Bus improvement

Another idea that I am sure people already dreamt about:

The bus should be fitted with a rack at the back so that cyclists can hang their bicycle. It shouldn't be too expensive, and it will promote more cycling.

Web app idea

An idea came to me today while reading on the net. The idea is not new, but I see its potential to be implement in Melbourne. Inspired by the project in New York, I think I can inspire people in Melbourne to establish something similar. Here is a gist:

Notice that on Google map, one can get a direction from one place to another by clicking on the map. However, in the perspective of cyclist not all roads are created equal. While some roads is suitable for motorised vehicle, it may not be suited to the rider. To complicate the issue further, riders are different in term of their comfort on riding the same road. For instance, some riders wouldn't prefer to ride on Nicholson st during peak hour, but I don't see it as too dangerous. 

With this in mind, I suggest an idea to develop a web-based application that allow each rider to plan his/her route. I believe that it should have the following elements:

1. Each rider can select different minimum road safety level to travel on. 
2. The road safety level will be evaluated through the inputs of cyclists travelling on the road. The idea that is similar to Wikipedia. That is, you allow a public contribution or road assessment. The road safety level should be judged according to existence of bike lane, Copenhagan style?, tram?, traffic and road condition (like steepness). Initially, the project should only be opened for people to contribute their road assessment. Once, enough data is collected, then we can begin open for the general usage. 
3. The road assessment should be reviewed every year for more update information. 
4. The route should be weighed toward straightest path, and less so towards path with high number of right hand turn. In the next stage, the time dynamics should be included in the calculation. The road condition differs greatly over the day, and therefore it would be nice to include into the project. 
5. Therefore, evaluation for each junction will needed for all traffic direction.
6. If bike sharing system is implemented, the stations should be shown on top of other information.      
7. If impossible, the calculation should include the possibility of mix usage. Incorporating the train timetable into the calculation (I believe that you can receive real time information on train now), the rider can plan the route that integrates with travelling on train.   

Anyway these are just a quick inspiration from reading things. Any comments or suggestions are welcome. In fact, if anyone can start the project, that would be awesome.

Melbourne: Towards minimal environmental impact

Recently, the state government released another transport plan for Melbourne future. Despite the lack of certainty of funding, it promises some interesting projects. In particular, I am interested in the plan for cyclists. As a supporter for more riders on the road, I am somewhat disappointed with initial promise of $12.3 million a year on improving conditions for bike riders. However, I am hearten with the recent announcement to increase this fund to $18 million a year. Not bad for a start, given that Bicycle Victoria asked them for $30 million a year. Nonetheless, it is an improvement.

Outline in the plan, I am interested in the  bike hire project in CBD. The idea is far from a radical one; there are already similar projects in Paris and Barcelona. Nor it will be a quick fix for the congestion in CBD. In fact, I am disappoint at the scale of the project. It promises 600 bikes which normal people can borrow a bike in order to travel around CBD. Nice idea, but 600 bikes? And only CBD? I think the government aims a bit too low. Anyway, here are some of the ideas that I dream of, some may not be feasible, but that is beside the point. I am allow to dream, right?

Bike sharing: Essentially the idea is similar to the one in Paris and Barcelona. But I think that instead of restricting to 600 bikes spreading around CBD, it should aim to spread at least 100 bikes within 10 km of CBD (this is still significantly smaller number than the system in Paris, but we could argue that Melbourne has less people).  I mean there are  a lot of people going to Melbourne University. Why shouldn't the program include such commuters? And this is how it should work:

• People can get a ticket at the station, which will be spread out all over Melbourne. The first 30 minutes should be free and every 30 minutes there after, fee will be charge directly to the bank account.
• The bike will be designed so that there is no compatible part in this bike with other commonly used bike. The aim is to discourage people from stealing bikes. There is one design in Sweden, in which most of the bike has no easily removable parts. 
  
