Grahame's LJ - Sent to Nedlands, Subiaco Councils

Jun. 23rd, 2009

11:07 am - Sent to Nedlands, Subiaco Councils

Hello

I'm the resident of redacted, Crawley. This falls within
Subiaco council, however I am sending this complaint to the Nedlands
council as well, as Broadway falls between both council areas.

I have just been informed by Transperth that the installation of
traffic calming devices on Broadway means the number 24 bus will no
longer operate on Broadway.

This is the main bus running down Broadway providing service to
Subiaco, West Perth, through the city and on to East Perth. I and many
others use this service heavily from stops on Broadway. How was your
planning so inadequate as to cause buses to no longer be able to
operate on Broadway?

This demands an explanation. The environmental impact of more
residents using cars may be substantial, and how much of rate-payers
money is going to be used to correct this error?

Regards,

Grahame Bowland

Source: transperth

This goes beyond the usual incompetence shown by Western Suburbs councils. Act now! Send your own letter to city@subiaco.wa.gov.au and council@nedlands.wa.gov.au. I CCed the Post newspaper too, you might want to do that: mailbox@postnewspapers.com.au. Blog about it, and let's get angry!

Tags: anger, councils

Current Location: Jakarta, Indonesia

Current Mood:

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Comments:

From:	greteldragon
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 04:22 am (UTC)

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Gah. That is officially fucking retarded.

Also don't traffic calming devices mean you use more fuel in a car anyway, because its slam on brake, accelerate, slam on brake. That is not an economical driving style.

(Also it turns out taking speedbumps too fast on a motorcycle, can in fact destroy bras, which is very awkward. I'm fairly sure they haven't put speedbumps on Broadway yet, but still. It's probably only a matter of time.)

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From:	grahame
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 04:25 am (UTC)

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Quick, send them an email while you're riled!

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From:	greteldragon
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 04:32 am (UTC)

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I have a new rule. I don't write those kind of emails until I can write without cursing all the bloody time in it.

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From:	greyreviews
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 08:19 am (UTC)

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Round-abouts and the environment, or why they beat the fark out of traffic lights and stop signs:

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/environment/2007/03/green-road-rules-roundabouts-and.html

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From:	greteldragon
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 08:34 am (UTC)

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Please note I said traffic calming, not roundabouts. I'm assuming they're adding those annoying chicane things on the roundabouts (or at least that's what they seemed to be doing when I walked past last) which were my concern. There is no reason at all a normal roundabout should be blocking buses, unless someones fucked up badly.

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From:	trs80 [typekey.com]
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 08:58 am (UTC)

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Yeah, chicanes before roundabouts are the most stupid thing. I think the reason they gave for the ones at Karrakatta was "they make the cars slow down before the roundabout", as if the roundabout doesn't make people slow down already. The one on Railway Rd is particularly bad, being two lanes wide there's a temptation to just drive straight and cut across the lanes.

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From:	gemfyre
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 11:35 pm (UTC)

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Ugh, those things piss me off if only because I can't indicate properly because of them. I indicate, then I enter the chicane and have to turn the wheel so much that the indicator turns itself off. It's a minor thing but an absolute pain.

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From:	greteldragon
Date:	June 24th, 2009 03:55 am (UTC)

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I completely agree there should have been one speedbump, the one at the lower end near that roundabout, because people were speeding through it, and not giving way.

However there's a big difference between one where it'd be kinda handy to stop people plowing into a playground or other cars, and 10 for no reason other than to make peoples lives miserable.

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From:	anxiolytic
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 11:01 am (UTC)

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I'm all for roundabouts on Broadway. Just small ones that don't interfere with emergency services and busses.

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From:	dunq
Date:	June 24th, 2009 08:43 am (UTC)

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I feel like a dinosaur remembering this, but you know the roundabout at Monash and Hampden? That wasn't always there.

When they put it in, it wasn't the same shape as it is now. Any guesses why? ... Bueller? Oh yeah, because they put it in and the buses couldn't turn right, so they stopped construction, went back to the drawing board and modified the design.

Yes, they have done this before!!! Now you can put the first one down to incompetence but the second has to be malice, right? (or extreme, sackable offence incompetence).

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From:	ataxi
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 04:36 am (UTC)

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Finally a morally justifiable reason to be pissed off with traffic calming devices. Instead of my usual, which is just "stop increasing my fucking stress levels by making me play your stupid road obstacle avoidance games now, you soft-cocked bureaufascists!"

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From:	theducks
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 04:42 am (UTC)

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They installed some on Carrington St that were so bad they removed and replaced them. The moral being - be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

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From:	ataxi
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 05:04 am (UTC)

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Oh good, they got rid of those? I couldn't believe how fucked up those were last time I tried to get to my folks' place that way.

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From:	theducks
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 05:10 am (UTC)

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No, they got rid of the original ones and replaced them with the ones that are there now. Still not great, but better than what they had..

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From:	ataxi
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 05:24 am (UTC)

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Oh well. I must admit that one in particular shat me primarily because I used to use Carrington and Princess as my personal off-highway drag strips. Which I suppose is why the measures were introduced.

There's a sense that it's just administrators justifying their feeble existences though.

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From:	greteldragon
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 06:07 am (UTC)

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Having 10 over what is it 500m? is a little excessive though, I was too scared to take a motorcycle along that road, cars get right up your arse for going over the speedbumps at 20km/h.

