The first stage of the Brisbane CityCycle was launched on October 1st and is aimed at reducing traffic congestion and parking pressures in the inner city by replacing cars with bicycles. Once complete, CityCycle will offer up to 2,000 bikes at 150 stations from Newstead to St Lucia at a cost of $10 million, primarily targeted towards inner city commuters.
From a liveability perspective, the idea behind this scheme ticks all the right boxes. Of the seven elements of liveability described by US-based (and now launching in the Asia-Pacific, with THG as a founding member) Partners for Livable Communities, CityCycle particularly focuses on the categories of health and wellness, environment and quality of life. Ben Wilson of Bicycle Queensland said in a recent Brisbane News article that the scheme will “humanise our inner city streets, making them friendlier,” an outcome which can only result in special places to live, work and play.
However, the introduction of the scheme has not been without issues. The push to ‘Europeanise Brisbane’ doesn’t take into account the current lack of infrastructure available to Brisbane bike riders. Our streets are not as wide, flat and pedestrian friendly as ones in European cities, and the animosity between bike riders and drivers is evident in surveys such as a 2009 RACQ Pet Peeves survey, where 10,000 motorists voted cyclists disobeying the road rules as number 3 in a list of top ten frustrating issues on the road. However, this is a ‘chicken and egg’ question. Do we wait until the infrastructure is in place before we introduce schemes such as these or, do we do as the best innovators do, and take action in the hope of encouraging change?
Read the full THG In The Know story here.
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