Cycling to public transport

Time to put the principles to the test again.

I've been conducting an experiment this week to investigate some concepts I have been looking at through work. I've been looking at the role cycling can play in increasing the catchment area of public transport services which has come about as a result of research into a paper I wrote with a colleague for this year's Australasian Transport Research Forum (ATRF).

Most public transport planners say that the maximum walkable catchment for public transport is approximately 400-800 metres or 5-10 minutes between home and the public transport stop. The distance from home to the tram stop on Sydney Road is approximately 700 metres and takes about 10 minutes to walk. As a result of the research we did for the ATRF, my colleague and I found that cycling to a public transport stop increases the catchment area of public transport to the 2-3 kilometre range.

Last week, in getting to my one and only Uni. exam, I decided to cycle from home to the terminus of the Route 96 tram, one of the fastest tram routes on Melbourne's tram network (at least better than our regular tram route, Route 19). The Metlink journey planner, being the great tool for changing travel behaviour that it is helped to provide an indicative route and travel time from home to the East Brunswick terminus of the 96 tram. It takes about 20 minutes to cycle the 4 kilometres from home to Blyth and Nicholson Streets to get on the tram in the mornings and the same in the evening. There's plenty of on-street bike parking at the hoops and rails around the tram terminus in the morning and so far, the bike has been there when I get off the tram in the evening

I've been riding the bike to the 96 terminus now for all four days of this week so far, riding in heat, rain, wind and humid conditions. I believe that if I can ride all this week, I'll prove this is do-able and hopefully keep doing it. I think I look quite the part in my public service work attire, bike helmet and bicycle clips riding to the tram stop. Being the transport planning nerd I am, I've used a stopwatch to time my journeys from home to work on both the Route 19 and the Route 96 and I've found the new arrangements are approximately 10 minutes faster door-to-door than the old one.

There's also another benefit for me of combining cycling with public transport. The 20 minute bike ride in each direction gives me 40 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each day I go to work, which meets the recommended minimum levels of exercise for adults. The best kind of exercise is the sort you don't think about. I can already feel the change in my legs already and my lovely wife already thinks I've lost weight (she's very kind to me).

It's been a great experiment and I really want to keep it going. It's proved the hypothesis in my paper and has given me some other policy ideas for integrating cycling with public transport which one day might benefit others.

It was delicious

Look where the Flexicar took us last night in the pouring rain - Wabi Sabi Salon.

Yum! What a great Japanese restaurant. It offers a twist on the usual offerings you find in Melbourne's Japanese restaurants. Homestyle but with a modern/fusion approach to Japanese food.

Here's what we had:

Edemame & pumpkin croquettes
Sashimi platter
Japanese tempura vegetables with chilli mayonnaise
Tender beef meatballs with dark red miso demi glaze
Pork spare ribs simmered in sweet & sour sauce, served with mustard
Salmon sashimi & avocado stack with basil mayonnaise
Tofu dango & vegetables
Black sesame, green tea & adzuki ice creams
Green tea cheese cake
Creme brulee with pears & berries

Main meals range from $18 to $28.

Four of us went last night, two meat eaters, one pescatorian and one vegetarian. There were at least a couple of dishes in each section for everyone. Let me say - no one was disappointed and we all agreed we'd definitely be back!
Wabi Sabi Salon
94 Smith Street
Collingwood
9417-6119

Oishikatta desu!

Shopping without a car - Part 2 - The Garden

I've been meaning to write this post for months but am now only getting around to it - garden shopping without a car.

A few friends have asked how do I shop for the garden without a car. It's a fair question. Many garden related purchases are big, too big to carry around: bags of potting mix and fertilizer, bales of pea-straw and mulches, advanced trees and plants. It's easy though, much easier than you would expect. Catalogue and online ordering of garden products. I'm a big fan of this method. I've been a big fan even before we got rid of the car mainly because nurseries that offer a mail-order service a much bigger, better and healthier range of plants available than what you would find at your local nursery. Here are a few of my favourite ones:

Lambley Nursery: My neighbour introduced me to this nursery and I am so glad she did. Lambley is my absolute favourite of all the nurseries I purchase from. They specialise in drought tolerant perennials and their range is fabulous. If you still want a cottage type garden in these water-restricted times, this is the nursery to purchase from. They are located at Ascot, which is near Ballarat, and so experience extreme cold and heat. Only plants that flourish in their 'dry garden' under these conditions are made available for sale. Have a look at their online catalogue and be inspired. They also post out catalogues, four times a year I think. I love reading them for David Glenn's description of the plants alone. The plants come in decent sized pots so if you don't get around to planting them straight away, they will survive in the pots for a few weeks.

