Bendigo creek trail is pretty good if you ignore the fountain intersection where you're just left to fend for yourself amongst the cars. I just wish they would put in some more north/south bike lanes.
How hard would it have been to put the barriers next to the road and add a slight extension to the side of the bridge for an expanded width shared path?
@@bikeroutebuddy They should have spent the money to make the bridge wider itself is what I meant. I already guessed they didn't want to impact vehicle traffic in any way. A lightweight extension could have been added on the bridge for pedestrians and cyclists. It would have cost more money, but the added weight would be minimal and the benefit huge.
I'm in Melbourne, and I'd like to cycle more. However, I use the tram and walk instead so I'm not constantly in danger of cars, as they seem to actually look out for pedestrians (which are smaller than bikes)!
Traffic calming has been introduced on the north side of the station. Carr/Lonsdale/Jubilee street is now narrow, one way, curved street with a 40 km speed limit. Excellent for cyclists and pedestrians to safely move around the station. Another well done video Bike Route Buddy. Thank you.
This is all wrongly designed and full waste of money and in some cases lives.. so sad. And how is it possible that salary of these engineers in these places is even in some cases twice as high as in the Netherlands.. Complete ripe off
Great video! So good to see some quality bike infrastructure (by Australian standards anyhow) and the minor improvements being overshadowed by the stuff they got right 😊
The car park you mentioned which was the site of Barwon Water, is closed permanently. It was being used as a temporary car park but is destined to be multi storey residential. Also the car park on Yarra Street is destined to be retail/residential... eventually. The plans are on the COGG site under "Interim Final South Geelong Urban Design Framework" (can't post a URL on RU-vid now apparently :)
Thanks Carlo, I should have done some more research, they just still look like car parks!! I wonder how long it will be for the land use change…. Railway station is pretty good though!
Makes you wonder doesnt it. Inept people in governing bodies that are meant to know better and be experts and ensure our safety allow cars to be the priority. How TF are elderly people meant to cross roads on dedicated share paths that are created to encourage people being active amongst other things. Blows my mind how f***ed vicroads and councils are that there aren't mandatory requirements in place so that any crossing AT THE VERY LEAST is signed and has a zebra crossing. No-ones expecting ped lights (though that would be what you'd think would be the norm...but certainly not overpasses) but some basic crossing furniture you'd think would be basic even for deadbeat dipshit government workers and groups.
Theres's a few places in Melbourne's West where dedicated bug funded trails hit on and off ramps and have not one bit of crossing infrastructure. Not pedestrian lights, not signs not zebra crossing. But then the island in the middle has pedestrian lights. How anyone with half a brain doesn't go 'well how do the people safely get to the island across the on/off ramps...is beyond me. Far too many stupid inept people in decision making roles in council/government
Hey mate, absolutely love these videos, as someone who has ridden road bikes in both Geelong and Bendigo for 7 years or so, Geelong is so hostile to active transport. If anything it has been my road cycling which has radicalised me to start pushing back against the hegemony of car users. Keep up the great advocacy, is there any way i can help in your work?
these comparisons are valid, at least for road cycling. My own experience living in Hamlyn Heights for 4 years and trying to get through Geelong to meet up with a bunch in grovedale was hell on earth. about a dozen near misses i can recall. Bendigo has great clearance and wider bike 'lanes' for sure.
Simplest thing to do is to Spread the word - follow bike Geelong on Facebook. Numbers influence! Raise any issues with COGG via email or snap send solve, and submit questions for the COGG meetings.
Your videos are great. My route to work includes going along the federation trail passing the rail crossing and the spirit terminal 'dismount crossing'. I refuse to use these as they are dangerous and can cause damage to my bike. In the past I have also not seen the gutter on 'dismount crossing' and this has sent me flying over the top. There is a clearly marked bike lane on the road, but unfortunately this disappears. I dont feel safe riding here either with the trucks. Keep up the good work!!
4:02 is a common occurrence. Hope you're also good at dodging the street sign poles in Geelong too. Ash, I'd love to see a video showcasing/slamming the routes and challenges that children encounter when or if they decide to ride to school in Geelong. God help anyone that needs to get out to the grammar school.
I used to ride an electric skateboard to work. And I got run off the road by cars. It’s scary. One time the person was on their phone and I had to jump off and crash into a tree. It hurt like hell but I was ok. So now I’ve bought an electric scooter and it still happens. It’s scary how unaware people are… now I have a GoPro to film because I need evidence if something happens to me.
I would love some better intercity bike connections. I know most riders are cycling around their neighbourhood, but long distance travel by bike is certainly possible too, just look at the Netherlands.
I'm glad to see that Bendigo gets *some* things right! But the city still could do a lot of things better. 7:30 That "random bike symbol" is one I've seen in a few places in Melbourne. From what I understand it suggests that cyclists and drivers should share the same lane. I'm guessing whoever invented that has never ridden a bike in their life.
I doubt if anyone who 'designs' for Austroads knows how to ride a bike. Certainly not clear in Qld that any of the Main Roads people do, given the designs they impose on bike riders who do ride. We even had a Transport Minister who really did 'ride a bike' and it made no difference whatsoever to what happened on the roads for bike riders.
love your content, we need one of you in every town!As an new EUC rider I am finding tonnes of issues an dbike paths that just end, like theone near the airport that stops and dumps you 1.5 km from the terminal with no footpath.
