The Melbourne City Council is proposing to redevelop Swanston St – and 7 proposals are on the table. One of these options is banning bicycles in Swanston St – and making it a car and delivery vehicle thoroughfare. This option wasn’t discussed as part of the Council’s consultation process, and seems to be a last-minute attempt to rush through a ban on bikes on Swanston.
One of the things I love about Melbourne, having moved here last year from Hobart, is the number of bike lanes here, and the number of people who ride bicycles as their primary mode of transport. It’s awesome to see people riding past in the morning on their way to work instead of banked up in their cars stressing out. Way more people ride to work here than in Hobart, and I figure a big part of that is having cycle lanes almost everywhere so you don’t have to battle cars the whole time.
Swanston St is Australia’s busiest cycleway. It seems totally ridiculous to me to be discouraging bicycles in the city by removing bicycle access in the CBD and instead catering for cars and delivery vehicles. In a time where we’re seeing the early effects of climate change hitting us already, we shouldn’t be rewarding people for driving cars – we should be encouraging more people to ride their bikes.
So, I’ve filled out the submission form. I hope you can all join me in taking 2 minutes to have a say on the redevelopment on Swanston St.
Have a read about the proposals on the Bicycle Victoria website here
Have your say on the Council submission form here
Ban cycling from Swanston? Now there’s red herring if ever there was.
Won’t. Fucking. Happen.
Rancid.