Bicycles, a good idea ruined

The great city of Melbourne came up with a great idea; a bicycle program for the city’s central business district (CBD). Indeed this is a progressive plan to encourage more people to leave their cars at home for alternative transport options. The combination of public transport and the bicylce program would have been a great way to make the city even more accessible for non-cars.

But like so many other programs, the Labor Victorian government has failed again. And it has failed on a number of levels, another great trait of this government.

In the infinite wisdom the program being rolled out without helmets, as noted in The Age’s and Herald Sun’s letters-to-the-editor sections, enabling Victorian Police to raise unprecedented levels of revenue from cyclists not wearing a helmet. I’m sure this would be a resounding world-wide hit for tourists trying to do the right thing environmentally only to run afoul of Australian road rules. These kinds of oversights could result in problems containing the ripple effect and restoring faith in Melbourne being a great place to visit.

With all of the junkets to Europe and Asia, and especially to cities that already have rolled out extensive bicycle programs, one has to wonder exactly what they were doing while they were there. Surely it was not just to see how well the Europeans built roads, or nuclear power plants for that matter. Were they not shown how well these cities are adjusting to climate change through their own time-tested bicycle programs; and how they are helping to reduce the amount of cars on the roads? Surely from the experiences in China, France, Amsterdam, Vietnam, Indonesia, Germany, and Malayasia etc the Labor government would have better foresight into how such a program should be developed and rolled out.

It is no wonder people (mostly the writers and commentators at The Age and Herald Sun) make a mockery of so-called international educational tours & trade missions by politicians (and some senior bureaucrats); some to quiet extravagantly priced cities.

The wisdom was further extended to the pricing policy for the bicycle program; no doubt at the behest of the winning tender, the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV). That’s right. A bicycle program for Melbourne’s CBD is being rolled out by the state’s largest and most cashed-up car & motorist lobby group. (And perhaps yet another sign of Brumby’s pollution agenda.) Apparently, the hire of a bicycle is free for the first hour. There is apparently only the disclaimer that there are significant fees after the first free hour. What a wonderful idea. Make significant profits from significant fees because to go anywhere and enjoy the sights, sounds and delights on offer is going to take longer than an hour.

Unfortunately, this is another excellent program that has been junked by the reigning Labor government.