HEALTHY TRANSPORT HOBART

For the second time since February 2008 I was not able to ride in Hobarts Critical Mass, but I was able to watch from the sidelines as 45 riders converged on Franklin Square in the cover of darkness and pedal their fine selves up Argyle St to North Hobart and down Elizabeth Street back to Salamanca. Read the rest of this entry »

What I like to see in a cycling photo, no lycra or carbon fibre anywhere - Mercury Newspaper

“Many of us have read about recent job losses with a heavy heart, but we can create jobs in a thriving passenger transport industry. By investing in it, we are investing in our people. Lots of Tasmanians have already got the idea. The Hobart CBD cycleway is becoming congested by its more than 4500 weekly users so we need to cater for this demand and build more cycleways. This would mean less congestion, happier and healthier Tasmanians and it would help us deal with the coming oil crunch. The terrific thing about sustainable transport isn’t just that it is green, it is common sense too. Read the rest of this entry »

On Sunday I (intermittent blogger Anna) saw the film ‘The End of the Line’ based on the non-fiction book by the same name, by Charles Clover

To make it relevant to this blog, I make the point that the film was about planet conservation and maximal positive human impact, two ideals that we as cycling citizens can foster and expound … it also had a few fantastic shots of fold-up bikes in London, which might have been mistaken for useful fashion accessories, such was their sleekness and compact-nature! Read the rest of this entry »

Riders in 2008 head up Davey St

Hey hey, its getting chilly and riding the ol bike is even more pleasant than in the summer months dont you think? Fine, crisp, clear and rather dark early winter weather makes me shiver with excitement with the prospect of riding.

WHAT: Ride with Hobart in style

WHEN: Friday 28th May 2010, 5.15 pm

WHERE: Franklin Square Read the rest of this entry »

Bus drivers are having to drive past passengers with busses filled to capacity

So its week 3 of my bus catching experience and there is a few notable observations I’ve made and am now starting to have reinforced. The most prominent is that all the busses I catch seem to be very well patronised. So much so that at times there is standing room only and I’ve been obliged to vacate my seat for a chronologically advanced citizen. Now this is really interesting as in the past when I’ve had some discussions with Metro CEO Heather Haselgrove about increasing bus services down the channel area she has said that Metro will only do so once the busses are popping at the seams. Read the rest of this entry »

The State Cinema North Hobart with Bus Stop

It was a lovely wintery and fine Hobart Sunday so I thought I better try my luck at socialising via the bus and see how I fared. My plan was to bus into town, up to North Hobart to see a film and then return. I ended up having a fine time. Read the rest of this entry »

South Point at sunrise

I’ve just arrived back from a sweeto mission down to Wilson’s Promontory located on the southern most contour of the mainland. Whilst the bush walking is no comparison to the mountains, mud, rivers, isolation and untouched nature of my beloved Tasmania, it is a very pretty stretch of coastline. I can certainly see why it evokes pride and joy for many Victorians.

I had four days available to suck up as much forest air, starry nights and tweeting bird calls as possible before entering back into the city burr and night shifts at the Alfred Hospital. Wilsons Prom is about 200km from Melbourne City and there are no trains or busses that service the Park directly on a regular basis. Cycling there and back would have been the mission in itself, so I adopted a range of transport modes to get me to the Prom. Read the rest of this entry »

Metro, Government and Council look at the plans

Here at Healthy Transport Hobart I was very excited to hear that the Kingston Park and Ride has got off the ground at last. Now thats a healthy move even though the site and space will limit how successful it is. I don’t remembering hearing about the consultation. Not saying I mind but would have been nice to have some input re what consumers would like. I hope things like signage and bike racks will be included. The big questions are, is it going to be well signed and how is it going to be promoted? I’ll be getting some answers. I’m sure there is a few relieved Kingborough councillors, when I cast my vote 4 years ago ‘park and ride’ initiatives was on almost all their little voter info sheets. Read the rest of this entry »

Today the Mercury Featured a positive bike letter with a pic of HTH Melbourne Correspondent Katie.K riding up Argyle St

A couple of weeks ago I learnt the power of the humble shrug to avoid reacting in unhealthy ways to the steady stream of anti-bicycle lane opinions that the Mercury Newspaper chooses to publish. The shrug is a great way to avoid getting annoyed and therefore prevent oneself taking the bait set out by those who have a vendetta against moves to make life a bit more convenient for the simple cycling folk around Hobart. Read the rest of this entry »

Heading into Hobart from Taroona

So I’ve committed to catching busses as my main form of transport in Hobart for the next 4 weeks as I’ve got some healing to do before I start riding again. This means I’ll get an awesome insight into the Metro Bus Service and may be able to speak from experience when I talk about Busses in the future. I’ve made about 4 journeys now and the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. Read the rest of this entry »

My wonderful honours supervisor Robyn put me onto this very informative looking publication to wisen up on all the issue relating to more liveable cities. As the US seems to be taking the lead in a lot of health research, I’d hazard a guess that some of the crew propagating this business might be fairly forward in their liveability research as well.

You can keep in the loop by signing up to the newsletter at: http://www.livablecities.org/

I’m a big fan of the ‘Healthy Cities Movement’ launched by the WHO quite a while ago: http://www.euro.who.int/healthy-cities and work towards getting Hobart on board in a big way. And if you are interested in hitting up a conference on the theme, Brisbane is hosting the 2010 event: http://www.healthycities.com.au/.

Posted for the love of healthy cities by Liam.C