Let’s run through a quick history of BV’s responses on this issue, shall we?<\/p>\n
Herald-Sun<\/I>, Call for bike lockers not bans<\/a>:<\/p>\n 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. <\/p>\n BV’s website, from Jan 1 to 10th:<\/p>\n We have talked to the Department of Infrastructure Public Transport Division staff about the changes. . . We have agreed to support the changes, recognising that they will inconvenience some riders.<\/strong> <\/p><\/blockquote>\n BV makes no public comment against the bans.<\/p>\n According to at least one DOI contact<\/a>, BV knew of the proposed bike ban since August.<\/p>\n Cyclists find out about the ban via the media and get pissed off. Letters to DOI, V\/Line, Connex and BV ensue.<\/p>\n People who wrote to BV got replies like mine:<\/p>\n Hi Brianna,<\/p>\n Bicycle Victoria believes – and are checking through the survey – that By filling out the survey on the Metro Trains page you will help Bicycle Regards,<\/p>\n [name removed] —–Original Message—– —–Original Message—– On 04\/01\/2008, Bicycle Vic Enquiries But BV supports the metro ban. Can you please explain why?<\/p>\n On http:\/\/www.bv.com.au\/bikes-and-riding\/41038\/ it says “Support the How does this ban enable BV’s aim of “more people cycling more often”?<\/p>\n It is bad enough that cyclists have to fight the train companies and the regards, Note the whole non-answer to the question “how can you justify supporting this ban”.<\/p>\n Kerfuffle continues and BV updates their website, softening their stance:<\/p>\n \nBicycle Victoria\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s overall aim is to make it easier to ride your bicycle to and from train stations. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re also of the view that bicycles should be allowed on trains. Throughout this entire issue BV made no media comment about the ban at all, that I could find.<\/p>\n Thanks to continued lobbying from cyclists groups, Minister Kosky announces an immediate review of the bike ban.<\/p>\n Harry Barber, BV chief executive, talks to 774 and says “he appreciates the problem of overcrowding but the ban is too restrictive.” (ABC<\/a>)<\/p>\n Jason den Hollander, BV Facilities development manager, talks to RRR’s Along for the Ride<\/a>, and makes comments like:<\/p>\n [Re: BV’s apparent support for the ban] I think unfortunately that was a bad bit of writing on our website. The word \u00e2\u20ac\u0153support\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was the one that obviously got everyone worked up. …I think what we were trying to say was that we were accepting the umpire\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision, but we were going to the tribunal, over it. We didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily like it but we were going to work with what we had at the time, and push harder…. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d just like to apologise to everybody who did misread that. … It[our response] was probably luke-warm public, we were certainly paddling quite busily under the surface… I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re quite sure what the core, or original seed reason was for the idea to bring the bans in on peak hour. Now we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve heard congestion…the congestion one was a strange one, because DOI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own figures show that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s less than 100 people on peak, so quite simply the numbers didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really stack up.<\/em><\/p>\n So are the folks at BV incompetent, in terms of not understanding BV’s role as the peak representative group for cyclists in this state? Or are they merely complacent and take their members’ support (and money) for granted?<\/p>\n At the very least Bicycle Victoria owe their members a proper explanation as to why their members had to assume the role of lobbying for cyclists’ interests, when their peak representative group did not, and maybe explaining why next year members like myself should continue our BV membership instead of taking up with the PTUA<\/a>? (Who did speak publicly against the ban.)<\/p>\n At any rate, it is good news that Minister Kosky has announced a review of the ban. Now we just need to make sure that there really are people at that review representing cyclists — because we sure can’t rely on Bicycle Victoria for that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Are Bicycle Victoria incompetent or merely complacent? A review of BV’s statements and actions over the 3 weeks since the ban was announced shows a mess of silence and contradictions. What is BV’s answer to its members about their poor form on this issue?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":93,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions\/93"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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“There had been consultation with all the public transport operators. There had been consultation with Bicycle Victoria<\/strong>,” she said. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nmore riders are interested in riding to the station than taking their
\nbike on the train. This means our first priority for train travelling
\nriders is to get bike routes to stations and secure parking.<\/p>\n
\nVictoria gain a better understanding of how you use the public transport
\nsystem with your bike.<\/p>\n
\nBicycle Victoria<\/p>\n
\nFrom: Bicycle Vic Enquiries
\nSent: Monday, 7 January 2008 9:39 AM
\nTo: Bicycle Victoria Campaign Enquiries
\nSubject: FW: Connex bike ban<\/p>\n
\nFrom: Brianna Laugher
\nSent: Friday, 4 January 2008 3:38 PM
\nTo: Bicycle Vic Enquiries
\nSubject: Re: Connex bike ban<\/p>\n
\n>
\n> Dear Brianna,
\n>
\n> Thank you for the email. I have forwarded your email along to the
\n> campaigns department. We have a link listing what people can do in
\n> terms of contacting Vline and connex at
\n> http:\/\/www.bv.com.au\/bikes-and-riding\/41039\/<\/p>\n
\npeople who support your bike riding. Join Bicycle Victoria.” I joined BV
\nsome months ago but how are you supporting cyclists by supporting this
\nban?<\/p>\n
\ngovernment but now we have to fight the organisation that is supposed to
\nbe representing our interests??? How can you justify this?<\/p>\n
\nBrianna Laugher<\/p><\/blockquote>\nJan 10.<\/h3>\n
\nHowever, we recognise that given the current overcrowding on trains, it is unfortunately not practical to take bikes on all peak-period commuter trains. Regrettably, this will inconvenience some riders. When the overcrowding issue on trains is solved we can then approach the Public Transport Division to request that the current peak-period restrictions are lifted.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nJan 22.<\/h3>\n
\n