Australian Cycling Forums - Bicycles Network Australia

Don't eat and drive: How snacking at the wheel can land you a $600 fine and three demerit points under a little-known road rule

Bunged Knee wrote: Don't motorists know that eating while driving are breaking the road rules?

Contractor’s road design creates unacceptable community impacts.

— Traffic studies predict unacceptable congestion on other roads.

— Lenders won’t finance the project or interest rates are too high.

— The state doesn’t agree to contract terms the contractor demands.

— Permits are denied, or have conditions that drive up costs.

— Lawsuits delay or block the project.

— Changes in state or federal laws or policies.

— Construction cost overruns.

— Unanticipated costs of repairs or maintenance.

It’s easy to foresee that there will be multiple setbacks of this sort in the course of a multibillion-dollar highway project. What will happen?

The governor has already demonstrated that when Transurban bluffs, he folds his hand. Transurban holds his political future hostage, and Maryland taxpayers will have to fork over the ransom.

Comedian wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:55 pm

I watched this recently. I always thought rat running slowed the whole system - and clearly it probably does.

https://youtu.be/cALezV_Fwi0

antigee wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 17, 2020 2:06 pm

Comedian wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 1:55 pm

I watched this recently. I always thought rat running slowed the whole system - and clearly it probably does.

https://youtu.be/cALezV_Fwi0

interesting thank you...it does miss out the point that if the speed limits were higher there would be better traffic flow and less congestion and of course less emissions ...I notice most of the rat runners in our local streets find that breaking the speed limit helps a lot and not slowing too much for stop (not giveway) lines improves throughput and eases their social conscience

brumby33 wrote: ↑

Sun Feb 02, 2020 12:25 pm

In my area of Sydney (inner West) since the Privatisation of Government buses through the corridors of Newtown, Transit Systems who now run it have included more peak services from Kingsgrove to City, Dulwich Hill to City, Canterbury to City to the point where there's just a line up of buses doing the same thing and it's pretty uncommon now to get anyone standing on a busy bus as there's just so many options, the people from Enmore Park to the City don't even need a timetable as there's buses turning up all the time and then you've also got the M30 which in a few days will be renumbered 430.
Due to increased traffic congestion during peak times, the time tables have also been lengthened to accommodate, I feel they went too far with this, especially during school holiday periods where the traffic is lower and it's easier to run very early but theres no difference with normal peak running and school holiday running as per timetabled services.

So given the initiative in trying to cater for the masses, it's not common to get any bus now that you're squeezed in like sardines, there might be one offs but it's now not that common.

The big test is going to be this light rail, already said to be a quarter of an hour slower than a bus from Randwick and I dare say that people will not want their X73/X74 & X77 to disappear, and if this light rail doesn't speed up, it will be the white elephant that it's already been accused of being. When I was at Randwick 3 years ago, it only took about 35 minutes to the City and that's with a crowded bus, but the light rail is taking about 10 minutes longer when it should've been a quicker mode as the Government wanted to reduce the number of buses but I really don't think they can....well not in the short term anyway and the light rail has proven to be less than reliable in it's early days.

The stacks of 691 buses to & from the Uni could still be needed if the students from UNSW shun the light rail.

The people in the East are spoilt with choice and will vote with their feet if a mode takes too long.

brumby33

brumby33 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 2:47 pm

I often read Melbourne people complain about their trams being awfully slow albeit fairly reliable....but in reality, public transport wasn't supposed to be superfast, it has to make stops along the way to pick-up and set-down people so it's definitely not quick.
The 422 you mentioned, know it well, that run had changed a fair bit over the years being extended to Kogarah then just over a year ago they decided to send it down Missenden road, one of the most tiresome corridors in Sydney, but it's really not that hard to get off just before Missenden road and hop on a 423/26/28 or M30 into the City, they go through very regular.

As a people Mover, I think the Light rail is a good concept but as you say, it's got to be given priority...without that, it could become a white elephant...but i'm sure it'll all work out...it will have to.....too many votes on the line for it to not work.

Cheers

brumby33

fat and old wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 4:10 pm

brumby33 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 2:47 pm

I often read Melbourne people complain about their trams being awfully slow albeit fairly reliable....but in reality, public transport wasn't supposed to be superfast, it has to make stops along the way to pick-up and set-down people so it's definitely not quick.
The 422 you mentioned, know it well, that run had changed a fair bit over the years being extended to Kogarah then just over a year ago they decided to send it down Missenden road, one of the most tiresome corridors in Sydney, but it's really not that hard to get off just before Missenden road and hop on a 423/26/28 or M30 into the City, they go through very regular.

As a people Mover, I think the Light rail is a good concept but as you say, it's got to be given priority...without that, it could become a white elephant...but i'm sure it'll all work out...it will have to.....too many votes on the line for it to not work.

Cheers

brumby33

I'm not sure how the Sydney tram tracks interact with other traffic.....separated totally, separated through signs and goodwill or just share the road? In Melb many of the older inner city lines are sharing traffic lanes with other vehicles, and there's no real way of giving them priority. As you get further out (or have later modified roads in the inner areas) and the tram can be separated completely there's priority. They'll still be around forever tho regardless. Who wants to drive into the city every day?

fat and old wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 4:10 pm

brumby33 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 2:47 pm

I often read Melbourne people complain about their trams being awfully slow albeit fairly reliable....but in reality, public transport wasn't supposed to be superfast, it has to make stops along the way to pick-up and set-down people so it's definitely not quick.
The 422 you mentioned, know it well, that run had changed a fair bit over the years being extended to Kogarah then just over a year ago they decided to send it down Missenden road, one of the most tiresome corridors in Sydney, but it's really not that hard to get off just before Missenden road and hop on a 423/26/28 or M30 into the City, they go through very regular.

