Walk or bike to ease Hobart gridlock, says cycling body

MAKING active transport options like cycling and walking easier could ease Hobart’s chronic traffic congestion, the state’s peak cycling body says.

Hobart Inter-City Cycleway, users Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) bicycle group members cycling on the bike t...

MAKING active transport options like cycling and walking easier could go some way towards improving Hobart’s chronic traffic congestion, the state’s peak cycling body says.

More bike lanes and better end-of-ride facilities could give people a choice of how to get to town, improve health outcomes and help remove cars from the road, as well as reducing pressure on parking, Bicycle Network spokesman Garry Bailey said.

“The Government is talking about a preventative health strategy and one of the ways to improve people’s health is to get them to walk and ride,” he said.

Bike lanes, bike tracks and bike paths and end-of-ride facilities are the key.

“It’s all about choice and if cycling or walking is an attractive choice people are more likely to embrace them.,” Mr Bailey said.

“The Government is talking about a preventative health strategy and one of the ways to improve people’s health is to get them to walk and ride.”

He said the city’s current congestion problems were predicted in a 2011 report but a comprehensive strategy was lacking.

“There’s no question that healthier workers and healthier students at school get better outcomes for everyone,” he said.

“It doesn’t mean spending billions on infrastructure. It’s about changing behaviours.

“Some of the biggest choke-points in Hobart are schools. How do we change the behaviour of parents for example?”

He said encouraging more people to travel under their own power would benefit everyone.

“That simple choice would also benefit people who still want to drive to work because there’s then less congestion,” he said.

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Hobart’s light rail proponent Ben Johnston said the Government already had an easy and good value proposal which provided an alternative to continuing to pour more money into roads in the hope it would reduce congestion.

He said a light rail through the northern suburbs was projected to attract six million passenger journeys a year between Hobart and Glenorchy.

“If that doesn’t remove a few cars from the Brooker Highway, I don’t know what will,” he said.

“If I had a dollar for everyone who said light rail was a no-brainer I could just about fund it myself. There’s a lot of support out there for the idea.

“This year being a federal election year we’d be asking the State Government to put the project up as a priority.

“The longer the track is unused the more vulnerable it becomes.”

Mr Johnston said spending tens of millions of dollars on improving the Brooker Highway was not subject to the same economic rationale as improved public transport.

“There’s no question about a business case for that and how it’s going to pay for itself, but a train running down a track we already own is supposed to pay for itself,” he said.