I want to ride my bicycle

A recap, a way forward and acknowledging that cars are not the answer

I just want to give a little recap of my blog so far.

I started off with intentions and aspirations of looking at green buildings and the benefits and hazards of high rise living. 

However, after reading a fascinating article on the Compact City Fallacy, I changed my angle.

I looked at urban sprawl in both Sydney and Canberra, and compared them to the density of Shanghai. I then went on a number of tangents, looking at Canberra from a variety of angles, and have settled on looking at the impact in the push for cycling in cities.

First I touched on the wonderful Vienna, and its 1200km of cycle paths. I would like to explore Vienna and other cycle friendly cities, but for now I want to briefly discuss Sydney again and its cycle paths.

While I am yet to fully comprehend how important cycle paths and riding your bike are in terms of the environmental and social impact, I know that cars are not the answer for the future sustainability of cities.  

So my new tangent will be to discuss alternatives to cars as transport within cities. Let’s start with one of man’s greatest of inventions, the bicycle.

For the rest of this blog, I wanted to deliver a stinging critique to Sydney and its feeble attempts at integrating cycling into the city. `

Sydney, as I have touched on, is a cyclist’s nightmare of high traffic, narrow roads and hot-headed drivers. However, there are a few brave and hardy souls who ride through the CBD to get to work, which is discussed here.

 http://blogs.crikey.com.au/theurbanist/2013/08/21/is-cycling-more-dangerous-than-driving/

In a recent article, it was revealed that one of the few workable and decent bike lanes on College Street, was to be shut down by the Roads Minister in Duncan Gay. To counter this decision, Gay is attempting to create an alternative route through Castlereagh Street. 

**Have a look at the article here, and be outraged. 

However, along certain sections of Castlereagh Street there are carparks and loading zones. Gay has suggested a ‘part-time’ bike lane, which would be shut during the day, and opened in peak times.

Is he kidding?

Sydney’s half-hearted attempts at bringing in cycle paths are pathetic. How would anyone consider selling their car to ride there bike to work and catch public transport everywhere?

As someone who rides regularly, and who understands the benefits and savings of riding bikes, it is frustrating that Sydney has not done more about making cycling and other alternatives of transport more appealing.

Due to the fact that I do love riding, I want to explore cycling and bikes as a viable alternative to cars within cities. I have a number of articles and papers that I want to read and discuss. Following on from there, I want to look at other methods of transport that are more sustainable.