The Public Transport Users Association is in favour of improved conditions for cyclists. Like public transport and walking, cycling offers a healthy and benign alternative to travelling by car. Particularly for inner-city travel, it can offer a level of convenience which surpasses even that of the car. Our public transport should aim to provide just such convenience, without the disadvantages of vulnerability to traffic and exposure to the elements.

The Bike-Train Combination

The usefulness of a bicycle is greatly enhanced when coupled with a well-functioning rail system such as can be provided throughout Melbourne and Victoria. The ability to carry one’s bicycle on a train makes possible journeys that would otherwise be infeasible, and also provides a welcome emergency service for cyclists in the event of rain or other unforeseen difficulties.

It is therefore important that improvements to the public transport service take into account facilities for carriage of bicycles on trains. Bicycles should continue to be carried free on suburban train services, and require no special restrictions in off-peak and in the counter-peak direction. Adequate bicycle facilities should be provided on all country train services.

Obviously carrying bicycles on trains can cause problems at busy times, which is why adequate station bicycle parking must be provided — see below.

Bicycle parking

Cycling can also provide an environmentally friendly alternative to the park-and-ride approach frequently advocated by transport planners. Adequate facilities should be provided for commuters and others who have no need for a bike at their destination to park their bike securely at a railway station and travel the rest of the way by train.

The provision of bicycle parking is a relatively simple and inexpensive measure that is also very economical on space: around twenty bicycles can be parked in the space required by a single car.

Free, sheltered bicycle parking should be provided at all railway stations, on a scale at least comparable with the number of car parking spaces provided. Free bicycle cages should continue to be rolled out, particularly at Premium Stations, for those who require more secure facilities.

Reviewed: September 2011