War on cars

[Comedian]

All those fuel efficiency savings frittered on bigger cars.

https://www.drive.com.au/news/suvs-are- ... ign=tile-4

Pretty much the only way to change purchase behaviour is to introduce behavioural tax. If the Govt wants to reduce petrol consumption then tax it more. The tax gain could be used to offset the cost of low energy alternatives such as providing better public transport, adding cycle paths etc etc. Hang on, I'm preaching to the converted

Yes... and as more countries incentivise lower emissions emissions cars there is a real danger we will become a dumping ground for manufacturers wanting to eek out as much return as they can our of their sunk ICE investment. The only comfort I can get from Australia's increasing switch to SUV's is that it's a world wide phenomenon.

Australia like the US, Europe, and China should be incentivising electrics, and controlling the adoption of diesels in the passenger market. Last I heard we are now up to 60% SUV...

[RobertL]

Wow! Daimler Benz are stopping development of new internal combustion engines: https://www.news.com.au/technology/inno ... 4f18f24c5b

These are the people who first developed the internal combustion engine in the first place!

[fat and old]

Wow! Daimler Benz are stopping development of new internal combustion engines: https://www.news.com.au/technology/inno ... 4f18f24c5b

These are the people who first developed the internal combustion engine in the first place!

That article refers to VW not having any post 2026. Given that they are the world's largest manufacturer that's even bigger!

[Comedian]

Wow! Daimler Benz are stopping development of new internal combustion engines: https://www.news.com.au/technology/inno ... 4f18f24c5b

These are the people who first developed the internal combustion engine in the first place!

Stopping development is a positive - but don't expect they will stop making them any time soon.

It's quite common for a good engine design to be built for many years, and there are several engines that have had multi decade production runs.

The reality is it's just not possible to make diesels meet emissions regs if you can't cheat.

[mikesbytes]

Wow! Daimler Benz are stopping development of new internal combustion engines: https://www.news.com.au/technology/inno ... 4f18f24c5b

These are the people who first developed the internal combustion engine in the first place!

Stopping development is a positive - but don't expect they will stop making them any time soon.

It's quite common for a good engine design to be built for many years, and there are several engines that have had multi decade production runs.

The reality is it's just not possible to make diesels meet emissions regs if you can't cheat.

They will still make refinements to existing engine designs, simply make new designs. It says that the manufacturers see that ICE's will no longer be permitted after a timeframe that close enough that its not worth the expense of a new development cycle

I've heard that Volvo is no longer manufacturing cars that are purely ICE, either hybrid or electric only

[opik_bidin]

Erase the car subsidy and subsidize public and active transport

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonrei ... a7223439fb

Nottingham in England, which has had a workplace levy since 2012, a scheme which has so far raised £61 million and which the council spends on measures to reduce car use.

Nottingham has also taken road space away from motorists and given it to cyclists, making it easier and safer to cycle in the Midlands city.

The opposite happened. Since 2012 the number of businesses in the city has increased by almost a quarter. There has been a net increase of 23,400 jobs. The newest part of the city’s tram network, built in 2015, extends to the south of the city, reaching 20 of the 30 largest employers in the metropolitan area.

“A parking levy, like congestion charging, is a way to discourage the use of cars.”

He adds: “It’s important that revenues collected are used to fund alternative sustainable mobility solutions.”

[opik_bidin]

More reason to concentrate and Public and active transport not on AVs

https://www.studyfinds.org/study-driver ... ongestion/

ADELAIDE, Australia — . These autonomous vehicles are supposed to make our lives easier, but a new study conducted at the University of Adelaide in Australia finds that driverless cars could actually lead to more traffic congestion in major cities.

The reason why? Most riders won’t be willing to share their ride, the study shows, ultimately resulting in more cars on the road.The research team used the city of Adelaide as a test model, and questioned over 500 local commuters.

Interestingly, the study’s authors say that in all of their projected scenarios the overall number of vehicles in the city did eventually decline, but total car trips actually increased

[antigee]

Erase the car subsidy and subsidize public and active transport

https://www.forbes.com/sites/carltonrei ... a7223439fb

Nottingham in England, which has had a workplace levy since 2012, a scheme which has so far raised £61 million and which the council spends on measures to reduce car use.

Nottingham has also taken road space away from motorists and given it to cyclists, making it easier and safer to cycle in the Midlands city.

The opposite happened. Since 2012 the number of businesses in the city has increased by almost a quarter. There has been a net increase of 23,400 jobs. The newest part of the city’s tram network, built in 2015, extends to the south of the city, reaching 20 of the 30 largest employers in the metropolitan area.