Diggers Club: The Diggers Club have been around for a while now and have lead the way in promoting drought tolerant plants and heritage seed varieties. They also have a wide range of hardware that they mail out, such as potting mix, garden shoes, garden utensils, hats, watering devices, drip hoses...it's endless. There website has recently been upgraded and is much easier to navigate if you are ordering online. They also post out six catalogues a year, which also contain some interesting gardening articles. I order quite a bit from Diggers. There plants come in tubes and need to be put in the ground fairly soon after you receive them, otherwise they dry out quite quickly. An interesting variety of plants are available from them and there are always some new varieties introduced with each catalogue.

My most recent delivery of Diggers' plants

The boxes that they arrived in

Tesselaar: Tesselaar's have been around for years and years. I remember my mother receiving their catalogue when I was a child, and wishing we one day we could go to the tulip festival theyhold in spring but alas, we didn't have a car when I was child so that day trip never happened.

They still send out catalogues but they've also brought themselves into the 21st century and now offer an online service. They have a range of plants and bulbs, including tulips for which they are most famous. I like the collections that Tesselaar offer, where they bundle up varieties of a plant, enabling you to try out a few different ones. This year I bought my tomatoes from them, 'Aussie Tomato Collection' and 'Heirloom Tomatoes Collection'.


Hancock's Daffodils: I reckon these are the people to buy daffodils from. They are not the cheapest available but their bulbs are big and healthy, and the quality of their bulbs is world renowned. When we visited their farm this spring I met a gentleman from California who regularly visited them to see the spring display and until recently imported his bulbs from Hancock's because of their wonderful international reputation. I have been ordering from them for the past three years and have never been disappointed. They offer a wide variety of daffodils, older and more modern breeds, and will identify from a photograph if necessary. They have available other bulbs besides daffodils and there are two catalogues per year sent out.

Some photos from our trip to Hancock's Daffodil Farm this spring.

Now finally, how do I get all that mulch, fertiliser and those bags of potting mix to my home? It's delivered by the wonderful people at Andrew's Stockfeed. I must confess, when we first got rid of the car I was concerned about how I would get these products back to the house. I think on my first weekend without the car I asked the staff of Andrew's Stockfeed if they delivered, and if you purchase $40+ of goods they do. Again on advice of a neighbour, I found this store and have been buying from here for a couple of years, mainly the mulch and fertilisers. So it was great to find out that they would deliver. There is absolutely no way a garden, particularly a vegie garden, can survive in these hot summers subject to water restrictions without mulch. I order a variety of mulches for the garden, depending on my mood and bank balance! Pea straw is cheapest, and I usually use this for the vegie garden. I buy lucerne, which is a bit more expensive but nicer looking, for the flower beds and tress.

Andrew's Stockfeed
165 Sydney Road
Coburg
9386-0326

And there you have it. How I garden without a car.

The excess locks...

The excess locks are finally off! I think the bike even feels a bit lighter.

Thanks to Coburg Locksmiths who used their super-dooper bolt cutters to remove them, free of charge.

BTW, if you're renovating, they have a great range of period-style locks available to order. No need to traipse all over town for the right fitting - shop local!

Tips for new players #3

Don't ride your bike in the middle of a storm. You will be drenched by the time you get home.

I so welcome the rain we are having this weekend. After a week of 30+ degrees, the garden is looking a bit haggard and so am I. However, it is not the kind of weather I enjoy riding my bike in. I wouldn't think it was too safe either, with the possibility of lightning, big puddles to skid in and nutty Moreland drivers (the rain seems to bring them out in droves).

This morning however, at about 10.30am, I found myself with no other option. I had to return the Flexicar to its Albion Street home by 11.00am and I'd parked the bike there the previous day when I went to collect the car. It was pouring down with rain.

Gritting my teeth, I told myself 'this is the decision you made when you decided not to get another car. You have to brave the elements and ride, walk, catch public transport whatever the weather may be'. So I drove the car back and retrieved my bike to begin the journey home. It was wet, really wet. I got out of the car and locked it, zipped up my rain-jacket and pulled the hood tightly around my face, fumbled around unlocking the lock, wheeled the bike up to the pedestrian crossing (the one where the whole building fell down a couple of weeks ago) to join the bike path and then realised I'd left my helmet and water bottle in the car.

Damn, damn, damn! This meant I would have to go back to the car, ring Flexicar to open the car for me, fumble around with keys and cards to lock up the bike and unlock the car in the pouring rain, wet the inside of the car as the water dripped of my rain-jacket and just make myself feel more wet and uncomfortable. I needed my helmet, so I did this.

The ride back was most unpleasant. I took it slowly, worried that I might skid in the wet. The rain pelted down, drenching anything not covered by my rain-jacket. My bag, my legs, my feet, my hair were all soaked. I was fantasising about a nice, hot cup of tea all the way home.

