Please join your fellow fit & fired-up cyclists for brunch at CERES Cafe this Saturday.
Saturday 10am, 26th January. CERES Cafe, 8 Lee Street East Brunswick.
Purpose of meeting:
Photo from the first meeting:
Some good news. Bin the Bike Ban has been invited by the Department of Infrastructure to make a submission to the review of the bike ban.
We will send in our submission by next Tuesday (29th Jan) and I would expect to have some response back about that late that week.
If you want to contribute to the BtBB statement, please join the mailing list and take part in discussion or else, leave a comment on the website right here.
Bendigo Advertiser: Ban prompts action
Central Victorian bike activists plan to take the success of a rethink on train bike bans further and advocate for greater integration between rail and bike use. Up to fifty cyclists – many of them catching the morning service from Castlemaine with cardboard replica bikes – gathered at Bendigo Station yesterday to voice their protest at a State Government ban of bikes on peak-hour trains.
This week Minister Lynne Kosky ordered a review of the ban and will not impose the restrictions until it is complete.
Rally organiser Jill Gibson said this was an opportunity for the government to completely reverse ban and look at new and better ways of integrating bicycles into the public transport system.
‘‘This is a chance to make it that much better and as a link in the chain, so to speak, of an integrated system,’’ she said. Read the rest of this entry »
Alan Bull and Mark Slater protesting against the bike ban. Photographer: Jemina Wilson
ABC Central Victoria: Bike ban protest
ABC Online: Train bike ban sparks protest
Cyclists have been at the Castlemaine and Bendigo railway stations in central Victoria this morning protesting against a ban on bicycles on peak hour trains. The State Government announced yesterday that it is reviewing the ban which is due to take effect on regional services from next month.
Castlemaine environmentalist and cyclist Jill Gibson says better use of luggage areas would allow bikes to fit comfortably on trains. She says cyclists have been handing out flyers and asking people to sign a petition against the ban.
“In that flyer we’ll be including contact details for anyone that people might want to contact and a copy of a letter that might help make it easier for them to do some protesting as well if they wanted to,” she said.
As you will see in the media Minister Kosky has done about the Department of Infrastructure’s planned “review” of the bike ban, they plan to contact all relevant “stakeholders” for consultation.
Yesterday afternoon I rang Ms Kosky’s office to find out how representatives from the Bin the Bike Ban (BtBB) campaign could be involved in the review. Naturally, all the people I should have spoken to were in a meeting.
We intend to keep contacting the department until they announce who those “stakeholders” are. Obviously V/Line and Connex, but their “stake” is relatively small compared to that of cyclists. There needs to be representatives from cycling groups – regional BUGs would be a good start.
Whether or not Bicycle Victoria is part of the review is irrelevant, because they have shown on this issue they can’t be relied on to represent cyclists’ interests.
There is still no public release from DOI about the ban’s review (well, there was no release when it came into action, so I suppose it is fitting if it slinks away with similarly little fanfare). BV’s website also awaits an update.
Let’s run through a quick history of BV’s responses on this issue, shall we?
Herald-Sun, Call for bike lockers not bans:
Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said despite the lack of public notice for the ban, the Government had been discussing the issue for some time.
“There had been consultation with all the public transport operators. There had been consultation with Bicycle Victoria,” she said.
Part One: Channel Nine (22/01/08)
Find more videos like this on Melbourne Cyclist
Part Two: Channel Ten (22/01/08)
Find more videos like this on Melbourne Cyclist
Herald Sun: Transport Minister Lynne Kosky ‘misinformed’ on train bike ban
Victorian Transport Minister Lynne Kosky will review her decision to ban bikes from peak hour trains after claiming her department misinformed her on the issue. Ms Kosky said today her department had told her it had undertaken a full consultation and review which found strong support for banning bikes at peak hours.
“I was misinformed by the department that they had done a full consultation on this and that is what I am incredibly disappointed about,” she told ABC Radio today.
“That’s why I have ordered a review of the full implementation.”
She said there needed to be an agreement between bike groups and commuters about sharing space on trains during peak hours.
“We do have quite a lot of complaints from people who are concerned about bikes, but there is a way of managing this where we can have cyclists and other commuters on the trains,” Ms Kosky said.
The Age: I was misinformed on bike review: Kosky
Victorian Transport Minister Lynne Kosky will review her decision to ban bikes from peak hour trains after claiming her department misinformed her on the issue.
Ms Kosky said her department had told her it had undertaken a full consultation and review which found strong support for banning bikes at peak hours.
“I was misinformed by the department that they had done a full consultation on this and that is what I am incredibly disappointed about,” she told ABC Radio.
“That’s why I have ordered a review of the full implementation.”
She said there needed to be an agreement between bike groups and commuters about sharing space on trains during peak hours.
“We do have quite a lot of complaints from people who are concerned about bikes, but there is a way of managing this where we can have cyclists and other commuters on the trains,” Ms Kosky said.
She said solutions could involve reserving the last carriage on trains for bike riders or improving storage at stations.
“I would have preferred not to look at a review (but the department) had informed me they had undertaken full consultation and had very strong support for this policy but that was not the case,” she said.
The Age, 22-01-2008:
THE controversial ban of bikes on trains might be overturned by the State Government, following growing anger from cycling advocates.
On her first day back at work, Public Transport Minister Lynne Kosky ordered an immediate review of the rush-hour ban that started only three weeks ago.
The move to ban bikes on Connex and V/Line services sparked heated debate, questioning the Government’s own commitment to more Victorians using sustainable forms of transport.
Ms Kosky told The Age the review would begin immediately, and she would meet cycling groups to find some middle ground. “I’ve had a chat with Connex and V/Line, and we’ve decided to review the full implementation of it,” Ms Kosky said.
“The last message I want to send is that we don’t want people to cycle.” Read the rest of this entry »
