It was a busy night for cycling and active transport at Merri-bekCouncil meeting on Wednesday night: four items were considered.

• 7.1 Making it safer and Easier to Walk and Ride in Merri-bek
• 7.2 De Carle street Bicycle lanes
• 7.6 Safety issues on Melville Rd (focussing on pedestrian safety)
• 9.1 Rescission motion on Kent Road Separated Bike lane trial.

123 people have been killed or injured on Merri-bek roads from 2020-22. Both cyclists and pedestrians.

All four items were passed by Council, but support varied from unanimous for the motion on addressing funding for walking and cycling (7.1) to a very narrow decision of rescission on the removal of Kent Road Bike lane trial (9.1)

Update. On 20 October a Councillor lodged two rescission motions: for the Kent Road Bike Lanes and De Carle St Bike Lanes. The plot thickens.

Council item 7.1 on increased funding for active transport

The alternate motion to the one in Council agenda was carried unanimously

Lisa from Merri-bek BUG made a statement on item 7.1 Making it Safer and Easier to Walk and Ride in Merri-Bek:

Merri-bek BUG is supportive of the comprehensive report Officers have provided in response to Cr Pulford’s June NOM about opportunities to accelerate the roll out of active transport infrastructure by bringing forward active transport projects. 

Merri-bek residents have consistently shown a high level of interest over many years in opportunities to switch to active transport and particularly in projects that will provide dedicated cycling spaces separated from traffic. 

This has most recently been demonstrated with;

The sheer volume of submissions to the 2023/24 budget requesting Council allocate more funding for bike infrastructure and in particular diddic gated bike lanes. 

Council’s social research conducted in early 2023 that found that significant numbers of residents across Merri-bek were interested in using a bicycle for some local trips, especially women.

Council’s 2022 consultation on the 10 Year Capital Works Programs for Walking and Cycling that received 292 survey responses and 932 pinned comments on the interactive map from 289 constrictors.

This high level of demand from residents, coupled with Merri-bek’s own aspirations towards reducing carbon emissions, addressing the climate emergency, reducing congestion and making it healthier, safer and easier to travel around Merri-bek calls for an accelerated approach to building the sort of city that gives all residents a real choice in how to move around our city. 

We believe that Option 2 recommended by officers provides a good plan for moving forward with additional pedestrian and cycling projects that will make a real difference while requiring only a modest increase in budget, and we thank officers for their work on this. The projects chosen all fit well into long term strategies for improving walking and cycling in Merri-bek and are supported by residents. 

Officers have however failed to address the second part of Cr Pulford’s NOM with respect to indexing the $10 per capita spend for active travel projects. We think having this small budget indexed is really important. Since the Council voted in June 2019 that the budget should have a $10 per resident minimum, costs have increased by 15.5%. The Transport budget is now a smaller proportion of the entire Council budget than it was in 2019, at a time when the urgent need for mode switch to address transport emissions, health, congestion, cost of living and other issues is more pressing than ever. 

This is why we believe that the $10 per capita for walking and cycling projects should be indexed to inflation. Doing so would mean that this small but important budget would be better able to keep up not only with the total Council budget but with the important and major work both residents and Council’s own policies expect of it. 

In summary – our ask is this: that Councillors to vote for the Option 2 presented by officers but to also ensure that this budget is indexed in line with inflation from 2019.

Council item 7.2 on implementing protected bike lanes on De Carle St, Coburg.

Excellent statements in support in question time by Lisa from Merribek BUG and Maria, Principal of Merribek Primary school.
Carried on Mayor’s casting vote. 5 For, 2 Against, 3 abstain

Maria, Principal of Merri-bek Primary School made a statement to Council in question time on this item and made the following points:

• Well over 40 percent of our students ride their bikes to school.
• School bike shed extended to allow rom for students to ride their bikes.
• We have strong community support.
• A lot of parents ride their bikes to school and have their kids on the back of their bikes.
• We are a Ride and Stride School.
• 65.4 percent of our students use some form of active transport to school.
• Huge increase in students walking and riding when we actually closed the street as part of Ride and Stride.

“When we surveyed our community the respondents felt that Blair Street was safe to walk or ride on when we had the Ride and Stride, closed the street. That was not the same case when the streets weren’t closed along Blair street and De Carle Street. We have seen a really huge increase: 65.4 percent of our students use some form of active transport to school. We saw a huge increase in students walking and riding when we actually closed the street. As a safety concern we are really supportive and talking on behalf of our parent community in favour of ensuring we have separated bike lanes on Blair street.”