“A parking levy, like congestion charging, is a way to discourage the use of cars.”

He adds: “It’s important that revenues collected are used to fund alternative sustainable mobility solutions.”

some interesting solid data there on a controversial scheme also....

[pom mode] Nottingham Council and Nottinghamshire County Council were early adopters of average speed cameras and sections of near central Nottingham and Nottingham's ring road got (controversial) blanket coverage

https://www.highwaysindustry.com/more-a ... n-england/

"Council and police chiefs have praised the road safety cameras, claiming they have helped reduce crashes by up to 75 per cent"

......"Hugh Bladon, a founding member of the Alliance of British Drivers, said there is an “obsession” with speed at the moment.
“There is far more to driving than just speed; that only becomes an issue when there is an accident,” he said.
“Giving a fine to someone for driving 45 miles per hour in a 40 zone isn’t making the roads safer.”.......... [/pom off]

[antigee]

New York to invest $1.7 billion to “break car culture”

"New York City has this week passed legislation that is touted as a move to “break the car culture” that grips the city in congestion and pollution.

The ambitious idea is backed by $1.7 billion that will be invested over the next decade, with 250 new bike lanes set to provide much of the arterial infrastructure to get the city’s residents moving.".....

......"250 miles of protected bike lanes are expected to be laid down from December next year over the duration of the next five year plan".....

had to read that bit twice that's billions not low millions and definitely a war with a battle cry...

"The Guardian reports City Council speaker Corey Johnson, who is expected to run for mayor in 2021, as saying: “The way we plan our streets now makes no sense and New Yorkers pay the price every day, stuck on slow buses or risking their own safety cycling without protected bike lanes … I want to completely revolutionise how we share our street space, and that’s what this bill does.

as far as can tell New York City is actually the whole metro' area and not just the central area for a cross reference to Aus' cities population the area believe this covers is around 8.5m

source article https://cyclingindustry.news/new-york-t ... r-culture/

Edit wrong NYC covers 5 central boroughs pop 8.5m total metro pop nearer 20m

[mikesbytes]

Opkin willl like this one. Author unknown

[mikesbytes]

Someone posted this one in response to mine on imgur

[find_bruce]

I was riding along the path at Anzac Parade - there are sensors that detect when a tram or bus is approaching the intersection. Do you think that the pedestrian / cycle crossing remains green until a bus or tram is approaching ? Don't be silly, they can stop & beg.

[Shred11]

Ah yes... the good old "beg button" for pedestrians.

I've noticed that the traffic lights near my place of work are synchronised for the convenience of car drivers. A side effect of this is that they seem to be synced to my walking speed such that I juuust miss the green walk signal at the same three intersections in a row. Every morning... and every night.

Isn't it time that we adjusted the timing of traffic lights in city centres to make pedestrian, cycling and bus movements more efficient. Make using a car the most difficult, inefficient and time consuming option in places where motor vehicle congestion is a problem.

On a related note: has anyone here tried catching a bus out of the Domestic Terminal at Sydney Airport lately? You walk for miles, past many taxi ranks, down the end of the terminal... risk your life crossing two pedestrian crossings and walk on a footpath that in one place gets down to being about 40cm wide - if that. Eventually, you reach a very tired and neglected looking bus area with no timetables and no hint of when the next bus will arrive. The bus operator's web site had no timetables either.

We eventually gave up waiting and caught cab... then as we drove past the bus stops, found that the bus had just arrived!

[mikesbytes]

On a related note: has anyone here tried catching a bus out of the Domestic Terminal at Sydney Airport lately? You walk for miles, past many taxi ranks, down the end of the terminal... risk your life crossing two pedestrian crossings and walk on a footpath that in one place gets down to being about 40cm wide - if that. Eventually, you reach a very tired and neglected looking bus area with no timetables and no hint of when the next bus will arrive. The bus operator's web site had no timetables either.

We eventually gave up waiting and caught cab... then as we drove past the bus stops, found that the bus had just arrived!

Sydney Airport doesn't want customers to catch the bus and go to lengths to make it difficult for people to know it exists and it exists only so there is a method for staff to get to the airport at a reasonable price and this situation exists other international airports. An alternative to catching the bus, if you don't have too much luggage and its not raining or roasting hot is to walk to the train station that isn't at the airport itself, this will save you about $10 each on the train fare over the airport train stations. For Domestic this is Mascot train station and for International this is Wolli Creek train station

[opik_bidin]

On a related note: has anyone here tried catching a bus out of the Domestic Terminal at Sydney Airport lately? You walk for miles, past many taxi ranks, down the end of the terminal... risk your life crossing two pedestrian crossings and walk on a footpath that in one place gets down to being about 40cm wide - if that. Eventually, you reach a very tired and neglected looking bus area with no timetables and no hint of when the next bus will arrive. The bus operator's web site had no timetables either.

