most important community project.)

Here are a few of these projects that could be done sooner:

Proposed for 2015/16

$210,000 for 1.7 km shared-path which would be a "Principal north-south link though LGA (local government area), serving a number of schools". Possibly only $105,000 with state government assistance funds.

Proposed for 2024/25

$50,000 to build 185 metres of shared-path, 2.5 metres wide, beside Stirling Highway. This would connect missing path sections in the Wallace Lane area.

Proposed for 2030/31

$230,000 to provide 1.7 km of on-road bicycle lanes 1.5 metres wide on Wellington Street. The town's plan states this would provide "key east-west linkage though the southern half of the LGA".

Proposed for 2030/31

$70,000 to provide on-road bicycle lanes 1.5 metres wide on Glyde Street between Stirling Highway and Palmerston Street. The plan states the lanes are required because this is a "key commuter route to Mosman Park town centre and Mosman Park train station". 

I find this last one particularly interesting. For the same section of road, the Town of Mosman Park would spend $228,000 now to reduce waiting times for motorists yet the $70,000 bicycle lanes can wait until 2030. 

The Australian School Run

I've made a new film. There’s no music or voice-over. Nothing much happens, it’s just 50 minutes of morning traffic in a suburb of Perth. A comparison between traffic on a normal Friday and five weeks later on a Friday during the school holidays. 

You won’t be seeing this one on the film festival circuit.

The recording time has been compressed to three and a half minutes, and I’ve added a counter showing the number of motor vehicles. Even with that exciting addition I expect most people will skim to the end.

In Australia it has become normal to drive children to school. There are various figures: some say 51% are taken by car, others say 75%. In this film it appears to be even more.

Most parents consider it's not safe enough for children to walk or ride bikes to school because there are so many parents driving their children to school. It has taken Australia only one generation to get into this crazy spiral.

Next time somebody complains about road congestion and suggests spending our money on a new freeway, bypass or extra slip lanes at intersections, we can remind them that designing our roads to  enable our children to travel to school by themselves will be cheaper and better for all of us. We will have money for separated bicycle tracks if we stop wasting money fixing the wrong problem.

This is Jeans Road in Karrinyup. There are three schools nearby: St Mary's Anglican School for girls (Kindergarden to Year 12), Deanmore Primary School and Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Primary School. St Mary's has over 1350 students, they can arrive at school from 8:00am however the preference is for students to arrive between 8:30 and 8:55am.

Mornings in Australia could look like this