The worst part of the ride was the hill up Reynard Street, a slow but steady incline into a head wind today. As uncomfortable as I felt from being so wet, I felt proud of myself as I turned the corner into our street, having braved the rain and ridden home in it. I told myself 'It's not so bad. You're toughening up. That's all you need to do'. The rain was dripping off me as I walked in the back door and stripped off my drenched clothes. I haven't enjoyed a cup of tea as much as I did this morning for long, long time.

Tips for new players #2

Buy the best quality bike lock you can afford. Because I had a cheap attack when buying our bike locks, I now find myself with three locks attached to my bike. One that has a broken key in it, one that just won't unlock anymore and one that actually works (a new, more expensive one). Bolt cutters anyone?

Tips for new players #1

Don't find yourself accidently in the '8 items or less' check-out queue because the young but apologetic check-out operator forget to switch their sign on. They won't have any home delivery forms and you will have to completely re-pack your trolley and go to another check-out, the kind that serves people buying a lot of items.

Trip chaining - or how to manage your time better

Many people who know me think I am not the best manager of time, in fact a bit of a dawdler. However, when it comes to doing the Saturday morning shopping, I am highly motivated to spend as little time as possible in the exhausting and stressful environment of shopping.

This is what leads me to write about the delights of trip chaining. Even though the link is American, there are 10 useful tips to organising yourself to try and do all the weekend shopping in one trip, rather than multiple trips.

We are fortunate in that where we live there is a good public transport-based shopping centre that contains supermarkets, specialty food stores and specialised businesses that we don't use all the time, but are nice to have. Today we needed to go to all three to do our weekly shop, get some special foods from the delicatessen and drop some clothes off for alterations and finally, pick up our bikes from the bike shop.

It only took about 2 and a half hours to do all the shopping, drop the clothes off at the tailors, pick up our bikes and still have time left over for a coffee and some cake for morning tea. Trip chaining is great, and the 'tasting plate' of cheese, dolmades, marinated mushrooms, Sicilian green olives and tzatziki we made for lunch was delicious!

LS

A new model of car use.

A few weeks into the experiment of living without a car, we activated our membership with Flexicar. It's a good way to enjoy many of the benefits of car ownership, but without the sunk costs of insurance, registration, maintenance and petrol. Not to mention the repayments on a car loan. In many ways the system runs like a car fleet - filling out logbooks, booking vehicles and centralised fleet management.

Instead of having the fleet garaged centrally, the Flexicar fleet is dispersed among council car parks in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. Fortunately, we have a car park near us, about a 20 minute walk or a 15 minute walk/tram ride away. The Flexicar fleet has gradually been working its way up Sydney Road and it would seem that as demand grows, they'll cross Moreland Road and be even closer. Hopefully our membership of Flexicar will mean there's more demand for a Flexicar to come up our way soon.

While all the cars in our area are Honda Jazz (which by the way are great to drive), Flexicar have a number of car models in their fleet. Like the work car fleet, where I've had a chance to drive lots of different models of cars, Flexicar has given us the opportunity to try some different cars. If we decided to go back to owning a car again, the Honda Jazz would be at the top of list.

The day they took the car away

It was a bit sad when they took the car away. It was all over so quickly. The tow truck man turned up, winched the car up onto the tray and then drove away. All over in minutes. One door closes and another door opens.

Shopping without a car - Part 1

The idea of shopping without a car was making me particularly stressed. With both of us working full-time, shopping consisted of one major buy up on the weekend, consisting of a supermarket stop, the deli, greengrocers and the butchers, supplemented by trips for forgotten items throughout the week. Neither of us have the luxury of time to make daily trips down the street to meet our household needs.

How could we carry all the groceries home without a car? I pondered this question for a while. What did my mother do? She didn't drive, still doesn't. Neither does my grandmother. How was the shopping done when I was young? Visions of their shopping jeeps seeped out of my memory. They weren't good. It was hard work pushing that very full jeep up the hill on Haley Street with three young children in tow. Shopping jeeps are not glamorous, at least not in my mind, no matter how hard manufacturers try to glam them up and make them fashionable. Oh, look, here's a documentary on shopping jeeps Kitty and the Cartwheelers Shopping Jeep Bonanza.

Then I remembered home delivery. Good old home delivery - do your shopping, pay the fee and the bags get loaded onto trolleys ready for collection by the person with the van. Go and have a cuppa before catching the train home. Did supermarkets still offer it? I didn't know, I wasn't looking for this service anymore, until now.

Last Saturday I decided to inquire at my local (preferred) supermarket about home delivery. Yes they had it, with a fee of $7.50. They even delivered on Saturdays, I just had to finish my shopping by 1pm. One stress eliminated.