• There will be teams of maintenance to ensure the right distribution of bikes over entire system. This means, the first few years in operation, the general movement of bike will be studied to ensure that right numbers of bikes are at the right spot in Melbourne. 
• There will be workshop where these bikes can be fixed. This project will create jobs, and provide a training ground for young mechanics. The commuters can easily report  any malfunction on the bike through each bike station.

Bike taxi:  I have seen some bike taxis in CBD. I think we should encourage these riders by establishing road lanes for. In particular, Swanston st should be closed off except for cyclists. I see that this policy will create Swanston st culture just like Lygon st. 

Now, on the contrary to common belief that the closure will destroy businesses, it have been shown the opposite results numerous times. In particular, the nearest living proof is Swanston st itself. Since the partial closure in 1991, Melbourne saw a dramatic increase in the number of outdoor cafes opened on the street (250). The rational behind the increase is the fact that the number of pedestrians  increases by 39 percent during daytime. From the words of  Rob Adams, the director of urban design department:

Well, we've doubled the number of pedestrians walking past their [stores]. You know, you don't shop from a motor car - not at 60 kilometres an hour, you don't

In line with this idea, we then should restrict the speed of motorised vehicle to 30 km/hr. This is to limit the number of accidents in CBD. It is illogical to have car being driven at 60 km/hr in CBD. It would make CBD a lot safer for 7500 cyclists that commute into CBD each day. 

Bike rail: Now, come a more radical idea. This is something I dream of having in at least one city in this world. The idea is to have bike on rail (not the same one as trains). First thing anyone should notice is that putting bike on rail mean less friction and hence the rider can travel at faster speed. I saw a design in one Melburnian's backyard. I reckon that I can travel at least 40 -50 km/hr easily on this bike, if the plastic shell is added to improve on aerodynamic.

Imagine the potential for this type of transportation in Melbourne (of course I don't think this justifies the price tag). So the idea is to have stations between extreme ends of the city. The aim is to connect outer region with human-powered vehicle network. The riders can do the following (the idea is still in its early stage):

• Hire a bike and ride on it to and from any two stations. I am not sure yet of the price. It can be a small annual fee. 
• Now, the bike will have to be designed so that quick adjustment can be made. The rider will have to register in the system their detail personal bike configuration, which will be determined at the commencement of membership. To access the bike, the rider can ring the station, and tell them to adjust the bike ready for him/her. 
• There will be at least 4 lines of rails. Two in each direction, and one of the two will be reserved for slower riders. A remote control will be given to each rider, which will allow them to change lanes. Note that the track will be narrower than the train track.
• In recognition that this system will not cope under high traffic condition, we can change the idea to bike train. However, this system will be based on more communal and car pooling idea. That is, each user can choose either to "pedal" or to sit and "do nothing". If one choose to do nothing, then a small fee will be required in exchange for the work given by the "pedaller". Alternatively, we can have a number of "pedallers" and "sitters" going in to the same station (or the station along the way) attached to each other. So, this reduces the problem to the design of the vehicle. 
• Under this system, it will require a good organisation skill at each station. So, implementation would be an issue, never mind the initial construction cost. 

Arthur Seat

On New Year day, I decided to go on an epic cycling trip to Arthur Seat (near Rosebud) with Charlie. The 240m climb over 3km (which mean an average gradient of about 8% - 9%, but Charlie reckons it is 10%) to the top of Arthur Seat reduced me to the lowest gear consistently. I was grasping for air the whole time there, but I never felt like I was getting enough air in. It could be the cold that I recently had that haven't quite over yet. On one hand, Charlie sprinted to the top on amazingly high gear (39/21), while I struggled on embarrassingly low gear (34/25).

As part of the aim, Charlie got wasted just pass Frankston. This meant I had to do the work at the front for most of 40 km on the way back to the city. As a result, I got wasted too.  

Having done a fair bit of cycling over the past two weeks, I have a thought for this year resolution. Mine will be: 5000 km of ride this year.

This will mean Charlie has  to drag me out on bike more..... :P