The coffee shop window defence of cycleways
Every morning, Jess (my dog) and I walk to our local coffee shop, read the paper (she is very bright), and watch the world go by. This happens to coincide with peak traffic, which has its own amusements.
Unsurprisingly, most drivers appear frustrated when stuck in traffic. But, on a more technical front, I have also been struck by: how few cars get through on a single traffic light change (around 6-10); the large amount of space taken up by cars; and consequently, how a small reduction in cars during peak times would considerably improve traffic flow.
The space required by cars versus bikes and buses is clear in the image below. No wonder there are efforts to encourage people to cycle.
In Christchurch, the latest push involves the controversial development of dedicated cycleways. Public acceptance of this has not been helped by some dubious designs (yes, I do bike regularly) along with some intrusive installations.
To add to the debate, I wondered if I could estimate the impact of cycling by taking a rough survey from my coffee shop window.
I will be the first to admit that this is highly unscientific study, especially as my coffee shop is on a major car, bike, and bus route versus one primarily used by cars. However, in a 30 minute window during rush hour there were around 15 cyclists for every 100 cars (primarily carrying a single passenger). Since traffic is already bumper to bumper, if these cyclists decided to drive much larger traffic problems would ensue.
Even a small increase in cyclists, say to 25 bikes for every 100 cars, would significantly improve rush hour car travel time. It serves car drivers’ interests to get even slightly more people on bikes.
While the $150 million budgeted for cycleways over the next five years seems like a large figure, given the council already spends around $150 million every year on roads and footpaths, cycleways may be the more cost effective option to speed up peak-time car journeys.
In the 30 minute window, three buses also went past. It is easy to be sceptical about buses in Christchurch as they often appear to have one occupant, the driver! However, these three carried around 100 people. Some will obviously be too young to drive, but it looks like buses halve the peak traffic load on this route. That is significant.
Currently, bus usage in Christchurch is subsidised to the tune of $65 million a year, around $150 per resident. Compared to the figure spent on roads that does seem a lot. However, for car drivers this $150/year ‘‘tax’’ may be worthwhile to prevent total gridlock at peak times.
Part of the problem is that cycleways, buses, and bus lanes usually look empty and can seem like an obvious waste of space and resources. However, this ignores the fact that even at their busiest they will appear empty because buses and bikes take far less room than a comparable number of cars. It also misses the point that their main benefit occurs during peak traffic, which is a brief time period.
Clearly a fuller cost/benefit analysis would shed more light on this.
However, even this simple exercise helps restrain my initial annoyance when I see what look like empty bus and cycle lanes. Looks can be deceiving and when viewed in a different light, they are a costeffective option.