Bicycle for 6?

On the weekend i saw this creation being ridden (or driven?) around. It operates like two bikes joined together, with each half being a 3-person version of a tandem bike. The front person has a steering wheel instead of handlebars.


Shortly after this photo was taken i saw it carry 9 people (though only 6 could pedal). I'm not sure that i'm really advocating this as a major form of transport - can't really think of that many applications for it. But the creativity certainly caught the eye - and the imagination.

"Joys" of Car Ownership

Was on facebook this morning, and spotted these two 'status updates' from a facebook friend.

Another Electric Bike

Since my friend entered the world of electric bikes, i've been seeing a few of them around. It's hard to get a good look because they zip by (compared to me chugging along) but i think the one i saw today was the City Cruiser.


I reckon they look fairly stylish, and you hardly even notice the battery tucked away under the seat.

2010 Fares

The 2010 fares for Brisbane public transport have been released. The price difference in price between paper tickets and go-card travel has increased - in an effort to encourage people to get into the go-cards.


For more information, check out the press release and the current fares.

Highway From Hell

This is from Edward Burtynsky's "Oil" series of photographs. Reminded me of the Age of Stupid quote that we seem to be designing our communities to be impossible to navigate by any method other than the car (the most polluting form of transport).

Dumped Pumps

Was cycling around the inner city a while back (test riding some electric bikes) when i came across this sight:


Apparently it's some sort of petrol pump graveyard - where dozens of these things go when they are no longer new and shiny enough to adorn petrol stations.


One would hope that they get recycled into something useful, rather than just being left to rust in peace ;)

Ironic Ad

I guess no-one can sue them for false advertising. Although, really, any car can "stop traffic" - especially in peak hour when this was taken (during stopped traffic). It could only have been more ironic if the car in front of the bus was the same as the car being advertised.

Yike Bike

Saw this video of a new invention - the Yike Bike

The Loco-bike

A couple of guys from New South Wales have put together this innovative contraption for use on disused railway lines. Apparently it is even more efficient than normal cycling because of the low friction of riding on the metal rails (full story here).

Talk on the Street

Walking over to a mate's place last night (about 6pm) and i met another friend of mine on the way. She was coming home from work, and got off one train station early to get some walking in.

As we were talking, we agreed walking was more fun that the nearby drivers - sitting waiting for traffic to move, getting cut off by other cars, and blasting horns at one another.

The People In My Neighbourhood

Today I made 3 train trips - and had 3 good conversations.

Met a guy who's down from Darwin, working with a local school. Naturally, he was dressed very much for winter. I don't think he'd ever experienced a day as cold as a Brisbane winter day.

Found a guy who seemed to know more info about sport than i do - which doesn't happen too often. And i probably wouldn't have talked with him - but he complimented me on my tie (which is my favourite) so that broke the ice - and we had a good chat about footy.

After an evening function in the city, Stuart was leaving at the same time as me was also catching the train. I didn't see much of him at the function, but we got to catch-up as we caught and rode the train.

Good Call

So if you've been watching the Tour de France, you've probably seen an ad for Bike Exchange. I checked out their website, and came across a nice line that summed up cycling...

In an increasingly obese and polluted world where the roads are congested, cycling tackles all three issues.

A Person A Day

You may have seen the Stateline report on Queensland's road toll. As at July 3, it's 185 (27 more than the same time last year). This quote from Queensland Transport Minister Rachel Nolan:

More than 300 Queenslanders a year die on our roads. And for every death, that's a whole family and a group of friends who have experienced a real tragedy. For all of those people, their lives will never be the same.

The report noted that 28% of deaths are caused by speeding and 24% weren't wearing a seatbelt. But that still leaves at least 48% who doing normal speed and buckled up - plus the people who were killed by someone else speeding. As police superintendent Col Campbell puts it,

People believe that it will happen to someone else that it won't happen to them.

Time Trial

Today a friend and i wanted to go to Fortitude Valley, which is a fair distance from my friend's place in Toowong. For reasons which are complicated (and not really that interesting) it was best for me to cycle there - and best for my friend to catch the train.

The obvious solution? (remember that i have a scientific nerdy side) ... an experiment!

So in the vein of Phileas Fogg (though with a little less fanfare) the challenge was made. Starting from Toowong it was a race to see who would arrive first, at our chosen destination.

Suffice to say that both options were quite speedy. However, the winner on this ocassion was the bicycle (yes that's right - even on the trusty old repco traveller). Taking the bicentennial bikeway to the city, and then adelaide and ann streets, the margin was a clear 6 minutes.

More Benefits

The Rapid Active & Affordable Transport Alliance (RAATA) recently launched a report entitled "Investing in Sustainable Transport".

At the launch, ACF diector Don Henry spoke of benefits in terms of reduced greenhouse emissions and less addiction to oil. Heart Foundation CEO Dr Lyn Roberts pointed out the health benefits of active transport (cycling, walking).

More than 16,000 Australians are estimated to die prematurely each year, mostly from heart disease and stroke, because they are insufficiently physically active. Physical inactivity also costs the community an estimated $13.8 billion a year ... We need to make the healthier transport choices – walking, cycling, public transport – the easier choices. And we need to replan our communities to promote physical activity – not obesity.

Matt O’Brien (CEO of Diabetes Australia) had a similar view.

Active community environments that encourage walking, bike riding and incidental exercise can help reduce the number of people who are overweight and obese. People who are overweight or obese are at a much higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. This is of grave concern in Australia as the number of new cases of diabetes each year would fill the Melbourne Cricket Ground

Who Wants Worms?