As a people Mover, I think the Light rail is a good concept but as you say, it's got to be given priority...without that, it could become a white elephant...but i'm sure it'll all work out...it will have to.....too many votes on the line for it to not work.

Cheers

brumby33

I'm not sure how the Sydney tram tracks interact with other traffic.....separated totally, separated through signs and goodwill or just share the road? In Melb many of the older inner city lines are sharing traffic lanes with other vehicles, and there's no real way of giving them priority. As you get further out (or have later modified roads in the inner areas) and the tram can be separated completely there's priority. They'll still be around forever tho regardless. Who wants to drive into the city every day?

Because of mounting congestion, Beijing has limited the number of new car permits it issues to 240,000 a year since 2011. Those permits are issued in a monthly lottery with more than 50 losers for every winner – and that, as researchers from the University of California Berkeley, Renmin University in China and the Beijing Transport Institute recently reported in the British Medical Journal, provides an elegant natural experiment on the health effects of car ownership.

Led by Berkeley economist Michael Anderson, the researchers followed 180 permit winners and 757 losers for roughly five years, and looked for differences caused by the acquisition of a car.

“The randomization of the lottery is what gives us confidence,” Anderson explained in a statement. “We know that the winners should be comparable to the losers on all attributes other than car ownership.”

Not surprisingly, the winners took 2.9 fewer rides a week on Beijing’s dense public-transit network, representing a 45-per-cent drop in usage. They also spent 24.2 fewer minutes each day day walking or biking than the non-winners, a 54-per-cent drop.

You’d expect these behaviour changes to have health impacts. Over all, the winners gained an average of just more than two kilograms, a difference that was not statistically significant. But the effects were more obvious when looking only at winners aged 50 or older: They gained an average of 10.3 kilograms, a statistically significant and worrisome increase.

The results are consistent with a stack of previous studies that have found that car owners tend to weigh more than non-owners. The New Zealand census data, which were published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, make an even stronger case, since they link commuting mode to the most unambiguous health indicator possible: death.

But the randomized assignment of cars in Anderson’s Beijing cohort finally shows that it’s the car itself, not simply being the type of person who wants a car, that influences behaviour and ultimately health.

Ross wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 20, 2020 7:15 am

If only those pesky cycllists would stop going through red lights...
https://twitter.com/rorymeakin/status/1 ... 42785?s=20

Comedian wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 4:28 pm

When Brisbane had trams there were some spots like MEL where there were two lanes in the middle devoted to trams. When we resumed them they were given back to the mighty tram.

I often wonder what would have happened if they had been kept as divided cycleways. Unlike our current bike network which has to exist on floodways these could have been direct, fast, and relatively flat. Which is what Brisbane cycling desperately needs.

Does that happen in MEL?

fat and old wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 4:10 pm

brumby33 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 2:47 pm

I often read Melbourne people complain about their trams being awfully slow albeit fairly reliable....but in reality, public transport wasn't supposed to be superfast, it has to make stops along the way to pick-up and set-down people so it's definitely not quick.
The 422 you mentioned, know it well, that run had changed a fair bit over the years being extended to Kogarah then just over a year ago they decided to send it down Missenden road, one of the most tiresome corridors in Sydney, but it's really not that hard to get off just before Missenden road and hop on a 423/26/28 or M30 into the City, they go through very regular.

As a people Mover, I think the Light rail is a good concept but as you say, it's got to be given priority...without that, it could become a white elephant...but i'm sure it'll all work out...it will have to.....too many votes on the line for it to not work.

Cheers

brumby33

I'm not sure how the Sydney tram tracks interact with other traffic.....separated totally, separated through signs and goodwill or just share the road? In Melb many of the older inner city lines are sharing traffic lanes with other vehicles, and there's no real way of giving them priority. As you get further out (or have later modified roads in the inner areas) and the tram can be separated completely there's priority. They'll still be around forever tho regardless. Who wants to drive into the city every day?

one politically difficult solution is removing or further restricting on street parking - one service near me I'll use when the morning into/ morning out of city 2hour long clearways are in force as service runs much better at these times despite high volumes of cars and right turning rat runners

pretty sure there must be others but only true centre median shared path I know of in Melbourne is on North Rd, Clayton

brumby33 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 4:23 pm

Sydney should never have given up it's tram system back in the early 60's.....I think it was actually a much wider service than Melbourne at the time...Newcastle did the same thing.

Thoglette wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 20, 2020 10:30 pm

brumby33 wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 18, 2020 4:23 pm

Sydney should never have given up it's tram system back in the early 60's.....I think it was actually a much wider service than Melbourne at the time...Newcastle did the same thing.

Not kidding. At peak it had 1600 odd cars (vs 500 in MEL today) and moved 405 million passenger journeys in 1945, more than twice what Mel does today and with about 1/3 of the population.