Nice one. Good to see all the wonderful Austroads designs in Geelong are so effective at creating the right environment for 'more people cycling more often' in relative safety, eh? I wonder if any Austroads staff, be they designers or senior managers, ever ride a bike on their designs? Something tells me they all prefer to drive a wankpanzer RAM ute but that's just a guess. Ditto for every council person there engaged in 'addressing road safety' in relation to 'active transport'. It's all window dressing, really, isn't it?
Bus drivers have the worst entitled atitude. Yeah we know they have right of way but how often do we see them taking the piss and just pulling out suddenly
Bike paths are community crime. Required but mostly uses infrastructure to tick Gov compiance target boxes. The bike path to the Melbourne Airport stops 1.5 kms from the airport. No footpaths or pedestian access is available and pedstrians and cyclists are forced to use the 80knh busy road or tramp/ride through prickled uncut nature strips to get to the terminals. Let me guess why? How big is the automobile lobby groups vs cyclists and users of personal electric vehicles? hmm you got it! ME thinks it time for another everyone ride in the Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane capital cities in peak hour as valid road users for some attention. One broken down car on ant Melbourne arterial road causes hours of grid lock shouldnt be too hard to shut down a city for a few hours just by riding a bicycle :) Hit me up ;)
My other pet hate riding in Geelong is the bike lanes that suddenly evapourate to make way for a left turn lane for cars. These are dangerous situations, especially if the bike rider wants to continue straight through the intersection.
Couldn't agree more about the ridiculous road crossing at the new Spirit of Tasmania complex, with the invisible gutters (no.1). Nearly came off there myself. The maps as published are pretty useless. My pet hates are the old asphalt paths on either side of the Barwon river. They are too narrow for dual use, pedestrians hate sharing these narrow paths with bikes. But worse still, on the bike, the asphalt has so many ridges in it that it becomes a real boneshaker. The same problem applies to other ageing asphalt paths.
My town and the whole region where I live are extremely safe to bike in. I've had very few problems over the years. The drivers are respectful and give me plenty of space. The traffic is very light, and I think that has a lot to do with it. Drivers can almost always easily pass me as there is no oncoming traffic. There's no bike infrastructure, but we don't need it.
I've been riding various parts of the Ted Wilson Trail for years. I had no idea the section from Barrabool Rd to the Barwon even existed and only recently rode the section from Wandana Dve to Barrabool Rd. I certainly didn't see any signage indicating that either section exists.
Top video demonstrating clear evidence on why most sane people in Geelong would never take to the road on two wheels. Best video to show decision makers to get them to support change for cyclist safety in Geelong. Like reducing maximum speed limits on Geelong roads. We can clearly see here how drivers travelling too fast or ignoring the road rules or being entitled and discourteous are big factors contributing to pedestrian and cyclist safety. Thanks for highlighting how my town is so unsafe.
I couldn't watch the whole thing. Cycling around London used to be like this 15 years ago but all it took was a minimal (but connected) cycleway network and a rollout of 20mph (30km/h) speed limits on most of the backstreets and I just don't experience this any more. It's far from perfect and there are still many places within London where I would still get close passes, MGIF and bicycle blindness if I went there, but progress has not stopped and it just gets better and better with every new scheme completed. Keep pushing and maybe in ten years it will be safe to ride around Geelong too.
When it comes to riding bikes in amongst traffic, i think Albury NSW is pretty good, the roads are generally wide and there are some bikepaths and shared paths but many of them are broken by having to cross busy roads making it an interruptive experience especially when commuting. Like everywhere in Australia, there's no consequences on making it dangerous for bicycles, especially when the cops have the same attitude as the drivers, I can't see things change anytime soon.
reason ; i’m following the gps voice in my ear and im someplace i’ve never been and don’t know about the bike path to even imagine using it. sort of similar that getting onto and or off of the bike path is inconsistent with the journeys source and destination
are you as a bike rider permitted to cross Double Lines , when turning right ? It seems you cross double lines when you cut down to Ballyang sanctuary I prefer to ride my bike along the river and didcated bike tracks , including the rail trails
What an eye-opening video! Especially the driver in the school zone. I lived in Sweden for the best part of a decade and the drivers over there are so much more aware of bikes, and in general they are really considerate and give way to you. They don't have a culture of hating bikes like here, there is great cycling infrastructure and you feel safe most of the time. Coming back to Australia I found it way too dangerous riding on the road so now I only ride inside on my virtual trainer!
I'm guessing your police don't take action against rubbish drivers. In the UK most of these vids would have resulted in licence endorsements . Our town is awful but at least we can report incidents and know that the driver will get a ticket. Walsall, West Midlands
@bikeroutebuddy our cops were rubbish but then got new guys in who hate crap drivers. Be a nuisance with your local council and get other road users on side including pedestrians. The tide has turned in the UK in some parts and our area is now getting funding for big improvements. I've got a meeting with one local authority next week to discuss what we need in my Borough. I run the community cycle club and the council are being quite proactive in active travel despite some noisy cartards having too much influence. Good luck.
Nearly got crushed by a semi-truck on the ride home along barrabool today. Truck overtook me and then turned left 3 metres later and I was stuck in it's turning radius.
I reckon that this is your best video yet! I ride or walk every day in Geelong and I have to say that I have found the disregard for pedestrians and cyclists getting worse of late. I thought that I was imagining it but after watching this video I can see that I'm not alone in being involved in dangerous, near miss situations several times a week. I, like you have only been saved from death or injury but assuming that drivers are not going to give way to me at crossings, on bike paths, at roundabouts, or when they turn at intersections.
