The Pedal Power Association's 2008/9 commuting portfolio is headed by Lance Burger, an avid commuter who has even convinced his family that cycling is the best form of transport. His kids cycle to school; his wife uses a commuter bicycle and small trailer to do the shopping, and the car is taken out of the garage only when pedal power really is not an option.
COMMUTING SUB-COMMITTEE REPORT
Attendance at conferences, workshops and seminars
Elton Davids and I attended various meetings and workshops during the year.
1. Cape Town NMT (Non-Motorised Transport) Forum at various times during the year. Although this takes some time, it useful to monitor what is going on
2. Elton Davids and I attended a meeting with staff of the City of Cape Town to put up additional signage along cycling routes. The City officials indicated that they would not put up many signs as we requested, but did indicate their willingness to put signs up in particularly dangerous spots.
3. I attended a meeting of experts on policy for Non-Motorised Transport at the National Department of Transportation in Pretoria on 17 October 2008. As yet nothing further has come from this. It is important, however, to attend these types of meetings to be kept in the loop for future meetings when we might be able to make a difference as far as policy is concerned.
4. I made a presentation on 20 January 2009 to the City of Cape Town, Cape Town Partnership and other interested parties to open Government Lane (thought the Company Gardens) to cyclists. The presentation was well received and the indication was that Government Lane would be opened. This has not been done yet, but I have been invited to make a further presentation to the Cape Town Partnership in August 2009.
5. It would appear that nothing further came of Metropolitan Transport Planning Advisory Council (MTPAC) that I attended last year.
6. I attended a meeting with Louis de Waal and Andrew Wheeldon with the consultants regarding cycling routes through Sybrand Park on 13 February 2009 and provided comment.
7. Louis de Waal and I attended at a meeting with the engineering consultants for the Stellenbosch Pniel Road, reviewed the plans and provided some comment and suggested which the consultants indicated that they would accept. The one interesting feature of the design here was that the contractor will use a different colour asphalt for the cycle path, which is novel in South Africa, but common overseas.
8. Elton Davids organized a memorial ride on 4 March 2009 with a wreath-laying attended by the Deputy Mayor Grant Haskins.
Other advocacy
1. I wrote a letter that was published in the Sunday Argus in response to an article critical of cyclists riding in the road.
2. We provided comment on the proposed Bus and Cycle Route from the CBD to Boundary Road in Milnerton.
3. We also commented on a suggested temporary cycle route to bypass the R27.
4. We provided letters of support for the licensing of the pedicabs in the Cape Town CBD.
5. We provided some input through the Cycle Tour Office regarding the planning for the infrastructure around the Green Point Stadium.
Winter Safety Drives
We again held a number of Winter safety drives in conjunction with the traffic department and our friends from BEN. PPA staff was also involved this year.
PPA buys helmets and rear bicycle lights, then we go to intersections where we expect lots of cyclists on a winter morning, and with the assistance of the traffic police, we fit cyclists with lights and helmets. Less than 1 or 2% of the cyclists we see have either. We find that cyclists do not seem to like helmets, most prefer warm balaclavas or hats. The indication is that most cyclists who receive these helmets and lights continue to use the lights, but much less so the helmets.
It was interesting to see where we went back a year later to Kommetjie Road that some commuters still had their lights on from the previous year. A few still had the light brackets on, but complained that the light was stolen. We showed those people how to unclip the light and take it with them when they leave the bike somewhere. Reports suggested that people did use their helmets and lights for some time after the handout.
The handouts were at Bellville, Athlone, Lansdowne, Epping, Masiphumelele, Muizenberg, Fish Hoek and Milnerton, where some 100 helmets and lights were handed out at each venue.
Bike to Work Day
In the last year we had a Bike to Work day every first Wednesday of the month. Unfortunately this detracted from the publicity that we generated by having the event less often. As such we will probably revert to having Bike to Work Day twice a year and put more effort into it.
Financial contributions
We recently contributed to a Continuing Professional Development course organised by the University of Cape Town to support planning NMT. The various projects that we contribute to, are dealt with elsewhere.
Recent fatalities
In the run-up to the Cycle Tour, two people were killed while training. In both cases they were killed by motorists coming from behind. In the one incident a truck passed too close to a group of cyclists. In the other a driver was distracted. Both these incidents could have been avoided if there were good quality Class 2 cycle facilities (physically separated from motor traffic) available. Simply painting cycle lanes is not good enough (as demonstrated by the cyclist killed in a cycle lane on 20 January 2007 at the V&A by a bus). It is important that any such cycle paths be properly designed so that fast cyclists (30km/h and more) will use them. At the time a number of letters were written in the press which were anti-cyclist. We need to prepared next year to respond better to such negative publicity.
State of Cycling
1. As I did last year, this is an opportune time to take stock of what progress has been made. Anecdotal evidence still indicates a rise in commuting by bicycle.
2. One of the worst projects in Cape Town as far as cycling is concerned is the Hospital Bend project. This project does not consider NMT at all and serves as a complete block to cyclists and pedestrians. Both the City and the consultants deserve a “Fail” mark for this project.
3. The Cape Town CBD to Milnerton Bus and Cycle path is under construction. This is a very good sign, as it is the first well-designed cycle path in Cape Town. It is set for completion on 30 March 2010, as will be an extension to Blaauwberg Road.
4. The professional team has been appointed for the N1 corridor project, but this will only go forward after 2010.
5. A separate circular cycle track is planned for Green Point common. We do not have further details at this stage.
6. A very encouraging sign in the Cape Town CBD are the appearance of “Cyclecabs” pedicabs in the City Centre. We hope you support this.
Conclusion
We hope to be able to do more in future to promote cycling, being the most efficient means of transportation there is. Unfortunately this takes a lot of volunteer time, often without much hope of a return for the benefit of cycling.
Lance Burger
Convenor: Commuting sub-committee 2008-9
Bike to Work
The first Wednesday of every month is the day when we hear whether the fuel price is going up or down... but why should you be interested (or worried) in what the fuel price does anyway? Just ride your bicycle to work!
Mobilize your friends and family, drop some clothes off at work if you do not have panniers or a small backpack, find a safe route and let's see how many cyclists we can get on the road on the first Wednesday of every month!
Afterwards, we would really love to get some feedback from you on the route and how things went on the day - please email us at commuting@pedalpower.org.za.
Why are we supporting a regular “Bike to Work” day?
There are some of us that ride to work every day. We enjoy it. We also believe that it makes the world a better place.
However, every so often we also need to show the authorities that there exists a need for better cycling commuting facilities. By showing that there are many South Africans who would consider cycling to work, we'll be in a stronger position to lobby for Government support.
Even if you use your car a lot during the day, use your bike on the next PPA “Bike to Work Day“. Do your closer errands that day and leave the ones that are further and which involves transporting heavy objects for another day.
Traffic problems
South Africa has a serious traffic problem. The affluent society spends an inordinate amount of time in single occupancy vehicles at a crawling pace along all the major routes into the city. The poor people spend 30% of their income on taxi fares to get to work. If there were safe cycling paths, an increasing percentage of commuters would cycle. This could start creating a culture of cycling as a means of transport. The Netherlands (with much worse weather for cycling than Cape Town) is an example of what can be done. In Cape Town less than 1% of commuters cycle. In Groningen in the Netherlands the percentage is 50%. Let us all work together to get our percentage to at least 25%.