We eventually gave up waiting and caught cab... then as we drove past the bus stops, found that the bus had just arrived!

Sydney Airport doesn't want customers to catch the bus and go to lengths to make it difficult for people to know it exists and it exists only so there is a method for staff to get to the airport at a reasonable price and this situation exists other international airports. An alternative to catching the bus, if you don't have too much luggage and its not raining or roasting hot is to walk to the train station that isn't at the airport itself, this will save you about $10 each on the train fare over the airport train stations. For Domestic this is Mascot train station and for International this is Wolli Creek train station

This is what I feel, besides car, other modes are made hard

Train : expensive, unless you go out to Mascot/Wolli creek
Bus : just read above
Bicycle : only known by certain people, and only for international is a bit well known. The route itself seems a bit hard.

[brumby33]

To My knowledge, there's no actual public bus that goes to Wolli Creek rail stn from DOM or INT terminals but either the 420 or 400 that goes via Mascot Station which many people do. I happen to drive this rte (420) Eastgardens to Burwood via Airport and visa versa.
There used to be the Yellow Airport Express buses run by State Transit from the both terminals to the City many years ago leading up to the East Hills line going through but was axed when the line opened taking away one very popular option so as to steer people onto the rail.
What gets me is that there could have been a great reasonable public train service at a reasonable cost but no...the cheap arse Bob Carr Government decided that the 2 airport stns would be Privatised....it's a bloody sham.
The entire routing of the East Hills Line going through both DOM & INT terminals cost $900 Million and the Government owns and runs Wolli Creek, Mascot and Green Square and only put $700 into it and sold the both Airport Terminals for $200 Mil, now you'd think that if the Government put a whole $700 Mil into the project that they'd go the extra $200 Mil as well to make the Airport Terminals the same price as Mascot.....but nah...not our short sighted tight arse Governments...no siree, there'd be so many who could easily go to the airport whether to work or travel and keep traffic off the road....it can be horrendous at times trying to get into and out of both Terminals in the mornings and late afternoons....the extra $200 mil would've been more than paid for by now if the Government owned the lot and keep the prices the same...I don't know the consortium who owns the 2 stations at the Airport but I'm sure Macquarie banks has their nose in there somewhere as they own the Airport.

brumby33

[mikesbytes]

This video about the Sydney Metro project says it will will transport more people thru its 2 lines than the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Harbour Tunnel. It doesn't qualify what exactly was included so I'm assuming that includes the 12 lanes of motor vehicle traffic and excludes the 2 lanes of train lines + cycle + walking. None the less it does drive home how much more efficient a train line is over a motorway

[opik_bidin]

from the Utopia series explaining Inducing Demand and Jevons paradox, for road building

[mikesbytes]

Building more roads won't solve congestion

https://www.domain.com.au/news/building ... hXvTlpnVJc

[Bunged Knee]

Let put more trees in the middle of all roads and don't put flimsy wooden stakes in it but put the solid steel bollards around it.

Just like it had done in Collingwood as reported in
paywalled heraldsun but it was poor form and it will be easily damaged by small trucks.

Looks like it's the only one in google map but hope that they put more in it.

[fat and old]

Yeah, that's pretty common in Yarra council area. I'm not seeing an issue tbh.

[DavidS]

More trees, trees in the middle of the road, sounds good to me.

DS

[bychosis]

A ‘news’ article I saw regarding the tree in the road mentioned it had been there for two years. One of the comments from the public was along the lines of it will be a hazard if a driver is distracted.

So:
1. It’s been there for a while without being hit so its not a massive hazard
2. Maybe it will help drivers to not be distracted because when you need to expect the unexpected you drive with attention.

[P!N20]

Curtin University 'Passbox' study examines motorists getting dangerously close to cyclists as they pass

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-20/ ... s/11719666

[mikesbytes]

A ‘news’ article I saw regarding the tree in the road mentioned it had been there for two years. One of the comments from the public was along the lines of it will be a hazard if a driver is distracted.

So:
1. It’s been there for a while without being hit so its not a massive hazard
2. Maybe it will help drivers to not be distracted because when you need to expect the unexpected you drive with attention.

If you can't see that tree when you drive down that road then you shouldn't be driving full stop