21 October 2013

Bunda Street is going all footpath on us!

| johnboy
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Mayor Rattenbury has announced that the demands of the Great Civic Cycle Loop will require Civic’s Bunda Street to become a “shared space” which is probably for the best as it’s a lousy street right now.

Minister for Territory and Municipal Services, Shane Rattenbury, today announced that Canberra City’s Bunda Street will become an innovative ‘shared space’ for pedestrians, cyclists and motorists.

The redesign of Bunda Street will form part of the Civic Cycle Loop project, a 3.2 kilometre path that loops around the City and connects to existing paths that lead into the City.

“Three highly qualified and experienced urban design specialists participated in a design competition for the Bunda Street section of the Civic Cycle Loop. Following extensive stakeholder and community consultation, as well as technical analysis of all three designs, I have decided GTA Consultants will progress the design of a ‘shared space’ project on Bunda Street,” Mr Rattenbury said.

“This kind of shared space is an innovation for Canberra, but one that will improve and enliven the city. It takes urban design principles from successful low speed urban environments overseas, especially in vibrant and walkable European cities. This type of design can work well in our growing city environment, especially helping to support a growing walking and cycling population.

“For the most part, pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles will share Bunda Street with equal priority, but the design will also include some raised pedestrian crossings where pedestrians have priority. The design also proposes creative pavement treatments to make Bunda Street feel less like a conventional road and to increase safety for all road users.


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This shared space concept is laughable. People are walking into moving traffic. Who’s stupid idea was this? We had a perfectly good set of pedestrian crossings and now we don’t. I avoid Bunda Street since this change.

As predicted, this has destroyed businesses in the street.

PantsMan said :

martin75 said :

Leave bunda street as it is. We already have serval unused spaces with shit loads if empty shops.

Dude, the ACT Government are socialists, therefore empty shops are the objective. They are not going to spend the $8 million on getting rid of the East Berlin vibe in Garema Place, they are going to destroy Bunda Street and impose bicycles on it because evil capitalists are making profits there, and too many customers are turning up to buy things there.

So everybody who frequents the restaurants in the North Quarter are parked in or used Bunda St in their cars as access?

There would only be enough car parks to fill maybe 1 of those restaurants on the whole length of Bunda St, the rest would get access via Cooyong St.

martin75 said :

Leave bunda street as it is. We already have serval unused spaces with shit loads if empty shops.

Dude, the ACT Government are socialists, therefore empty shops are the objective. They are not going to spend the $8 million on getting rid of the East Berlin vibe in Garema Place, they are going to destroy Bunda Street and impose bicycles on it because evil capitalists are making profits there, and too many customers are turning up to buy things there.

KB1971 said :

Solidarity said :

You can’t ride through Bunda street at a normal pace unless you like the taste of car doors…

I can and do but as Patrick says you have to take the lane and stay well away from doors……those pesky cars are slow too. Makes me laugh when everybody was whinging about the 40 rezoning. If you were doing 60 along there it would nearly be the equivalent of doing 100 in a 60 zone.

+1. Another reason to take the lane is pedestrians stepping out from between the cars.

Why would you ride round civic when you can ride through it???

Leave bunda street as it is. We already have serval unused spaces with shit loads if empty shops.

Solidarity said :

You can’t ride through Bunda street at a normal pace unless you like the taste of car doors…

I can and do but as Patrick says you have to take the lane and stay well away from doors……those pesky cars are slow too. Makes me laugh when everybody was whinging about the 40 rezoning. If you were doing 60 along there it would nearly be the equivalent of doing 100 in a 60 zone.

patrick_keogh5:04 pm 22 Oct 13

Solidarity said :

You can’t ride through Bunda street at a normal pace unless you like the taste of car doors…

That’s not what I find… I sit out in the middle of the lane and cruise along, although typically I get stuck behind motor vehicles that are travelling slower than I would have been.

You can’t ride through Bunda street at a normal pace unless you like the taste of car doors…

DrKoresh said :

Erg0 said :

KB1971 said :

It is definately not a place I can ride at my normal pace.

Your other points notwithstanding, you could probably make the argument that slowing down a bit when passing through built up areas is a good idea for both motor vehicles and bicycles.

I was just about to say the same thing. I’m assuming that as an avid cycling supporter your ‘normal’ pace is probably pretty damn fast and definitely not appropriate to be doing in a pedestrian thoroughfare.

I didnt say that I ‘do’ ride through there at my normal pace, just saying that I can’t even if I wanted to. There was a bit of an expectation that being the ‘great separated’ path that is supposed to be ‘safer’ for riders that it is ironic that there is more of a chance to be run over.

The perception of what it was protrayed as and the reality is completely different.

Why not? Seems like a good idea. Not that we ever go to Civic these days.

thy_dungeonman8:07 am 22 Oct 13

DrKoresh said :

Erg0 said :

KB1971 said :

It is definately not a place I can ride at my normal pace.

