Perth Voice Interactive

MORE than 30 parking bays along Bulwer Street will be removed so a barrier can be built between car and bike lanes.

Vincent council staff had been iffy about the plan, recommending instead that bike lanes be delineated by painted markings between William and Beaufort Streets, in part to preserve parking.

But cycling advocate Geraldine Box, who runs the Facebook page Bike Friendly Vincent and has sat on the council’s advisory group, implored councillors to approve the protected lanes option.

She pointed out there was “overwhelming support” from the public for protected bike lanes, which sent “a message that adults and children can feel safe about cycling”.

After 90 minutes’ debate, the council settled on protected lanes for most of the way, save a small stretch to preserve four car bays near some older folks’ houses close to Highgate primary school. Only Cr Ros Harley wanted full-on protection the entire way.

Ms Box described the compromise as a missed opportunity.

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MEANWHILE, up on Scarborough Beach Road where protected bike lanes are already installed, drivers complain about giving up a lane for cyclists and businesses are uphappy with the loss of parking.

The Voice has been hit with letters left and right from cyclists who love the lanes and motorists who hate them.  A common complaint is they’re under-utilised. The Voice cycles that route and is often the only rider.

Mayor John Carey points out the lanes aren’t complete so usage is bound to be low at this point, but he says “it’s the chicken and the egg argument”: uptake starts slow but “as demonstrated around the world [protected bike lanes] lift cycling rates”.

Scarborough Beach Road was chosen for protected lanes partly because that section of it, east of Oxford Street, is well under carriage capacity. That section’s also not the bottleneck: most of Scarborough Beach Road is already one lane running through Mount Hawthorn.

“If we don’t do it now, with the pace of development along major corridors, we’ll never be able to do it, and the indepedent auditor-general of WA clearly said we need to create cycling routes on major corridors,” Mr Carey says.

“This is not just about today, but for the next 50 to 100 years.”

by DAVID BELL