octave

I bought a reasonable lightweight helmet and it is so comfortable that the other day I put it on to go to the shops and then went back to the house and took it off to do something. When I got to the shop I reached up to take it ff only to realize i had forgotten to put it on. The thing about bike/pedestrian-friendly cities is they are also good for people with limited mobility. Here is a picture from Amsterdam. Note the great facilities for mobility scooters/ Also, they have these

I want both.🙂

I am 62 with a dodgy heart but my e-bike allows me to ride even in the steepest hills, Terrain is not really a problem these days.

Sure, i understand but perhaps it is a bit early to comment. 🙂

https://reneweconomy.com.au/another-big-battery-joins-south-australia-pipeline-in-race-to-energy-storage/?fbclid=IwAR2ngXV4CWTxb1CfloatT0WWTL87_H5hKhiX_nQo4tpvgy3_JC9cbLLu9hY

You seemed to comment within a time that suggests you did not watch the videos.

I am going to be controversial and say I am all in favour of tipping the balance away from the car and toward pedestrians, bike riders, mobility scooters, and wheelchairs. The balance for many years has been towards allowing cars unimpeded right of way. I know many here may not agree but I do think we have sacrificed a lot at the altar of the motor car. The car is still essential but the problem is there has been a vicious cycle of making things better for cars and therefore worse for all other forms of travel this causing more cars and more congestion and the cycle continues. Multi-billion dollar road projects tend to just move the congestion elsewhere. Other countries have done better. Motorists bitch about cycling infrastructure being built because they may lose a lane here or there and yet countries like the Netherlands place a higher priority on pedestrians, bike riders, etc. are also better counties to drive a car in. "In March 2017, bicycles made up 16 percent of all vehicle movements into the city in the morning peak period (between 7 am and 10 am). In March 2008 the figure was nine percent." https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/parking-and-transport/cycling/Pages/cycling-data.aspx These figures are 7 years old and the numbers have only increased since then. If as a motorist you have a slightly narrower lane or a road now has 1 less lane, isn't this preferable to all of those cyclists abandoning their bikes and driving their cars and contributing to traffic jams? We lament the fact that our children are too inactive yet our infrastructure is designed to favour the car. I can understand why parents drive their kids to school. In the Netherlands, I believe around 75% of kids ride to school. This seems pretty good and wholesome to me. I know people here probably don't watch video links however, these 2 videos give a good overview of how other countries have different and I would argue better priorities.

A bun is the lowest form of wheat

There is often resistance to any change in the balance between car and all other modes of transport. Here in Geelong, the forward-looking council has narrowed one road that goes through town to have trees more pedestrian areas, and a bike lane. This has massively improved this road. people have come back to it because it is now pleasant. Parking has been built on the side streets. I remember in Adelaide many many years ago to resistance to Rundle Mall. Now of course no one would advocate tearing it up. The thing is making cities better for people also improves the situation for motorists. The Netherlands is considered to be the best country for driving.

I think if you look a cities like Amsterdam and Utrecht they have been extremely successful with micro and bike use. I am all for making some city streets pedestrian and bike/scooter-friendly. In the Netherland kids and old people are just as likely to be out cycling together and that cant be a bad thing.

Do you mean me? The majority of riders do not fall into this category. I find riding around daily that the majority of motorists are pretty kind and respectful. I have had the odd person pull out of a driveway in front of me and one near "dooring" but I don't cast aspersions on a whole group of people. There are a small percentage of stupid and arrogant people among car drivers, bike riders, mobility scooter users, and pedestrians.

We need to facilitate the use of "micro transport" It does have great potential. Some other countries are way ahead on this.

Yep inter suburb is nearly always a more difficult proposition. On that trip, I would go by car. On my trip from Geelong to the city driving by car is massively inconvenient and time-consuming taking up to 40 minutes longer by car without considering searching for a park. It will never be possible to provide mass transit to every point in a city from any other point. Imagine if the 450000 passengers transported per day by metro rail suddenly decided to drive, it would be traffic chaos.

