Meeting with QLD's Transport Minister this Thursday

[The 2nd Womble]

Hi folks. We've finally made progress this week, and I'm meeting with the Transport Minister Scott Emerson at George Street this Thursday at 10am to discuss the Springfield bike path and other issues we feel are important.
If anyone from QLD has any issues they'd like to get an answer on, post them here and I'll raise them when I'm there. Bear in mind these one on one meetings normally take place over half an hour and the coffee tastes very very good.

[Mulger bill]

Not at sparrow fart this time is it?

[find_bruce]

Half hour doesn't leave much time for the minister to get a word in does it

[The 2nd Womble]

Could be very quiet indeed with me slurping coffee and hooking into the Ministerial tea cakes. And sparrows have no gas left at 10 in the morning

[human909]

Nice work Womble!

While there might be some disagreements between you and me about exactly what and how we go about things. At least we have bikes in common and the desire to have more people cycling more safely. Keep up the efforts mate.

[Kenzo]

Stage D....
and stage E...

http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Projects/Name ... orway.aspx

[The 2nd Womble]

Nice work Womble!

While there might be some disagreements between you and me about exactly what and how we go about things. At least we have bikes in common and the desire to have more people cycling more safely. Keep up the efforts mate.

Cheers







You monster

[The 2nd Womble]

Tomorrow's meeting just got pushed back to next Wednesday at 4.30pm.

[gorilla monsoon]

Got a dollar that says that meeting will be cancelled/postponed as well.

[uncle arthur]

Perhaps you should appoint a lobbyist?

I hear Caltibiano is currently looking for some work to fill his free time.....

[The 2nd Womble]

Perhaps you should appoint a lobbyist?

I hear Caltibiano is currently looking for some work to fill his free time.....

At least I know why it was postponed. For 5 week's worth of this guys pay ($48,000+) TMR could reinstate their cycling awareness campaign. That was the yearly TMR budget!
Someone also tweeted this week that the Qld Treasurer was spotted flying international 1st class to somewhere or other. The bike path can't be a stretch for them.

[dontazame]

The law (as I understand it) making cyclists dismount to cross a pedestrian crossing (not signed for bikes) is illogical and generally ignored (if known). The requirement for cyclists to give way to pedestrians on a light controlled crossing is all that is needed. Illogical laws diminish overall respect and compliance with the law.
Because rego is [url]not[/url]based on the weight of the vehicle, but on largely irrelevant cyclinder numbers, motorists have a stronger case to argue that cyclists should also pay rego and otherwise don't deserve to be on the road. Wider, heavier vehicles not only do more damage to roads, they are more dangerous and create greater hazzards for other road users; e.g. for cyclists, when they are parked or passing. Rego should therefore be based on the easily determined weight of the vehicle, not cylinder numbers.

[The 2nd Womble]

Rego is not based purely on the number of cyclinders mate. Ask an owner driver what his 4 litre Mitsubishi Canter bread/water/tilt tray costs to keep on the road every year.

[dontazame]

Rego is not based purely on the number of cyclinders mate. Ask an owner driver what his 4 litre Mitsubishi Canter bread/water/tilt tray costs to keep on the road every year.

I know that mate. No worries if you don't want to pay more rego, but weight instead of cylinders (or cup holders) is fair and just happens to work in favour of cyclists .

[Comedian]

Tell him to stop screwing around and delivery huge northern veloway!

[jasonc]

The law (as I understand it) making cyclists dismount to cross a pedestrian crossing (not signed for bikes) is illogical and generally ignored (if known). The requirement for cyclists to give way to pedestrians on a light controlled crossing is all that is needed. Illogical laws diminish overall respect and compliance with the law.

agree this law is BS and needs to be removed.

[The 2nd Womble]

Meeting now pushed back to November 13 but locked in. I'm sure by then it'll be too late to stop the rot.

[Rhubarb]

For me the key message is "Build it and they will come !!!"

If you provide safe, fast and direct paths (fast and direct means not shared with peds, dogs etc, not continually stopping and winding around obstacles etc) then cyclists can easily average 30km/hr. At this speed it is faster, cheaper, healthier, greener and more fun to ride a bike rather than drive. These dedicated veloways along key routes are the key, with existing backstreets and shared paths largely sufficient to get to the veloways.

Electric bikes also mean the average person can easily cycle distances of 30km or more, eg from SPRINGFIELD into the city, or outer Northern suburbs, or Cleveland etc, provided there is the SAFE, FAST and DIRECT veloways (bicycle freeways).

The solution is to get cars off the roads, not more roads. You only need to get 10% of people to change from car to bike and the traffic is so much better, and you don't need more roads. It also reduces future health costs treating lifestyle diseases, mental health etc.

Govts tend to see bikes as something you ride 1km to the park with your kids on weekends. Yes they do that too but what we need is SAFE, FAST, DIRECT veloways on major routes for actual transport. Build these and they will come in droves on their electric bikes.

Sadly my experience as a contractor within a govt dept for 3 years only reinforces the Yes Minister view of these community engagement meetings. Good luck though mate. One day the message will get through

[Comedian]

For me the key message is "Build it and they will come !!!"

I'm really sorry to break it to you mate... but I sat in a CBD bug meeting when the head of cycling in TMR (Matt Johnston) told us the current thinking is "if they use it we'll build it". Get your head around that one.

Personally...it's hard to know what those guys do because they don't deliver anything that I can see or build any infrastructure. As far as I can tell they are just there to make us think they are doing something...

Can I say though I don't blame the people... it's the government (politicians) that actual distribute the money and set the priorities. So, meeting with Mr E might actually help.

[The 2nd Womble]

Agreed. To those in Brisbane, watch 9 News tonight. There's a report into the future of our city 20 years from now and the decentralisation of services and population to the new surrounding "super cities" which are either planned or already in their early stages. These centres include Logan and Ipswich including Springfeild. As you'll see, projected growth is truly staggering and the current line of thinking from the Newman Government beggers belief given their commitment to such growth away from the CBD.
as for Matt Johnston, a very affable and committed guy being hamstrung by TMR at the best of times. A few words in my ear from the chap have only confirmed my view.

[uppo75]

Meeting now pushed back to November 13 but locked in. I'm sure by then it'll be too late to stop the rot.

So how did it go?
or was it pushed back again

[The 2nd Womble]

We had the meeting at 2pm. The minister conceded that a bike path was needed and WILL proceed in the near future. How near is uncertain. According to the minister the previous government had committed to $400,000,000 worth of road construction which was unfunded including a chunk of the Springfeild upgrade. We acknowledge that roads out of Springfeild are woefully inadequate for an area that is currently experiencing a staggering 6% growth rate in new development and it must be addressed, however we sought the commitment from the minister re the path and he can assure us he will honour it in due course.
He is also mildly interested in the minimum safe passing distance proposal and strict liability. We will meet again next year to discuss this further.

[brett.hooker]

Congratulations on the meeting. Just getting the minister's time is an achievement and an acknowledgement of focus on the issue. Continued reinforcement is now key; keeping it close to the top ten issues for the minister... Positive reinforcement will work... Something will happen and suddenly this will become the solution...

[winstonw]

Womble, did you discuss police attitudes towards video evidence of aggressive motorist action?

[The 2nd Womble]

Unfortunately we only had 25 minutes today. This Bruce Flegg thingo - the latest in a production line of scandles for the Newman Government it seems - had everyone in parliament running around like lunatics when the division bell rand this afternoon.