5 Million bucks for Sydney bicyclists, and mobikers get???

The RTA gets to spend five million bucks to make roads safer for and to encourage more use of, bicycles.

What do mobike and scooter riders get?
Absolutly nothing at all.
More and more people are using mobikes and scooters on the roads of Sydney and we/they don't even get a mention on the RTA website in regards to making the roads safer for us.
And yet bicyclists who don't pay anything in rego, insurance or road tax get five million thrown at them.

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/usingroads/bicycle/index.html

I pay rego, insurance and road taxes. where I can I ride my pushy though, the 2 registered vehicles in the garage still have their rego and insurance paid even on the days I dont use them though

careful jaqhammer you are starting to foam at the mouth

Look at the bright side, we'll have a lot of new bicycle lanes to ride our motorcycles in.

I'm not the one insulting other posters because they put up info you don't like or agree with sunshine.

Have you heard the expression "attack the subject, not the poster" ?

Why don't you explain WHY bicycles should get a 5 million entitlement and mobikes and scooters get none at all?

Loving all the new push bike lanes in Canberra never / rarely any pushies to be seen in them - One in particular allows me to pass 1 Km of stationary traffic with a degree of safety - a big thank you to the lycra clad, gelati advertising metrosexeuals

i know this is probably a waste of time but Im in a good mood after the rugby.

you put up a proposition that bicyclists contribute nothing to upkeep of our roads, you did this I'm guessing to try and garner support for your opion of "we pay taxes but they all the benefits" it's a classic attempt at wedge politics, I guess my observation which is also pretty common for a lot of adult cyclists didn't sit well with you.

if you want to get more money for motorcyclists then throw your support behind the MCCNSW rather than moaning that a group that does have their lobbying act together managed to get some for their interest group

the foaming at the mouth comment came from the littany of typos in your subject line and in the body of the post and that other than complain that another group got some dollars you didn't look at how motorcyclists could just get funding, just that it was bad that someone else did

It actually gets worse.

As a former MCC delegate the disparity between the money made available by the NSW government for 'bicycle safety' as opposed to the motorcycle safety and from memory the true figure was around $30million over 3 years for bicyles versus less that $1 for motorcycles.

But, in general sense the problem is that the bicycle lobby is actually very powerful and has extremely high profile with contacts in all the right places and people see bicycles as environmentally friendly and peaceful. Whereas with motorcycles people see a perception of dangerous behaviours, noise, unsociable behaviour and worse still, they associate all motorcyclists with a 1% club.

During the time I was involved in the MCC it was nigh on impossible for a motorcycle lobby representative to get to see the ever shuffling road ministers yet the bicycle lobby could call on them at will.

Do I think it right that the bicycle lobby gets money, yes but I do have a problem with the disparity when compared to motorcycles and that is what needs work which is being undertaken by small number of people.

In the meantim (if I remember0 I will try to track down the exact figures.




Garry

Well I'm kind of busy at the moment trying to keep some riding areas open to trail bikes in the Upper Blue Mountains, and I spent my own money ordering the BNT guidebooks so that I and a couple of others here could mark out an off road route firstly in NSW and hopefully later from all the way up north, to all the way down south.
Which will eventually benefit all adv-oz riders.
WTF have you done for other riders here and on some other mobike forums?

So you don't like some of my posts?
So don't respond to them.
Lin and I ride bicycles around Sydney ourselves, but we certainly don't see the need to give 5 million bucks to a group of road users who don't contribute anything at all to paying their way.
Don't try and sell the tale that you pay rego and taxes for your cars and mobikes, we all do that.

Why do so many bicycle riders think they're so special?
Why shouldn't they pay a small sum for some kind of rego and road tax and insurance if they are allowed to ride bicycles on public roads?

So I made some spelling and punctuation mistakes...wow, pointing out another posters typos...that's so not original it's sad.

no I won't play your game. I will explain why bicycles should get 5 mil, thats the easy bit. lets go with health benefits of riding, reduced congestion on our roads, reduced problems with parking etc.

I don't agree with motorcycle riders getting bugger all but as a cohesive lobbying group the MCC is very young and i believe success will come in time. but that success won't require that cyclist get nothing, much like the current success of the cycle lobby isn't the reason motorcyclists are getting nothing.

yes we all do that, you said it, hence they are entitled to see some return, or should it come back to what percentage each group contributes directly to road taxes? so cars get to use 70% of the road, trucks get to use 25% of the road and motorcyclists can use only 5%. do we only get to use 5% of the roads or can we only do it 5% of the time?

also what makes you think that roads are soley funded from rego/fuel tax? most of what the states can spend comes from the GST, cyclists buy stuff, a decent bike isn't cheap, groceries etc etc etc. if they are buying stuff they ARE contributing to the taxes that the government spends.