Saw this the other morning in the city.


In addition to the proverbial worms, now the early bird gets the "special" of paying a mere 17 dollars for parking.

Bless Our Bikes

A friend emailed me about this one - a church that decided to have a Bicycle Blessing ceremony for the cycling community.


The prayers of blessing included:

In a world groaning under the excesses of consumption, we acknowledge the inherent goodness of non-motorized human powered transportation and give thanks for the simple beauty of the bicycle... Bless those who choose to not drive to work and those for whom driving isn’t even an option... Keep us safe as we ride.
God of life, hear our prayer. Amen

Exit Strategy

At the convention centre, i saw some people taking forever at this "fast exit" machine. Whoever came up with that name clearly hadn't seen my bike parked in this super-convenient spot. Now that's a fast exit - and i don't have to put 13 bucks into some dumb machine!

Floody Times

So a friend of mine (whose work has low-lying carparks for employees) tells me that in Brisbane's flood (2 weeks back) three of the guys in his office lost their cars.

Losing your keys is one thing, but losing the whole car!?

End of Suburbia

I've just seen this documentary - and i recommend it. You can see the trailer on youtube.


It's quite stunning to see how our entire lifestyle is quite literally built on the assumption of cheap petrol - and the problems that will occur when that's no longer the case.

ps. if you're seeing it, make sure to watch the bonus features - there's some classic 50's short films that are hilarious, but also kinda scary.

It's Over ... (unless you drive)

Saw this billboard (ironically at a bus stop). Not clear what it's about, so i'm taking it to be heralding the convenience of walking, cycling and taking public transport.

Scenery For Active People

Posted this pic on my photo blog, and it struck me that little pleasures like waterfalls are another added bonus of being car-free. It's the kind of thing one misses out on when sitting on the expressway, amidst 7 other lanes of traffic.

Tree-life

Walking home last night
Rustling in the tree above
Possum scampers, nestles on a branch

Benefits Package

Often i write here about the benefits of being car-free. Today i noticed the footer on an email from the people at Ecomotion Concepts.


Sums it up nicely - i reckon.

Path Peace

Riding home after an early morning brekkie with friends, i hear another rider catching up to me on the path (remember i'm not the fastest rider in the world). Anyway, i veered onto the grass to let him pass (some paths are incredibly narrow in places).

Then i hear "It's ok mate - there's no rush". He casually cruised along behind me until we got over the hill and onto a wider section of path.

It was a sharp contrast to the hooting and hollering of road rage, so i've decided to call it Path Peace.

Brekkie Cycle

This morning i met up with some friends for a very early brekkie in Toowong. I decided to ride there, not just for the extra 10 min of sleep-in, but the novelty of having the bulk of the road to myself :)

Riding back was good too. Waved to a friend stuck in traffic. Even struggling up hill, i reckon i was doing double the speed of the morning crawl (going the other way).

Destiny

I've been reading "Heat" by George Monbiot. In chapter 8 he has a great quote from Russian journalist Ila Ehrenburg. In 1929 he said of the automobile...

"It can't be blamed for anything. Its conscience is as clear as Monsieur Citroen's conscience. It only fulfils its destiny: it is destined to wipe out the world."

And he wrote this before the days of SUVs, multi-storey carparks and 12-lane highways. Decades before we understood the impacts of climate change, or depleting non-renewable resources.

Walk / Don't Walk

A few of my writings here have illustrated the health benefits of walking (which we do more of when we are car-free). I think the following illustration sums it up succinctly (though it may not be subtle).

Bus-stop Snack

After watching the cricket, i decided to go for an evening walk - i hadn't been out of the house all day. On the way home, i bump into a friend of mine who i haven't seen for a while (he used to live in my unit block, but moved out a few months ago). It was one of those coincidences that he just happened to be at the bus-stop as i was on my walk.

In a further piece of good luck, he had just bought a pizza. So we sat at the bus stop, eating pizza and talking ... until his bus came.

Santa and the Christmas Road Toll

In the absence of much real news in the Christmas-New Year period, the road toll features heavily on the nightly news update.

For the record the holiday 'toll' (Dec 20 to Jan 2) was 56 nationwide and 13 in Queensland. Whilst tragic for the people involved, and their nearest and dearest, it's nothing out of the ordinary.

In 2007 (i can't find full 2008 stats yet) the number of people who lost their life on Australian roads was 1616. In Queensland, 360. While it may seem gruesome to do maths on these numbers, please bear with me.

For Australia
Year-long average = 1616/365 = 4.43 per day
Christmas/NY average = 56/14 = 4.00 per day

For Queensland
Year-long average = 360/365 = 0.986 per day
Christmas/NY average = 13/14 = 0.929 per day

In short, the "Christmas" road toll (and the underlying message that driving is safe at other times) seems to be a Santa for adults. Nice fantasy - but not actually true.

A Local's Local

Yesterday i cycled to indooroopilly shopping centre (to visit the library) and was locking up my bike ... to a lamp post (don't get me started on bike-parking facilities) when i was approached by a couple.

"A person on a bike. You must be a local."

I don't think they were complimenting the people Toowong-Taringa-Indooroopilly area on an environmentally-aware approach to transport. I reckon their logic was based more on the premise that no-one would be cycling long-distance in the middle of a 34-degree day.

Turns out they wanted to know the nearest pub. I suggested the one at the south end of the centre. That didn't satisfy them. They were after a "pub pub" (whatever that means). I helped them out (because that's what i do) but i couldn't help but think that even on new year's eve perhaps 12.30 was an early start :)