Tuesday 15 October 2013

Council By-laws: have the fun police come to town?




Credit: Carlton Reid

Adelaide City Council’s new by-laws put cycle parking in the firing line. Thankfully, it’s not all doom and gloom. 




The council floated changes to some of its by-laws, with the potential to impact a range of activites from the chaining of bicycles to placing leaflets on car windscreens and playing street cricket.

As imagined, the bicycle community was a little worried. Following concerns raised on the BikeSA Facebook page, Adelaide City Council posted this response:

“As a result of yesterdays article in the newspaper and subsequent media coverage, we would like to clarify our position: council has no intention of fining people for locking bikes to poles.The intent of the proposed by-law is to enable council to request bicycle owners to move their bike if it is parked dangerously and posing a risk to the safety members of the community, or has the potential to damage council or private property.

We have listened to feedback, and have modified the proposed By-Law to include "...where it may cause inconvenience or damage or access past the bicycle is limited..." to clarify council’s position. This is not about "fining" people, it's about community safety.Our Smart Move Strategy is about encouraging transport options, including cycling. We hope this clarifies any concerns people have.”

Phew... Councils should be encouraging cycling, not discouraging it. 

“This is a sensible response from Council but it does highlight the fundamental frustration shared by cyclists that there is insufficient bike-appropriate parking across the city," explains CEO Christian Haag. 

"If there was sufficient resources dedicated to this are riders would not have to chain their bikes to poles.”

Indeed we would! 



3 comments:

  1. If I can't lock it to a pole,I'll take it into the shop...problem solved...if the shop owner has a problem with that,he doesn't want my money....

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    1. Totally with you there Paul. We think that shops should start thinking about putting bike infrastructure in front of their stores. People with bikes actually spend more

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  2. The other approach is to get a bike that has a functional stand so that the bike can be locked free-standing, at least for short visits into shops etc. European-style city bikes have double-sided stands that hold the bike stable, and AXA or similar integrated rear-wheel locks that make the whole prospect much simpler. The AXA locks also have an optional cable so that you can use the same lock to attach to a pole or similar when needed. In other words, part (but not all) of the problem is that we use sports equipment as commuter transport instead of utility oriented bikes.

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