Collins St changes are a matter of public safety, business owners say

Changes to Hobart’s Collins Street are a matter of public safety, a group of business owners say. Here’s why they’re in support.

Brendan Marshall from Next Door Cafe, Adam Holmstrom from Inspiring Place. Image: John Sampson, City of Hobart.

Business owners supportive of major changes to Hobart’s Collins St say the improvements are a matter of public safety and the council should proceed with the project.

On Monday the council approved plans for new bike lanes along the street, changes which rely on the removal of 59 on-street car parks.

Some business owners have come out against the proposed changes, concerned about the potential impact on their bottom line.

But others have now come out in support of the changes, which they say could save lives.

Next Door Coffee owner Brendan Marshall said he experienced first-hand why Hobart needed to improve its cycling infrastructure.

“I’m quite a confident rider. I was hit by a car I was in hospital for two weeks, completely not my fault, six months off work,” he said.

“People that aren’t so confident need spaces to ride.

“If you look at the number of bike lanes in Hobart, it is minimal, a couple of streets”

“There’s a long way to go from what I can see.”

Brendan Marshall from Next Door Cafe, Adam Holmstrom from Inspiring Place, Lisa Monro from Next Door Cafe and Chris Lang from Ethical Financial Planning. Image: John Sampson, City of Hobart

Mr Marshall said a change to the speed limit would also be welcome.

“A 30km/h zone is great. I’ve never driven more than 30 down there anyway,” he said.
“I think it would be great for the street.”

Some business owners have said they weren’t consulted about the changes, but Mr Marshall said he had been in regular contact with the council.

“We were consulted months ago in our shop,” he said.

‘We had ample opportunity to respond to them, call them, email and do what we needed to do.”

Ethical Choice Investments adviser Chris Lang said he’d been hit by cars before, but was lucky enough to walk away from those incidents.

“Just last night I had an instance where someone tried to overtake me, when there wasn’t room. I was riding home and that caused me to go into a parked car,” he said.

“Luckily there were no injuries. They didn’t mean to do it, they felt pretty bad about it.

He said the bike lanes would prevent serious accidents from occurring.

“Everyone has a right to get to work safely and get home safe at the end of the day as well.”

“If this keeps one person out of a wheelchair then that’s a really good thing and it’s something we should be doing, and it will keep someone out of a wheelchair,” Mr Lang said.

Inspiring Place owner Adam Holmstrom also supported the changes.

He said the lanes would improve visibility for all road users.

“We’ve had our own experiences of near misses of cyclists coming down the front of our building and nearly being collected by cars,’ he said.

“The finer details can still be ironed out but hopefully there’s a general direction of getting a safer route for cyclists through the city … I think that’s the end game.”