Riders urged to help plan Brisbane transport

Motorcycle and scooter riders have been urged to make a submission to the Brisbane City Council draft transport plan before the deadline this Friday (March 30, 2018).

In fact, infrastructure chair Cr Amanda Cooper says even late submissions will be considered.

Motorcycles are not mentioned once in the 128-page Brisbane City Council draft transport plan, yet bicycles are mentioned 25 times.

Cr Cooper says that is because motorcycles and scooters are grouped with all motorised vehicles and bicycles are not motorised.

However, she acknowledges that powered two-wheelers have quite different needs and can make a significant contribution to solving traffic congestion and emissions issues in Brisbane.

The Motorcycle Riders Association of Queensland submission to the draft plan also expresses concern that the plan “fails to consider or even mention a transport type that has the potential to offer assistance on the issue”.

In the submission, MRAQ president Chris Mearns says two-wheeled transport has a lot to offer.

“For every car replaced with a motorcycle a four fold reduction in the total vehicle mass is achieved plus a considerable reduction in the pollution produced is realised and a reduction in infrastructure damage is achieved hence for these reasons alone consideration of ways to facilitate the greater use of motorcycles should be include in the current plan,” he says in the RAQ submission.

Cr Cooper urged all riders to consider making specific submissions and promised they would be considered.

However, she pointed out that some of the rider contributions so far were not specific.

Instead they just asked for motorcycles and scooters to be considered.

This is a good opportunity for powered two-wheelers to be a part of transport planning in Brisbane as they are in the Melbourne City Council transport plan and the City of Sydney transport policy developed with the Motorcycle Council of NSW.

Brisbane parking issues

Meanwhile, Cr Coper says riders who have joined BCC’s special working group were steadily identifying safe motorcycle parking spaces in the Brisbane CBD and surrounding areas.

Most parking areas are under freeway ramps, although the area under the Kurilpa pedestrian bridge is vacant for some reason.

However, she recognises that there is still a lot to be done to keep pace with the growing demand for motorcycle parking spaces in the CBD.

Interestingly, several spots seem to have been deleted, not added.

One area which needs more work is the co-operation of the State Government, Cr Cooper says.

She identified several state-owned places where council would like to add motorcycle and scooter parking.

“We would be happy to do and pay for the works involved but they need to give us approval first,” she says.

“There are a lot of parks we maintain that are owned by the State.”

We noted this big concrete slab in North Quay which could accommodate about 30 bikes if it only had a ramp instead of a high step up.

However, Cr Cooper says is is State owned and heritage listed, so parking there is illegal!

Another suitable state-owned area we noted in a quick exploration of the CBD yesterday was at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA).

Adjacent signs say “Bike parking only” for bicycles and “No motorcycle parking Motorcycles will be towed away at owners’ expense”.

Even on a wet day in the city there were 10 motorcycles illegally parked on one side of a low wall and only five bicycles legally parked on the other side.

The State Government needs to pick up its act and supply more motorcycle parking spaces on its property.

Cr Cooper says they are also approaching private CBD property owners to consider allowing motorcycle parking on their property.

She says the QUT campus is another place with the potential to open up more public parking spots for motorcycles and scooters.

However, the MRAQ submission to the draft transport plan cites available motorcycle parking as “the largest drag on the increased use of motorcycles as personal transport in and around the CBD”.

“The MRAQ has been previously and is currently engaged with the Brisbane City Council on the issue of increasing motorcycle parking but is continually finding that instead of adequately engaging in the process in a manner that considers all options and attempts to move them forward an attitude of maintaining the status quo is returned,” the submission says.

“The MRAQ urges the Brisbane City Council to include ways to increase motorcycles as an alternative personal transport means into the Transport Plan and in doing so to better consider ways of enhancing motorcycle parking in an around the Brisbane CBD.”

Bicycle fixation

Meanwhile, bicycles are being heavily promoted on advertising signs and being given substantial CBD footpath parking areas.

That is on top of the footpath space devoted to their ill-conceived and little-patronised CityCycle bike hire scheme.

These yellow hire bikes clutter the footpaths and lose about $1m a year in ratepayer revenue despite having Lipton sponsorship.

Online submissions

If you have a few minutes, CLICK HERE and please have your say on how motorcycles can help Brisbane’s future.

It’s not a questionnaire with loaded questions, but simply an opportunity to have your say and you don’t even have to provide a real name or any postal address, just an email address.

Motorbike Writer filled out their online feedback, pointing out the lack of recognition, but not adding any solutions:

Why is there no mention of motorcycles and scooters in your 128-page transport plan when they are considered so vital that Sydney and Melbourne councils have special two-wheel transport policies?

The transport advantages of motorcycles are manifold:

• They ease demand on parking spaces;

• Lane filtering rules improve traffic flow;

• Motorcycles and scooters reduce overall traffic emissions; and

• They ease pressure on existing infrastructure as they have a low impact on pavement and reduce the need to widen existing roads.

Perhaps you would like to make some constructive suggestions on how motorcycles and scooters can be incorporated.