EA/DoT talk on the WA bike network plan

[Thoglette]

Thu, 02 Sep 2021
The WA Bike Network Plan
Start time: 5:00pm AEST. (3pm in WA) Delivery method: Hybrid Event

The WA Department of Transport has recently embarked on a substantial, strategic planning process, including:

The (ongoing) preparation of the Long Term Cycle Network;
The introduction of the Cycling Network Hierarchy (and the All Ages and Abilities design philosophy that informs the form within the functional hierarchy);
The creation of the Planning and Designing for Bike Riding in WA framework; and
The publication of Cycling Guidance for Local Area Traffic Management Schemes and Shared and Separated Paths design guidelines.

This presentation will provide an update and overview of the Department’s recent strategic work, aiming to achieve the WA Bike Network Plan’s vision and “make WA a place where cycling is safe, connected, convenient and a widely accepted form of transport”.

Of course the accompanying picture is of MAMILS racing/training

[opik_bidin]

Keep on pushing, I think its better to be optimistic and keep pushing for change, showing the data and pushback against the false narratives

[Thoglette]

Seems to be a problem with registering. EA are looking into it

FIXED!

[Thoglette]

An interesting presentation in two main parts:
1. a study into rider expectations and attitudes
2. a presentation on the new recommendations for design.

#1 was pretty much as expected, although it was interesting that the researcher had to normalise for the over-representation of recreational riders to discover that (once corrected) we're pretty much the same as everywhere else - less raging drivers and bad road design please!

No-one mentioned The Three Letters

#2 was pretty dry, if heading in the right direction.

Both highlighted the need for pleasant as well as safe

[g-boaf]

How hard is it to build well lit (at night), wide and smooth cycleways that are connected to each other?

Does that really need talk-fests and lengthy analysis?

Everyone plans and plans and all that ever happens is lots of paper and nothing much else.

[Thoglette]

How hard is it ..?

There's a few things going on here.
Some which are easy to note and some a bit more subtle

The easy bit is that the guidelines and rules are the score card and cheat sheet for otherwise clueless engineers and bureaucrats. That is: we want the guidelines to capture all the things we want and proscribe the bits we don't.

While that sounds easy, I'd note that the basic electrical wiring rules book (AS/NZ 3000) runs to over 200 pages. And the rules on how to do ethernet cables (AC/CA S.009 2020) run to 250 odd pages. Which excludes the actual termination and testing of the cables.

The subtle. I see two threads. One is actually understanding what we need to do to get people a) using alternatives to the private car and b) getting on their bicycles. I mention both of these as the interaction between them is part of the "it's complicated" nature of why we do things and how locations, times and people differ.

The second is simply exposure: The more people are exposed to the concept of cycling as a legitimate way of getting around, the more likely that people are going to consider it reasonable. Consider it "brand awareness".

So just talking about how different people might "ride a bike" and how that might be affected by the build environment, rules & enforcement and how that differs from place to place is good for cycling. And it helps visualise what might be possible.

I with you on being frustrated at how long it takes to convert conversation into action (and specifically budget and priority).