The trouble with any advocacy groups I see here is they are not big enough or powerfull enough to be heard......really heard.Aushiker wrote:I have posted some details in the Cycling Safety section and in the WA sub-forum as has RolandP who does heaps more than me through BTAWA. Generally there is little to no response from forum members and zilch from the so called advocacy groups (other than BTAWA) which I find in particular disappointing; they could at least support/work with BTAWA and Rolandp. I would have thought the advocacy groups would be a lot more encouraging for starters.trailgumby wrote:It would be nice though if some of this could be a bit more visible, like an "action I've taken" subforum under an Advocacy section.
Personally I am pretty much at the point where more and more of what I do is not shared here and I am now questioning whether it is worth even bothering to flag bike plans and the like given the lack of reaction compared to say this instance.
Happy to be convinced otherwise but the evidence is not there from what I have seen.
Regards
Andrew
The problem is.......and it needs to be understood......Governments, councils etc etc do not care about cycling or cyclists.
They are just part of the merrygoround of life. Journalists make money out of them, LBS make money, motorists shout and honk at them, they yell back and take videos.......we are just part of everyday happenings.
They will be seen occasionally to care or have a section on their web page about being pro active.
That wins the few votes from cyclists, and gains funding for a ride to work day, so more feel good, achieve nothing photos can be put online.
You only need to take a few examples here in Perth.....certainly in the area of the cycling infrastructure grants.
I have written before on the lack of coordination of these grants. When the grants are issued on the basis of application instead of need you have problems.
$64,000 to the City of Melville to dig up a perfectly good albeit concrete path, and replace with ashphalt.
$58,000 to City of Claremont to put a 3.5m wide path alongside a lake in a newly acquired public open space.
$48,760 to Town of Vincent for a 3.5m wide path between 2 streets either side of an oval.
24,920 for City of Cambridge, for 460m of footpath
And we can add thousands of $$$$ to various councils for "bike plans"
But what makes the above samples a clear waste of money is that the remainder (about 5km) of the PSP along the Fremantle rail line will not be started until 2027...........
These are but a few samples....and we only get $1M a year for the whole of WA.
Take a trip around Perth and regularly a PSP is blocked for some reason or another. A designated cycle only lane in South Perth was closed for days recently because they needed to plop a rock concert in the middle of it.
Councils re working roads with no bike lane, but 2m pedestrian havens, and increasing squeeze points....another increasing issue in WA
The first thing any advocasy group needs to do is be very active in promoting cycling, and that is hard to do to nervous novices or nervous parents when all you can offer is a half cocked patched up bike network, that under the current system has no chance of improving in decades.