Sharing our road space or dedicated bike ways?

At the same time as the bike way is built, eBike service stations servicing the bike commuters travelling on the bike way need to be constructed where batteries can be charged and exchanged. Also education and encouragement, provided by local councils and state government and other groups like RACV, is essential. Private businesses leasing out ebikes and providing other infrastructure, for example, ebike parking at bike way terminals would entice people to make the switch from four wheels to two wheels and should be promoted.

Below I have presented my vision of the bike commuter road network that would serve to connect the north and eastern growth areas in Melbourne with the City of Melbourne. You can find the maps here. The Eastern Commuter Bike Way would link in with the on road and off road bicycle networks which would serve to funnel traffic onto the proposed commuter bike way.

Part 1. Construction of the Eastern Commuter Bike Way:

The building of a dedicated commuter bicycle road along the median strip of the Eastern freeway corridor in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne with a Western terminus in inner north Carlton and a Eastern terminus in outer eastern Bullen. Along the ECBW links to the principal bicycle networks and local bicycle networks would be important for providing the interconnectivity of these different types of bike infrastructure. The building of the ECBW doesn’t preclude the building of an elevated train line above it along the same course at a later stage. Ideally the elevated railway could be part of a second stage of this project. This project has been described in an earlier article.

Part 2. Construction of car/bike parking/electrical bike charging stations in partnership with private companies:

The building of bicycle parking/electric bike charging stations at the Western terminus of the ECBW in Carlton, at one strategic point along the 11km EC Bike Way, and at the Eastern terminus of the ECBW at the Bulleen Road off ramp.

Part 3. Encourage the use of the infrastructure by leasing out pedal powered electrical bikes and battery packs in partnership with private companies:

Provide incentives for private companies to acquire a fleet of electrical bikes for the use of city commuters from the north and eastern suburbs by converting car parking spaces to electrical bike parking spaces in the inner city and link in with public mass transport allowing bike commuters to choose to change over to public transport or continue to their final destination on their bikes.

The cost to the state and federal governments of providing the infrastructure would be in the order of two or three times the total budget for NSW’s bicycle initiatives. However, I would argue that the EC Bike Way is an investment in public health, the environment and in building stronger communities for the future that would go some way in ensuring the liveability of Melbourne when we reach its projected seven millionth inhabitant in 2050.