Bikes should be part Of the plan
In order to encourage more Tasmanians to get on their bikes – the government needs to create more secure places to park bicycles and create safer places to ride, writes Alison Hetherington
YOU may not know it, but the Tasmanian government is currently reviewing a central part of its vaunted statewide planning scheme.
The State Planning Provisions were introduced in 2017 and are now undergoing their first five-year review.
The problem back in 2017 and the problem now is that the provisions take us backward when it comes to helping people to choose to ride a bicycle for transport.
Instead of requiring new streets to have safe separation between people walking, riding and driving they encourage the “adequate accommodation” of all road users.
Instead of requiring new buildings to provide bicycle parking for employees that is secure and undercover, they require a few hoops outside.
And instead of making sure new apartment buildings have secure, undercover bike parking for residents, they are completely silent. So, when new apartments are advertised showing drawings of people happily riding by, they probably won’t be living in the building because there’s nowhere secure and accessible to keep their bikes.
Frustratingly, the planning provisions were being developed at the same time the government was announcing its aspiration to be the healthiest state by 2025.
We know that obesity and lack of physical activity are driving forces behind the development of heart disease, diabetes and some cancers.
Making it easier for people to be physically active every day can help reduce the risk of such diseases.
One of the most obvious ways to do this is to design streets where more of us can make the choice to walk or ride and when we get to our destinations, there are secure places to lock our bikes.
This is especially true for people who want to ride to work.
When people lock up their bikes and head off to their day or shift at work they want to be sure their bike is there when they finish. If they are forced to lock it up in the street without any way to check on it, it might be enough of a deterrent not to ride.
The government needs to come together on the goals of making us physically and mentally healthier, reducing our greenhouse gas emissions, reducing cost-of-living pressures and reducing traffic congestion.
Our planning laws are an obvious place to do this but if they are going to be useful in encouraging people to ride, as is stated in the objectives of the Sustainable Transport and Parking Code, then changes are needed, including –
More places to park your bike –
BIKE parking requirements should apply to apartment buildings.
BIKE parking requirements should differentiate between employee parking and visitor parking.
EMPLOYEE and resident parking should be undercover, have an extra layer of security such as swipe card or padlock access, and not be in a place accessible by other people.
EMPLOYEE bike parking over five spaces should come with showers, lockers and change-rooms.
secure
VISITOR parking can be made more secure by being located right next to building entrances or busy paths, well lit and within CCTV coverage.
Safer places to ride – THE government should provide direction on the standard of cycling infrastructure to be built on roads according to the number of cars expected and the speed limit. This means some roads with low speeds and fewer cars may have painted bike lanes but on roads with higher speeds and more cars bikes and scooters will get their own path or on-road separated cycleway. Research shows us the majority of people are open to the idea of riding but not if they have to mix with traffic, which is why this direction is important in getting more people riding.
PATHS for people walking and riding should connect streets that are dead-ends to cars.
Some of the obvious ways to help encourage people to be more active are ... to design streets where more of us can make the choice to walk or ride and when we get to our destinations, there are secure places to lock our bikes.
The Heart Foundation has suggested a Liveable Streets Code be added to the state provisions to outline what many of us want when it comes to disability compliant walking paths, separated cycleways, street trees, open spaces and public transport shelters. This is one way of providing more transport options and should be considered in the review.
If you want to support making it easier to walk, ride or scoot around Tasmania please consider providing comments to the review, which closes on July 29.
And even if you don’t support those options for yourself, you should still consider making a submission because more developments that force people into cars or make it difficult to ride, walk and scoot just means more traffic congestion.