Bicycle Network: Metro Routes

Bikes frozen out on Childers Street

13 December 2012. The east-west link from the Yarra to the Maribyrnong is a great concept and is working well for many riders, but in some places, well, just take a look at this photo.

This is Childers Street, not far from South Kensington Railway Station, where a brand new bike lane hardly ever gets the pleasure of hosting a bike.

Day after day it is parked over with cars—often the very same cars in the same spot day after day. There are signs, and other prominent markings, so there is no doubt the drivers know they should not park there.

This is not the only place in Melbourne where bike lanes near railway stations are covered over by illegally stored cars.

Most train commuters live within easy walking and riding distance to the train station. But they don't walk or ride. Why?

Australia is one of the few places in the world where people expect to be able to store their cars at railway stations, free of charge. If they can't do it legally, they do it illegally.

Two things need to happen: more bike parking at railway stations (yes, that is coming); and some active intervention by council parking enforcement.

Rathdowne takes a turn for the better

1 August 2012. A clever innovation by the City of Melbourne has greatly improved the challenging intersection at Rathdowne Street in Carlton.

A specially marked area for right hookturns has been introduced for the first time in Australia, backed up by bike traffic signals.

Historically the traffic movements have been set up to favour eastbound vehicles turning into Rathdowne Street. Whilst this direction can still be a challenge for bikes as the lanes dissapear short of the intersection, the westbound movement from the Museum or the hookturn from the north is now a breeze.

Previously riders had to illegally cross at the often crowded pedestrian crossing (refer image in orange) but now riders can proceed to a customised storage space (refer blue movements), press their own dedicated signal button and then get allocated a segment of the signal phase, crossing freely westbound whilst all other traffic is held still.

You can show your support for Council by saying thanks and encouraging them to keep going.

We have been negotiating with Council for many years to improve this route due to its network importance and their efforts over recent years have borne fruit with rider numbers growing at a steady rate over the last five years.

We will now focus our efforts on the eastbound movement and getting the bike lanes up to the intersection and potentially an advance signsl phase to allow bikes to cross the intersection without conflict.

Ride over the Federal Government's stimulus package

15 April 2010. Melbourne City Council moved swiftly when the economic stimulus package was announced last year and applied for money to upgrade bike lanes with green paint and rumble edge.

The submission was successful and the lanes in Queensberry Street and Gisbourne Macarthur Streets at the top of Collins Street will treated.

Queensberry has been treated with green paint and the rumble edge is coming soon. Please write a quick thank you to the Council as they had to do quite a bit of work in a short space of time in order to get the money.

Also thank you to the Federal Minister Anthony Albanese. It might encourage him to do it again!

East West study

Queensberry St was part of one of the East West routes mentioned in the Eddington Study.

It is important to have a high quality east west route – not only for east west travel but also so that north south riders can ‘realign’ themselves on it to reach their destinations. This route could be used for example by a northbound rider from Richmond using Church St to reach Melbourne University.

The report said

Upgrade to a separated or ‘Copenhagen’ standard the eastwest cycling link from the Maribyrnong Trail at Footscray to the northern CBD and on to the Capital City Trail at the Abbotsford Arts Precinct and the Collingwood Children’s Farm. This route extends from the former stock bridge on the Maribyrnong Trail along Hobsons Road and Childers, Arden, Queensbury, Gertrude, Nicholson and Abbotsford Streets to the Capital City Trail. This upgrade would provide a high quality parallel link to Footscray Road, connecting the northern part of the central city to the Maribyrnong and Capital City Trails. It would provide a separated east-west cycling link across the city, giving access to Footscray, Kensington, North Melbourne, Carlton, Fitzroy,  Collingwood and Abbotsford. Estimated cost: $7 million Total length: 8.8 km

This is a sound proposal which would have immediate impact.
We disagree however with the detailed alignment.

Our first concern is at Childers Street:

–    At Childers and Ormond there is a railway underpass. The route could cross the railway here and travel along the south side of the rail line, turning north up Lloyd Street to reach the intersection with the Moonee Ponds Creek trail.
–    Alternatively the route could follow the north side of the rail lines emerging onto Lloyd Street before continuing to the intersection with the Moonee Ponds Creek trail.
–    The route could follow the current alignment from Childers to Tennyson to Arden and over the rail lines before continuing to the intersection with the Moonee Ponds Creek trail. This would require solving the problem of the significant change in grade between the west and east side of the rail lines.

At the moment we are unsure which street best connects Arden and Queensberry: Dryburgh, Abbotsford, Curzon or Errol.

We support the Queensberry, Exhibition Buildings, Gertrudge, Langridge section.

We don’t support the next section proposed. The route should move along Nicholson to Gipps and then turn east to the Gipps St/Collins Bridge. From here riders can reach the Childrens Farm and the Convent across the bridge that is being developed by Parks Victoria.

City of Melbourne take the next step in North/West Melbourne

Sep 07 Council has just voted to forge ahead with making the inner northwest of the City of Melbourne more pedestrian and cycling friendly. Through their recent 'Wheels and Heels' project a number of issues were identified and through consultation a range of improvements were identified.

A key element of this strategy is a separated 'Copenhagen' treatment along Queensberry St, west of Elizabeth St. This is a great result for riders and will help to enhance a part of the network which has needed upgrading.

Also included in Council plans are:

• a separated 'Copenhagen' treatment along Flemington Rd
• stronger delineation of bike lanes along Arden St, using chevroned paint and green paint treatments
• stronger delineation of bike lanes along Victoria St (east of Elizabeth St), using 'Premium' lanes (refer below) and green paint treatments
• trialing of new roundabout treatments at Arden/Chetwynd Sts and the Haymarket Roundabout

A part of this strategy many new pedestrian initiatives have been proposed, including 'Greenlight' treatments at a range of signalised intersections. These involve advance phases for pedestrians, longer crossing times and less waiting for lights to be activated. Bicycle Network Victoria believes that this can also quite easily (and economically) become a double-win for Council as Bike Lanterns could be added to these signals to give riders an advance phase (as currently in place along Swanston at Flinders and Latrobe Streets).

Queensberry St gets the Premium Lanes treatment 

Melbourne City Council has just given this key east-west route an upgrade for cyclists. There was previously, a standard 1.5m wide exclusive bike lane but due to the volume of riders using this route and the ease with which it could be implemented, Queensberry St now has 'premium lanes'. These are comprised of a standard lane as previous (where possible they are wider than 1.5m) and are emphasised by a chevron border on the right hand side to clearly delineate to drivers that this space belongs to bicycle riders. We think the premium lanes will give riders reassurance that they have a clearly dedicated space.

City bound commuters on the north south routes such as Brunswick or Rathdowne Streets might like to try Queensberry and Peel as a way of reaching the west end of the City.