You’re likely to see bicycles at any junction in 5 mins.
The government should not ignore the needs of these citizens who ride.
Face the fact of urban cycling.
Go to the links below to see the 5-mins footages:
5mins footage#1: https://youtu.be/umSQ2Pcu1Qs
5mins footage#2: https://youtu.be/baIjbJQcrCY
You can try for yourself to stand at a junction and see if you can spot any bicycle too.
The United States government is pressing city and local officials to develop and improve cycling practice and infrastructure, leveraging a trend that has seen US cities hurrying to catch up Europe and the rest of the world, after a slow start.
A new Federal initiative – which the Hong Kong Transport Department could usefully study – focuses on the safety of people who walk or bike, under this transformative ‘Complete Streets‘ approach.
I’ve not had time to read it all yet, but, like the interim reports, the result seems underwhelming. It only ever tried to look at cycle tracks and a few specific facilities in new towns, not general cycling on roads and the cycling environment as a whole. Or planning ahead for New Development Areas. And I note that the original scope has been cut, with no sign of the promised “conceptual improvement layout plan for each new town”.
On parking, it notes that there is not enough designated parking (that took three years to work out?) but the discussion quickly drops into TD’s favourite issue of what style of parking facility to buy, rather than, say, how to measure and determine where parking is necessary, especially small-scale distributed parking, away from the obvious MTR locations. (Cyclehoop, anybody?)
The issue of poor connectivity of tracks is identified, which is good, but this problem will never be successfully addressed until we aim to maximise throughflow of bike traffic — as in, prioritising cyclists wherever possible, and certainly wherever bikes are the major flow. No mention of that here.
The proposals, within this narrow remit, seem mostly small-scale and unimaginative. So we have a three-year, multi-million-dollar report suggesting things like:
put up plastic bollards in place of steel – to reduce injury severity (already TD’s plan, when they should be removed entirely to .. er .. eliminate the injuries altogether);
paint markings to guide cyclists away from obstacles (just a stopgap: where are the planning guidelines for obstacle-free cycleways?);
paint track surface colours to show trunk and local routes (irrelevant if tracks are still used by commuters, wobblers, sports riders, and kids, with no policy consideration of who and what the tracks are for. Or real training.)
lots of soft padding on things in the way, such as newly erected poles carrying mirrors.
installing railings designed to make parking your bike harder (when it’s not even an offence to park a bike on a footway, central reserve, verge, hard shoulder etc, if no danger or actual obstruction is caused).
Of course, the study makes a number of valid points and raises genuine issues. In particular, it presses for tracks to be connected at various places where currently there are gaps (and recognises that this will involve rebalancing some priorities). It also calls for the implementation of shared footpaths; improved signage and surface markings; cyclist access to leisure facilities (ie. everywhere managed by LCSD); and having Highways Dept staff cycle the tracks at night to determine lighting needs. Many specific problem locations on tracks are enumerated.
If the government, starting with TD, intends to act positively, the study could point towards some modest improvements for cyclists in the new towns.
However, in essence, by looking only at cycle tracks, with no assessment of wider transport policy, patterns of cycle journeys made, and aspirations among cyclists and potential cyclists, it was never going to offer a strategy for more effectively incorporating cycling into our communities. Then by proposing largely what TD is already thinking (or has done!) – minor capital expenditure that tinkers with existing infrastructure, and no solid planning basis for avoiding the same mistakes in future – it falls sadly flat.
More detailed comment will follow.
You can read the report here:
http://www.td.gov.hk/filemanager/en/publication/td_194_2009_es_eng.pdf
為宣揚香港渴求健康空氣的訊息,並鼓勵大眾多使用無空氣污染排放的交通工具,「健康空氣行動」(Clean Air Network )會於12月2日下午舉辦一個名為「綠悠遊 Clean Air Drive」的活動,活動集合一眾人士騎乘電動車、單車及其他零污染交通工具,由九龍灣零碳天地(九龍灣常悅道,MegaBox旁)出發,沿一條特別路線遊走,如果從高空向下望,該路線會畫出 A I R 三個英文大字,藉此宣揚香港渴求健康空氣的訊息。
We’ve seen a copy of an internal guideline of KMB allowing folded bicycles of less than 0.1m3 in size to be brought on their buses. The requirement is to make bicycle a carry-on luggage. We wonder how useful is that guideline for people who want to bring their bicycles on buses. Here is a simple survey to see which bicycles can fit in the 0.1m3 requirement.
Please tell us how big is your bicycle (in m3) and what is the make by replying this post.
To calculate the volume of the bicycle in folded condition, just measure its length (L), height (H) and width (W) in metre and then multiply all 3 measurements. That is: length (m) x height (m) and width (m) = volume (m3)
HKCAll has surveyed candidates in Sunday’s (9 Sept) elections for the Legislative Council for their views on cycling.
The results show that many strongly support the substantive development of cycling for Hong Kong. Some are better informed than others, but this is an important time for progress in many areas, with important decisions being made about key development projects, such as West Kowloon, Kai Tak and Northern District, as well as the sluggish development of the New Territories Cycling Network. Moreover, we believe that now is the time to address the yawning policy void that the government has with regards to cycling.
It is vital that the new Legco is able to press our government to implement the visionary policies we need if Hong Kong is to properly serve the increasing number of cyclists of all stripes, and more importantly to justify its ‘world city’ label with planning and administration that integrates cycling, to ease traffic congestion, facilitate personal mobility, improve the quality of our environment (air pollution, noise pollution, excessive concrete and roads) and raise health and wellness levels for our whole population.
Great thanks go to Matteo for allowing us to use his photo of the delivery cyclist. He writes on his own blog about riding vintage Fuji bikes "There is something special about these vintage fuji bicycles. It is inexplainable, but it is real. They are quality. They are beautiful. They surpass expectation.". See more at Fuji Crazy
Many thanks also to Christopher Dewolf for his photo of cycling at sunset in Ma on Shan. His photos can be found at his Flickr Site, and some of his many writings & photos can be found at Urbanphoto.net
Huge Thanks to Jason Findlay for the photo of the Harbourfront bike Ride 5 near Causeway Bay Typhoon Shelter