Thursday, March 4, 2010

63. Negotiating the city


Cities are not easy to negotiate. There are many modes of transport – car, bus, train, taxi, monorail, lite-rail, ferry, pedicab – but the two fastest, and cheapest, would have to be bicycle and shanks’ pony.

Lashed to a post in Bathurst Street, behind St Andrews Cathedral, this bicycle will get me from the Town Hall to The Rocks in less than ten minutes - faster than other modes. Walking down George Street to The Rocks will take about fifteen minutes. Walking back up George Street takes longer! A bus from the QVB Stands can take in excess of twenty minutes depending on time of day. Training via the City Circle is the least preferable method as it involves countless stairs, massive crowds and unreliable schedules.

The problem with bicycles is that lashing them like this to a post, could see wheels and saddles disappear with just the saddest of shells remaining.

4 comments:

Joan Elizabeth said...

And you'd have to count in the time to do all the lashing so Shanks' is probably the best.

Can a lashed on bike get a "parking ticket" for obstructing the pavement?

diane b said...

electric mopeds are on the way in

Julie said...

Diane, I see the occasional bike with a lawnmower engine, but these decrease the effort required NOT the speed through the streets. They are only speedy through the streets because cyclists reckon rules dont apply to them because they hold the "green" moral high ground.

Joan, it would be nice to think that there is a fine out there that is applicable. What I think Clover needs to do, is banks of bike racks at strategic places in the city, as they are doing with scooters and bikes.

Julie said...

I discussed this with the chap who runs the bike safety courses for the City of Sydney. He said that the road rules dont apply to bikes parked on the footpath like this. That is controlled by the parking rangers. He did not say this, but the CoS is very pro-bikes ... so ...