Don't throw that bike away

Drawing inspiration from popular culture and natural history Alberto de Ciccio's kinetic and interactive sculptures made from re-purposed bicycle parts entertain and capture the imagination of young and old.  Combining his skills as a bike mechanic and his love for science fiction de Ciccio creates metal designs with intricate moving parts and very unique mechanical solutions.

Bike Racks and Bus Stops at QUT Kelvin Grove

Here's the Campus map of QUT Kelvin Grove. Highlighted are the Bike Racks and Bus Stops on Campus

Yellow: Indicates Bike Racks on Campus

Green: Indicates Bus Stops near Campus

There plenty of facilities available on Campus to help staff and students bike/bus to Uni.

Why not try it?

Helmet Design

If one of the main reasons that people are not using the CityCycle bikes is because of helmet law, then this is a problem that could be solved with a new helmet design.


The helmet would need to be portable, practical, safe and stylish.


Can you design a helmet that would fit these criteria?


Designers in Copenhagen have come up with one possible alternative, the Hovding.  The Hovding is an inflatable helmet which is worn around the neck and inflates within 10 milliseconds of a cyclist being hit.  It is triggered by sensors that follow the cyclists body position.

To Helmet or Not To Helmet?

One of the most contentious issues with bike sharing systems is the topic of helmets.  In a small survey conducted in 2010 85% of people surveyed said that helmet law was the reason they wouldn't use Brisbane's CityCycle.  In 1991 a Queensland law was passed making it compulsory for cyclists of all ages to wear a helmet while riding.  The original fine was $35 but today it is $75 penalty.


Here is a video from a TED talk in Copenhagen from Mikael Colville-Anderson who raises some great points concerning helmets and helmet laws.

Some of the points Mikael raises:

• Risk of 14% greater chance of having an accident if your wearing a helmet.
• Helmets are tested for non-life threatening impacts in solo impacts under 20 km/hr and only on the crown of the head. Similar to a pedestrian falling and hitting their head on the side walk.
• Pedestrians have a higher risk of accidents than cyclists.
• Head injuries for motorists in Australia would save $400m if everyone in the car were wearing helmets.
• Bicycle helmets are promoted by the automotive industry as the bicycle is a real and immediate threat to car culture in our cities.
• Health benefits of cycling is 20 times greater than any risk involved

Do you agree?  Should we get rid of helmet laws or is there another solution?

Brisbane City Cycle

The proposed aim of Brisbane's CityCycle is to provide an active and sustainable public transport option to help reduce traffic congestion and parking pressures in the inner city. The scheme was launched on the 1st October 2010, it is a Brisbane City Council initiative but it has been delivered and operated by JCdecaux Australia.  


HOW MANY BIKES?
Stage one is operating now and includes more than 1000 bikes at 104 stations. Construction of stage two will commence shortly and offer up to 2000 bikes at 150 stations.


WHERE ARE THEY?
Bike stations can be found in various locations around the Brisbane CBD.  There is a downloadable map located on the CityCycle website.


HOW MUCH?

What are the alternatives?

We calculated the cost, duration, distance and availability of a trip from King George Square to the GOMA in South Brisbane on Brisbane's different modes of transport.  A distance of approximately 2 kilometers by road or 1.5 kilometers by foot.

Why shouldn't we drive?

Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency's 'Transport Emissions Projection' (2010) 

• transport was responsible for 14% of Australia’s total domestic carbon emissions
• an increase from 2008’s total of 13.7%.
• projected to increase by 16% between 2009 and 2020

Transportation Survey

We recently conducted a survey, asking the general public questions about their use and knowledge of Sustainable Transport. Here's what we found:

The survey showed that most people did not use sustainable transport in order to get to school/work. Although it was possible for people to use public transport, walk, or bike, they chose not to because of a variety of reasons. Most agree that there were not enough programs promoting sustainable transport, and therefore 91% of people felt that the Department of Transport needs to do a better job to create programs to promote sustainable transport.

100% people that were surveyed said that their family owned a bicycle, and most said that their were secure facilities to store their bicycles. However although they owned bicycles no one surveyed used their bicycles in order to get to school/work, for many different reasons.

55% of people saw public transport as an inconvenience for reasons such as unreliability and no nearby bus stops

28% of people walked, took buses, and took trains to school/work. Majority of people stated that they drove to school/work.

28% of people were aware of programs that promoted sustainable transport. Showing the need for the Department of Transportation to create programs necessary to create more awareness.

A natural process of warming of the Earth occurs by the sun. Firstly the sun's rays enter the Earth's atmosphere (a layer of gases made up of mainly oxygen and nitrogen and some carbon dioxide). About half of the heat is absorbed by the Earth's surface, warming it. Some of the heat bounces off the Earth and escapes from the atmosphere but the rest of the heat is caught by the gases in the atmosphere but the rest of the heat is caught by the gases in the atmosphere, acting like a blanket to ensure the temperature doesn't drop dramatically.

The 'greenhouse gases', made up primarily of carbon dioxide, are caused predominately by burning coal, oil and gas (we burn oil and create carbon dioxide when we drive our car, a process that will be discussed in another post). These gases thicken the atmosphere which allows the heat in, as per the natural process, but do not allow the same amount to escape which increases the warmth of the atmosphere. The more carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere from cars, buses and trucks, the more heat will be trapped.

What is Climate Change?

You may have heard the terms, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases or Climate Change. This video gives some preliminary information on what climate change is, what is causing it and what we can do to reduce it. When watching this video, it is important to ask yourself what is it trying to tell me? and what information is it giving me about climate change?

This is a one sided description of the Brisbane City Cycle Program from the owners and advertisers JCDeaux.