I'd be happy for a rego/insurance scheme for cyclists provided there was an exemption for all riders under whatever the government of the day sets the P plate age at

" also what makes you think that roads are soley funded from rego/fuel tax? most of what the states can spend comes from the GST, MOTORcyclists buy stuff, a decent MOTORbike isn't cheap, groceries etc etc etc. if they are buying stuff they ARE contributing to the taxes that the government spends."

Fixed.

if you only rode a pushy you would not pay rego(i have not met any that dont own a car so they pay also)

now bikes are seen as just a TOY that uses FUEL!! a pushy does not

also a pushy will do bugger all to the roads that might need fixing.....bikes dont ether

now with all the nutters on the road i would be happy to see pushy lanes

BUT!! motorbikes should get dollars to why.....because they ARE CHEAP to run
if you get one with a hack you can take the family to town...and dont take up all the room like cars

the fact is that the gumberment dont like bikes

they like people to be fit(so they dont have to spend money on the health system)

and people wont use so much fuel i would love to see some of those fat pollys on a pushy in Tasmania..... get up that hill fat boy

That's an amusing picture.

Listen I'll be honest here...I don't care if the NSW RTA gives 10 BILLION dollars towards bicycle use in NSW or anywhere else.

What irks me greatly is that people who use mobikes and scooters to commute with, and as a main form of transport are always left out of the equation.

It's the same down in Victoria, I understand from guys in the MRAA that the new transport plan for 2007/2008 took pushbikes into account and awarded them a whooping 75 million (I think that's the right figure?) For more cycle ways and such.
VicRoads did not even have a mention of mobikes and scooters on their agenda.
And both the RTA and VicRoads and every other State transport organisation must be aware that mobikes and especially scooters are getting more and more popular due to rising fuel costs and familes no longer being able to justify the buying of two cars.
On the way to and from work now I see at least three or four female riders on scooters, and about 10 male riders, all on scooters, in the cold, in the pouring rain.
I'm sure the women would certainly not be riding scooters to work in the middle of one of our wettest winters for many years if they were able to drive a car or take public transport.

And on the subject of using bicycles to commute...in reality the majority of people probably live too far from their work or have to carry too much stuff to make a push bike a viable alternative for commuting type travel.

yes i have to agree about riding the pushy any real distance i can ride the pushy to work in about 20mins just with a small pack with some lunch and a bit of gear

that said even here in the bush more people are riding scooters and bikes to work
all the pollys have to do is look at what transport people use in india and most of asia

BIKES!

im all fore more money!

they should change the rego to what its like here in WA..it goes on weight of vehical my truck is well like bending over in the blue oyster bar!:huh

the bike is a nice change........$250 there abouts

Not ever having patronised the Blue Oyster bar I'm prepared to take your word for it.

Pics?

lets just say" KY because no-one should have to squeal LIKE A PIG!!:eek1 "

I was fined $100 and 3 demerit point for "Driving in bicycle line when not permitted". I was using it to pass stationary cars on traffic lights where I needed to make left turn. When chatting with police officer he said "I understand that it might was safer for you then sitting in the traffic jam but you choose to accept those risks when you choose to ride a motorbike." :eek1

My pushbike would end up in the shed rather than fork out for more cash for another rego.

Sadly, it's all about revenue these days and poor Mr Plod probably had a quota to fill. Not a very clever comment from him though.

Anyhow, I may as well expand upon my initial comment. From my observations, bicycle lanes seem to be waste of money in Sydney. Sydney is a big city. Most folk have to commute 20-50kms and bicycles are not a viable form of transport over such distances. Hence one sees very few bicycle commuters in this town.

Case in point: There is a bicycle lane right outside my office - approx 1.5kms long. When I leave work the traffic is usually banked up along this road. I have been riding my motorcycle in the bicycle lane nearly every day for the last year and have yet to come across a single cyclist.

I commute 120kms each day and on average see only 2 or 3 bicycle commuters, whereas I see at least 10-15 motorcyclists.

I'm not against bicycles by any means. I own a bicycle myself and have spent many hundreds of hours riding in Sydney, although mostly back in my younger days when I raced. Sydney would be a better place if more people cycled to work, that's a given - but they don't. They simply can't afford to spend two hours commuting 30kms on a bicycle every day.

If I'm going to fund bicycle lanes that cyclists aren't able to use, then I may as well ride my motorcycle in them. I'd hate to see them go to waste.