I think over the past few years things have changed in that craft beer pubs have become more popular. Craft beer pubs tend not to be full of blokes drinking VB. In the craft pubs/breweries we regularly visit there seems to be a more even gender mix. There are still many old-school pubs around but I think there is a definite trend. The figures suggest that Australians are drinking less beer overall but craft beer is taking a growing proportion of the beer market. Craft beer consumption up according to latest report

I don't want to "inflame" this subject again but...... Note these vehicles ARE NOT EVs

There has been a lot of progress in the last 65 years.

We had a pleasant bush walk this morning. We try to do this walk at least once a week. We are very lucky to have these areas available and the time to use them.

I don't know the answer to that, but the answer can be quickly and easily found. It may not be an easily doable trip. For me it is public transport where it is cheaper and more convenient and the car in other cases. https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/journey/

When we moved to Melbourne I traveled 5 days a week to the music school I taught at in Footscray. I would finish work at 8 PM so some evening travel. Since retirement and moving to Geelong, I usually travel into the city for appointments or sometimes to go to a concert where we travel home late at night. I have been on a train where someone has been overly noisy. and I think perhaps on one occasion we moved to a different carriage. The thing is though I honestly can't think of an occasion when we felt threatened. I can understand that some people may be anxious about traveling late at night and that is fair enough although it doesn't bother me. But there is this suggestion a few posts back that trains are full of deadbeats and this simply is not true. It is mainly the above statement I disagree with. Traveling during the day the other passengers are not scumbags and deadbeats but business people school kids pensioners etc. The above statement doesn't even state a time of day. I think the statement above is wildly exaggerated. I travel on PT perhaps I am a scumbag and deadbeat. Here is a carriage full of deadbeats on scumbags in Perth.

We are in a situation where we have to visit my mother in aged care interstate. We make at least 4 trips a year so 8 flights plus some more flights for the odd overseas trip. The news and the internet are full of videos of air rage incidents. There are probably other incidents that don't get videoed. I would think in the last 5 years I would have done perhaps 50 flights and not one experience of an unruly passenger. This does not mean it does not happen. It probably happens somewhere every day but this is not going to stop me from taking the most efficient means of travel for a particular trip. I haven't been subjected to road rage either although it appears that it happens regularly. My next train trip, plane flight, or car drive might be the one where I have an unpleasant experience however it needs to be put in perspective. In my post where I gave an example of how I travel into the city, it is pretty clear that is way quicker than the car and also cheaper. There are other benefits in terms of less wear and tear on the car and stress. I usually get into the designated quiet carriage pop my earphones in and listen to a podcast. I am usually pretty rational about how I travel. If I am traveling interstate for up to a week I usually drive to the airport. Over a week and the long-term parking fee tends to far outway train and Skybus. With an overseas trip, I am more likely to take public transport. A car breakdown on the way to the airport could become very costly in missed flights. I don't care what other choices others make however I don't usually see the people around me and think they are "deadbeats" They are usually people going to work or school or just on a pleasure trip to the city.

I do travel at night. You are right that it may be a coincidence but it does suggest that if the instances are widespread and numerous, a regular traveler will eventually come across such instances. Doesn't it? Vic Rail transports around 450,000 passengers a day. A train traveling into the city in the morning is full of business people, school kids, pensioners etc. It is not the war zone you imagine, There are bound to be incidents just as there are incidents on city streets and in pubs and at sports events. I could come across anti-social behavior at any of these locations. I am just not afraid to travel on public transport. Even if the events are widespread on very late-night trains (which I have been on) this does not mean that trains are 24/7 war zones, otherwise, why would anyone travel on the,?

So why am I not seeing this as a regular train traveler? Or am I seeing it but pretending that it is not happening? I can assure you that I have never had a significant problem. Once or twice there have been overly noisy people but that's life. If these things are happening regularly and not exaggerated they never appear to happen when I am. traveling. This is my honest experience. On a network with millions of trips per day, there will always be some problems just as there are in any city or other public venue.

This seems like an exaggeration unless your train system over there is vastly worse than ours. I can honestly say I or my wife have ever been hassled on the train. My wife will happily travel at any time of the day on the train. I am sure occasionally people do have bad experiences but likewise, people have bad experiences with road ragers. I think sometimes those who seldom or never use public transport probably are not in the best position to judge.

Just a minor correction in my screenshots. The drive time was at 9 AM To compare apples with apples it should be the same time. so here it is