Lisa from Merri-bek BUG read a statement about the De Carle Street bike lanes:

From the first time Council suggested protected bike lanes on De Carle St the project has had incredible community support. This reflects the ongoing and consistent support for safer cycling routes across Merri-bek that is regularly voiced by residents. We referenced it in our earlier statement this evening so we won’t take you through it all again but residents in Merri-bek overwhelmingly support measures for better quality outcomes for riders on bikes. The consultation process for this project also reveals significant levels of support. The location of De Carle with access for families riding to daycare centres and primary schools and to intersections with the activity centre on Sydney Rd are just some of the reasons why this project has become so important to the community.

We understand the challenges that officers have detailed with the original proposal and why the protected bike lanes proposed then can’t be built as they were envisaged. The current proposal however does not meet the expectations of the community. While referencing Napier Street in Fitzroy it omits some of the most significant factors on Napier St, and that is the multiple and significant modal filters that restrict through traffic by motor vehicles. Without these Napier St would not be the success it is and De Carle St will not provide the traffic calming it needs to work as officers hope.

We believe that this proposal needs to be revisited and we urge Councillors to ask officers to do that. Protected bike lanes may be able to be incorporated with a redesign of the street of that includes removing some of the parking. But Modal filters and other features of streets like Napier and Canning Streets may also provide greater traffic calming and wider benefit. Councillors have already voted on this proposal in the past and that vote was for a design that provided a route suitable for use from 8-80. The current proposal doesn’t do that and needs to be revisited in that context.

7.6 Safety issues on Melville Rd, West Brunswick.

This one relates to pedestrian deaths, injuries and safety on Melville Rd. This is a DoT arterial road so Council is limited in actions, but advocacy is important.

Motion was Carried

Debate on 9.1 Rescission motion on removing Kent Road protected bike lanes (trial)

This is in PascoeVale, part of the Coburg-Glenroy cycling route.

Division: 5 For, 5 Against. Passes on Mayor’s casting vote.

Alternative motion to keep, make permanent. 5 For, 4 against. 1 Abstain. Passes with Mayors casting vote.

Recission Motions for November Council meeting

As of 20 October, a Councillor has lodged two rescission motions over protected bike lanes. For information, below is the wording of the two resolutions adopted by Council on 18 October. Council says these resolutions won’t be implemented for now, pending the outcome of the rescission motions on 8 November.

18 October 2023 Resolution – Conclusion of Kent Road Bike Lane Trial (now subject of a rescission motion)

That Council:

1. Declares the trial of the Kent Road separated bike lanes complete.
2. Approves making permanent the Kent Road separated bike lane infrastructure along the north (eastbound) side of Kent Road between Cornwall Road and Cumberland Road, and along the south (westbound) side of Kent Road between Cumberland Road and Cornwall Road.
3. Investigates and implements modifications to the Cornwall Road and Kent Road intersection so that the bike and pedestrian crossing points are clarified.
4.      To install a zebra crossing outside the Pascoe Vale Health Medical Centre, noting this involves the removal of 5 parking bays.
5. Acknowledges and thanks the community for their time and effort over the extended two-year trial in both identifying issues and working on solutions, which has provided valuable insight into the application of on-road physically separated bike lanes in the local context.

18 October 2023 Council Resolution – De Carle St Bike Lanes  (now subject of a rescission motion)

That Council:

1. Approves the installation of protected bicycle lanes on De Carle Street between Rennie Street and Moreland Road in line with previous designs developed for consultation in November 2021.
2. Approves the removal of eight parking bays on the eastern side of De Carle Street between The Grove and Rennie Street to facilitate two-way vehicle movement.
3. Approves the removal of three parking bays between Moreland Road and The Avenue to enable two-way vehicle passing gaps every 80 to 100 metres.
4. Approves the installation of traffic calming treatments at roundabouts on De Carle Street between Moreland Road and Rennie Street to reduce vehicle speeds and address road safety risks.

Background:

Climate Action Merribek has had a strong focus on addressing transport emissions and in advocating for active transport this year at local Council level, but also state and Federal levels. See our articles and submissions in 2023.

OCTOBER 3, 2023 – Active Transport Ministry a first in new Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan’s ministry reshuffle

SEPTEMBER 13, 2023 – Merri-bek Council votes to rip up protected cycling lanes, shredding Council sustainability reputation

SEPTEMBER 6, 2023 – Submission: Moving around Merri-bek

SEPTEMBER 1, 2023 – Strong Mandatory Fuel Efficiency Standards needed for Electric Vehicles

JUNE 21, 2023 – Some wins on Active Transport in Merribek council budget

MAY 20, 2023 – Major backtrack on active transport projects in Draft Merri-bek Council Budget jeopardizes Climate Targets

MAY 20, 2023 – Submission on Impact of Road Safety Behaviours on Vulnerable road users

References:

Merri-bek Council Meeting 18 October 2023 video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPA52desEV0

Council News, 20 October 2023, Council Resolutions on Bike Lanes – Update – 20 October 2023 https://www.merri-bek.vic.gov.au/my-council/news-and-publications/news/council-resolutions-on-bike-lanes—update–20-october-2023/