{"id":55,"date":"2008-01-24T09:57:38","date_gmt":"2008-01-23T22:57:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/2008\/01\/24\/55\/"},"modified":"2014-11-14T23:00:01","modified_gmt":"2014-11-14T12:00:01","slug":"55","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/2008\/01\/24\/55\/","title":{"rendered":"Bendigo: Ban prompts action"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bendigo Advertiser: Ban prompts action<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

This week Minister Lynne Kosky ordered a review of the ban and will not impose the restrictions until it is complete.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThis is a chance to make it that much better and as a link in the chain, so to speak, of an integrated system,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 she said<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The volunteer for Sustainability Victoria said like the need to address climate change, the community had led the way on the bike issue, particularly in central Victoria, where there were fewer public transport options and people grasped the value of the need for alternatives.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcIn Castlemaine we have a community that has really jelled, and issues like this bring the community together,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Ms Gibson said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcPeople have moved here for deliberate life choices and are very conscious of those choices.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She said the bike train option allowed many people to do without the expense of a second car. City of Greater Bendigo councillor Keith Reynard, who led the council move against the ban, said it was also vital to have public transport systems that support bicycle travel because of the rise in commuter travel and its potential to contribute to tourism.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWe want to promote cycling where people come up and ride around central Victoria, and the public transport integration in this is all part of the journey,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cr Reynard said bikes also posed an alternative solution to the ongoing problem of car parking for rail commuters, where the 120 space site filled early and overflowed into surrounding streets.<\/p>\n

\n\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI understand it won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t suit everybody, but the more we can utilise alternatives like bike travel, the less pressure there is on limited spaces,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 he said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcAs fuel prices go up I think we are going to see more and more of this (bicycle use).\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Bendigo Bicycle Users Group president Keith Longridge said the review provided an opportunity for the government to encourage more cycle commuting.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI think the first reaction of Bendigo cyclist to this ban is they were being marginalised,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Mr Longridge said.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWe want the government to act in an encouraging, rather than a discouraging, role and see bikes as a key to the efficiency of the whole system.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

He said infrastructure details such as better bicycle storage stations (Bendigo Station presently has 12 lockers) were part of the next step to solving wider transport problems.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u02dc\u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to get out of this 1950s and 60s thinking of just building a freeway and filling it with cars.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u2122<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

V\/Line area service manager Andrew Berry said the rally had been orderly and provided no difficulty, but he said the company would be making a submission to the Minister on the difficulty large numbers of bikes created for passenger access.<\/p>\n

He said V\/Line\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s major concern was with safety and the possibility of multiple bicycles overflowing from storage areas and impeding people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ability to get on and off trains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55"}],"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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55\/revisions\/90"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/modernthings.org\/binthebikeban\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}