The bicycle-bashers at the RTA are now indulging in self-deception of Orwellian stature. After getting the go-ahead to remove the cycle lanes from the mid-section of William Street in the city, they now want to remove the remaining lanes to the east on the grounds that they are 'discontinuous'.
A letter to the Department of Planning from RTA chief Les Wielinga also cites 'safety' as a reason to force cyclists back into traffic – in a state where 40 per cent of motorists admit to driving while over the legal alcohol limit ('NSW: the state of regular road rage' SMH 22/08/06).
These cyclists, if they live, will only obstruct traffic as they labour up the hill, so the RTA's strategy to 'ease congestion' is also self-defeating.
Meanwhile there is a bleedingly obvious alternative to scapegoating cyclists. The buses on Frank Sartor's 'boulevarde of broken promises' have no stopping bays so each bus parks in a traffic lane while the driver makes change, holding up the traffic. Please, just shift a few bits of Frank's precious grey granite footpath and solve the problem they caused in the first place.
If anyone wants to shove one up the RTA, I can point you to the relevant documents and contacts. Email me or post a comment below.
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