When I was young, we had milk delivered. I'm sure most people aged up to and including the Gen X cohort will remember this. I seem to remember bread being delivered too, from my very, very early years (I am talking about being under four years of age here). Delivery of these items seems to be making a comeback. There are a couple of companies around who have gotten into the home delivery market for these products. Last September we signed up with Aussie Farmers Direct . We let the deliveries go by the wayside at the beginning of the year as we were not around (renovations, holidays) but now it's time to start them again. They have a huge range of products: dairy, fruit & vegies, bread, juices and meat. We've returned to getting our milk, bread, butter and cheese delivered, so these are a few items that we don't have to worry about getting from the shops. I may have a look at their fruit and vegies again, they now offer a 'pick and pack' service, which basically means you get to choose what you want instead of receiving a surprise box each week (it wasn't too bad actually).

Some other items we are getting home delivered include olive oil. Strange one I know but we bought some Mount Zero olive oil on our trip to Dunkeld in April and have gone completely gaga over it. It has convinced me that good quality olive oil really does make a taste difference to your cooking, even for the most simplest of dishes that we make such as a barley and vegetable soup. It's pricey but worth it. Suffice to say, they do mail order deliveries. You can purchase a number of items from their range, including the olives (no surprise there), lentils and condiments such as the beetroot and orange relish (Yum!).

If you're interested in home delivery of food a couple of other places to check include:
Melbourne Butcher. They also do fruit & vegies, milk and bread.
The Green Line. Organic fruit and vegies.
Organic Angels. Organic fruit and vegies, pantry items, bread, milk, chocolate (What! Home delivered chocolate. Where have you been all my life?).

The interesting thing about this exercise is once you start looking, you realise there are many companies out there doing home deliveries of food and household items, which can eliminate trips down the street using the car. It takes a bit of planning. We are becoming more vigilant in our list writing, trying not to leave anything off to do away with the need for a trip down the street. But if we have to go, it's doing us good anyway because we are walking. We are also tending to use the local milk bar more, which is eliminating those impulse buys in the supermarket and saving us money.

Now finally, some of my favourite wineries that home deliver. The fact that wineries home deliver is not new, I am sure you are all aware of this service that many fine places offer. But maybe you don't know about these wineries. They are all excellent and offer online and mail order services.

Bests Wines. Lovely old vines make for yummy reds.
Bochara Wines. Very drinkable reds and whites, lovely sparkles and good prices. The rose is a favourite in our household, very light and very drinkable, perfect for summer.
Grampians Estate. Love, love, love their sparkling shiraz.
Rees Miller Estate. Biodynamic, vegan and vegetarian friendly (warm inner glow). These wines taste great. We first had this wine at the The Tea Rooms at Yarck. After lunch we proceeded to the cellar door and bought a dozen bottles. The Shiraz is excellent.

Stay tuned for 'Shopping without a car - Part 2: Gardening'.

The first day of the rest of our lives?...

A car like our car, but not our car

Over the last couple of months, our car (a 1991 Subaru Liberty GX) has been having some fairly serious mechanical problems, culminating with what appears to be a blown head gasket. Faced with a steep bill to replace the engine and with renewal of registration at the end of July, we decided to stop throwing good money after bad and try and live without a car.

If the truth be told, the decision was fairly easy to make. We both work in the Melbourne CBD, use public transport to go to and from work on weekdays, live in an area with good radial (one train line and two tram routes) and orbital (four good frequency, 7-day-a-week bus routes) public transport links within 10-15 minutes walk from our house. The majority of our car use was at nights and weekends, largely because of psychological factors that made the car easier to use than walking, cycling or using public transport.

Our car use was on average about 10,000 kilometres a year, with the majority of the distance travelled taken up with driving holidays and the odd weekend tour beyond Melbourne. The majority of trips on the other hand were fairly short, most of them among the 60% of motorised trips less than 5 kilometres in length that could be done using other means.

We did try to use the car responsibly, which meant trying to minimise single-occupant trips in the car, or to plan our car use in a trip chain to avoid lots of point-to-point single purpose journeys, as well as trying to use our car to full capacity carrying both passengers and freight, althoguh a lot of times there were still lots of single occupant journeys, mostly 'hauling air'.

Of course, going without the car will mean some changes to how we live our lives. The convenience of having the car to pick up things you can't take on public transport, like the fortnightly runs to pick up mushroom compost, manure or hay for the garden (that we could fit in the back of the car) is one example of a benefit we'll forego along with the car. But most of the problems from not having a car will be psychological rather than physical. Being practical people, we'll find a way or make a way and no doubt share it with you along the way.