(It still annoys me because that was the safest road to go along to get to work for night shifts. And despite now being in a car, it still feels horribly dangerous.)

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From:	ataxi
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 06:23 am (UTC)

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The story seems to be that every time one of these setups is put in, someone is screwed over, whether it be people who use alternative transport, people who travel at specific times, people with specific needs etc. If the trouble isn't at the site itself then it's a flow-on effect at some other nearby intersection or along some other route.

All this suggests the planners just aren't fucking thinking hard enough.

These people are hired to consider all the factors, they're supposed to be trained to do that and they apparently don't, enough of the time, manage it.

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From:	dunq
Date:	June 24th, 2009 08:37 am (UTC)

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I cycled up Carrington St and overtook 3 cars ... enough said really - its a steep hill!

That said I don't give a crap - its no imposition on 2 wheels, except the other traffic seems to take longer.

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From:	ataxi
Date:	June 24th, 2009 08:53 am (UTC)

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"I don't give a crap - it's no imposition on [me]"

You know who you sound like? A western suburbs planner! *g*

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From:	dunq
Date:	June 24th, 2009 09:00 am (UTC)

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Maybe I could get the job! Well they do keep fucking it up, I do keep thinking I should get involved to beat some sense into these people. I mean, come on people, cycle lanes just aren't that hard, are they?

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From:	ataxi
Date:	June 24th, 2009 09:22 am (UTC)

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Yeah, actually Perth could do with a good look at Canberra when it comes to cycle lanes.

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From:	dunq
Date:	June 24th, 2009 09:26 am (UTC)

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or Melbourne, or ...

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From:	greteldragon
Date:	June 24th, 2009 04:00 pm (UTC)

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Its an imposition on motorcycles dude. I was too scared to drive along it on one for a long while (this did get less scary after they smoothed out all but that final bump, but you still get the tailgating if you go too slow and the bra breakage if you go too fast).

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From:	dunq
Date:	June 25th, 2009 01:39 am (UTC)

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I just stand up, bend knees, don't slow down - the bike takes the bump and I keep more or less a steady height. Might be a different story if I had boobs? I don't know. If I had dodgy knees? definitely!

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From:	greteldragon
Date:	June 25th, 2009 02:45 am (UTC)

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hm. I'll have to try that when I have a bike and not dodgey knees, but I suspect the boob problem will stay unless I remember to wear sports bras or something.

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From:	theducks
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 04:41 am (UTC)

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Wow, the roundabouts won't let the regular buses along? That's annoying.

On the plus side, as a driver, the roundabout will be awesome. Getting onto broadway in peaktimes has been a pain, now the people coming along it will have to give way to you.. right? :)

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From:	anxiolytic
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 05:00 am (UTC)

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Yes, normal roundabouts (with trees on them to block out the evening summer sun) would be most welcome. Not these clown roundabouts.

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From:	jetblackvalias
Date:	June 24th, 2009 06:58 am (UTC)

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clownedabouts

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From:	theducks
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 04:43 am (UTC)

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Hmm new routing goes along Bruce St.. shades of the old route 8/10 buses.

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From:	trs80 [typekey.com]
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 07:06 am (UTC)

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I don't mind this change, the 24 is now closer (no hill in the way) and it runs much later than the 23, which also goes down Bruce St. It's still idiotic planning by the councils, who also brought you the Karrakatta underpass that was finished last year, but is legal mediation and still not open.

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From:	grahame
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 07:11 am (UTC)

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Yeah, that gardening centre is really well provided with bus services now. Unfortunately the shopping centres, restaurants and medium density housing, not to mention the university, all all harder to get to on public transport.

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From:	trs80 [typekey.com]
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 08:11 am (UTC)

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Oh yeah, it's utterly self-centred of me to say that. I'd rather see a tram down Broadway and lights at Bruce St/Stirling Hwy to take the car traffic from Dalkeith. Or at the very least, the frequency of the 24 upgraded down Broadway.

I think the garden centre shut down, it's now some sort of kid tutoring place.

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From:	mpfl
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 06:37 am (UTC)

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Looks like I left the neighbourhood right on time...

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From:	greyreviews
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 08:25 am (UTC)

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Gee, imagine if you lived in an area that actually had poor public transport coverage. Assuming someone lives in the middle of broadway they will have to walk maybe a whole kilometre or two to get to one of at least 5 (off the top of my head) other regular bus routes servicing the area.

If anything the bus routes to this area could be cut because there are too damn many of them in the first place and nothing to do with roundabouts.

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From:	grahame
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 08:40 am (UTC)

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So we're vindictively removing bus services from people who choose to live close to the city in higher density housing, just for the hell of it? Anyway, the 24 was always nearly full and it picked up at least a quarter bus full on Broadway.

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From:	anxiolytic
Date:	June 23rd, 2009 09:13 am (UTC)

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I disagree that there are too many busses. They have quite high patronage. Many service the local hospital too.

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From:	trs80 [typekey.com]
Date:	June 25th, 2009 10:59 am (UTC)

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Subiaco council even thought the roundabouts were designed for buses (http://www.subiaco.wa.gov.au/fileuploads/9_12_2008_m.pdf) (pp. 5-6).

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From:	grahame
Date:	June 25th, 2009 12:32 pm (UTC)

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Right, so they didn't want to break the bus access, they just did due to incompetence and a lack of due diligence. This is good news, it means there's a real argument to remove / modify the roundabouts and reinstate bus access.

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