Lonsdale St resurfaced

i like riding faster than cars on lonsdale st , thanks to the smooth bus lane

"Hi David,

Thank you for your feedback.

I have logged through a work request for the street cleaning, job number 1804548."

Hooray \o/

Booyeah!
Nice work DJ. Now I won’t have to go picking out all the glass from my tyres every week.

Run the red around a bus on lonsdale… you wont!

+10 to hot police babes.

oh reery?

Many of the streets around Newcastle CBD have just been resurfaced too… Mmmm nice smooth hot mix :sunglasses:

Question regarding the Lonsdale St bus lanes at peak hour:

I ride down Lonsdale St in the bus lane every morning to work, and it’s usually comfortable and safe. Every so often however, I find myself in the situation where a bus will tail-gate me and proceed to horn me until I move out of the way.
My question is where the hell is a cyclist meant to go in peak hour? Are cyclists legally allowed to ride in the bus lane at peak hour, or are we meant to ride in the the two vehicular lanes to the immediate right?
I contacted Bicycle Victoria today and I spoke to an absolute moron who didn’t know the answer, but assured me he would email me some information once he found out. I just recieved an email from BV with 3 PDF attachments of Vicroads ‘Road Rules’ and ‘Bicycle Rules’… f*cking useless, I should have known better…

Bicycle Victoria are fucking useless.

Yes. Tell the bus driver to ‘take that horn home to his mother’.

Yes. Tell the bus driver to ‘take that horn home to his mother’.
[/quote]
Thanks for the reply spud.
So you’re sure that I’m legally allowed to ride in the bus lane at peak hour?
Any tips on avoiding these annoying and potentially dangerous situations (apart from giving the driver the finger?) :evil:
The thing is, Collins St is crap ride down, perhaps Bourke is the best…

take the number of the bus, send a letter to the company asking them to re-educate the driver… o/

How the bus lane will work

The new bus lane will separate traffic from buses travelling west along Lonsdale Street operating in the morning peak between 7am and 9:30am, Monday to Friday.

During the operating hours, no vehicle, except for buses and bicycles, will be allowed in the bus lane unless permitted under the Victorian Road Rules.

The thing is, it happens to me with different bus drivers, and even my boss who rides in earlier in the morning. It’s like the bus drivers have been told that no bicycles are allowed in their lane.

Awesome to know, thanks.

Technically you’re not supposed to be in the lane, but they can make exceptions, as it seems they have done here. You could get clarification from VicRoads to check you’re ok.
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home
Then next time they do it, get their number and dob them in to the company and Vicroads. Make their life fucking hell and score one for us! :evil:

You’re worse than the dickhead on the other side of the Bicycle Victoria phone line!! :evil: :evil: kidding of course…

So I am entitled to ride in the bus lane and get abused by bus drivers…woo!

In the recent BV email newsletter, they’re being all outraged and offended because The Age accused them of doing fuck all. They went on about how it was rubbish and that they were doing everything they could and blah blah blah. Not once did they mention any of their recent initiatives or anything to dispute the claims of The Age.

I remember not so long ago there was a recumbent rider who broke what I think was the 12 hour record. Harry Barber’s comment was basically that recumbents are totally unsuitable for the road. I don’t think there were any congratulations, job well done from him.

People who wear bowties creep me out.

From the BV “about us” section

Harry Barber

Chief Executive Officer
Harry has been a Bicycle Victoria member since 1978 and was employed in 1993 as Campaign Manager.

PROFILE: Harry Barber is the sort of person who keeps his bikes in the living room, much to the dismay of his mother-in-law

I’m inferring from that that he lives with his wife at her parents’ house. Especially since it says “the living room” rather than “his”.

Bowtie:

after the no bikes on trains debacle, they showed what a useless organisation they can be.
sometimes it seems like they’re an offshoot of the RACV

Thanks for the insight chromeo, so I’m not the only one who feels this way. Out of interest, what was The Age saying in their article about BV?

To be fair, I probably don’t know an awful lot about their organisation, but the impression that I’ve gained over the years is that BV have a lot of ideas and talk, but not much follow through. Am I right on this or do I need to be educated?
I am a member by the way.

I’m a member too, but they are crap! They are lobbying for getting bikes on trams now…WTF? Can you imagine some idiot getting on the tram in Collins St cos he’s too lazy to ride up the hill?! What a fucking waste of time. They try and please every nutter that is a member, when IMO, they should be lobbying for the serious shit like heavier sentences for road rage, idiots that run into us etc etc

I’m a member for the accident stuff, but really aren’t you covered by TAC anyways? And you could just go straight to the legals they use.
http://www.mauriceblackburn.com.au/areas/accidents/index.aspx

Apart from that you’re probably better off writing to your local council or local papers and causing a stink… like I do :slight_smile:

Haha, are you kidding, that’s hilarious!
“Excuse me old lady, can you please move aside?” wheels fixie onto tram

“Terribly sorry about the grease on your suit buddy”

Sadly… (read below from their webiste.) If you’re a member, your money goes to this and subsidising those hideous Round the Bay jerseys!!

"Bikes on low-floor vehicles

We believe that bikes should be allowed on Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) vehicles at peak and off-peak times (providing that space is not required by disabled people).

Furthermore, bikes should be allowed on conventional, existing trams and buses at off-peak times.

Melbourne is to gain new trams and buses that comply with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). These vehicles will be designed with low floors and enough space to accommodate wheelchairs. This means plenty of room for bikes too. About 10 per cent of the fleet are expected to be DDA compliant in five years."