Your other points notwithstanding, you could probably make the argument that slowing down a bit when passing through built up areas is a good idea for both motor vehicles and bicycles.

I was just about to say the same thing. I’m assuming that as an avid cycling supporter your ‘normal’ pace is probably pretty damn fast and definitely not appropriate to be doing in a pedestrian thoroughfare.

The cycle loop is a pedestrian thoroughfare? well there’s your problem.

Erg0 said :

KB1971 said :

It is definately not a place I can ride at my normal pace.

Your other points notwithstanding, you could probably make the argument that slowing down a bit when passing through built up areas is a good idea for both motor vehicles and bicycles.

I was just about to say the same thing. I’m assuming that as an avid cycling supporter your ‘normal’ pace is probably pretty damn fast and definitely not appropriate to be doing in a pedestrian thoroughfare.

elevendollars8:11 pm 21 Oct 13

I do NOT think Canberra should be awarding a road design tender involving shared space between pedestrians and cars to a group called GTA….

voytek3 said :

dph said :

When are they just going to close off Bunda Street & make it part of the mall (i.e Bourke St in Melbourne or Pitt St in Sydney)?

Because they are actual cities. Canberra isn’t and our “CBD” is a tremendous joke.

Move somewhere else then.

“For the most part, pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles will share Bunda Street with equal priority, but the design will also include some raised pedestrian crossings where pedestrians have priority.”

Will “shared space” mean the same as “shared zone”? If so, why do pedestrians need “priority” at raised crossings since I’m pretty sure that they would have priority in the entire zone? If not, is the Government going to need to change the road rules to include a new concept?

The changes to Bunda St sound very good though especially if traffic was to be only one way.

dph said :

When are they just going to close off Bunda Street & make it part of the mall (i.e Bourke St in Melbourne or Pitt St in Sydney)?

Because they are actual cities. Canberra isn’t and our “CBD” is a tremendous joke.

$8 million retail/cityscape disaster waiting to happen so Shane can ride his bike.

shirty_bear said :

dph said :

When are they just going to close off Bunda Street & make it part of the mall (i.e Bourke St in Melbourne or Pitt St in Sydney)?

Or, say, Garema Pl, Petrie Plaza or Ainslie Ave rather closer to home. This seems the obvious thing to do, but is probably too bold a move for current pollies.

Yes, because closing those off went real well didn’t it.

City Walk use to be a street and then it was turned into a mall and now it’s just a dead space. Bunda Street is going to go the same way if it’s turned into a mall.

Why not turn it into a one lane one way street. That would provide space for the city cycle loop and still allow traffic without these stupid dangerous shared spaces.

The problem with a shared space is that no one wants to share.

dph said :

When are they just going to close off Bunda Street & make it part of the mall (i.e Bourke St in Melbourne or Pitt St in Sydney)?

Or, say, Garema Pl, Petrie Plaza or Ainslie Ave rather closer to home. This seems the obvious thing to do, but is probably too bold a move for current pollies.

>For the most part, pedestrians, cyclists and motor vehicles will share Bunda Street with equal priority,

http://i.imgur.com/zR901kC.gif

Lets fix up other “shared spaces” first before we start new ones

When are they just going to close off Bunda Street & make it part of the mall (i.e Bourke St in Melbourne or Pitt St in Sydney)?

Because different modes of transport sharing space is Canberra’s forté. This should be interesting.

KB1971 said :

It is definately not a place I can ride at my normal pace.

Your other points notwithstanding, you could probably make the argument that slowing down a bit when passing through built up areas is a good idea for both motor vehicles and bicycles.

I have a few issues with the Civic Cycle loop. I have nearly been cleaned up more times by cars turning on you and had many pedestrians just walk across without looking that it is safer to ride on the roads.

It is definately not a place I can ride at my normal pace.

Bunda St as a chared space? I think it should be closed apart from access to the loading bays in the old part of the Canberra Centre. Its pretty well redundant as a road now.

Might want to educate Canberrans on what “shared space” actually means – most of them don’t seem to know, and it’s not really surprising since these things started popping up without any sort of education campaign. Yes, I know, they all have signs telling you that vehicles must give way to pedestrians, but it seems that in general, neither the drivers nor many pedestrians have noticed these signs (pedestrians invariably give you a bewildered look if you actually give way to them).

Holden Caulfield2:57 pm 21 Oct 13

I have no problems with Bunda Street as it is and like the fact you can sometimes arse a free park on a Friday night.

Oh well.

I much prefer to use Bunda Street, even with the inevitable pedestrian delays, rather than the insufferable traffic lights of Cooyong Street.

I don’t suppose having them synchronised properly is ever going to happen is it? They’re better than they used to be, but they’re still pretty crap.

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