My wife and I relied heavily on the tram and Bus network to get around and we were not disappointed, I just left my car at the Motel and it never moved in 3 days till i drove back home to Albury last night.
At the tram stop 32 where we got on and off, there's a decent bike lane that heads pretty much North/South to the City or Preston areas and the amount of cyclists commuting to work and school amazed me and kind of made me wanting to move down there (to a point)
I particularly took notice of the bikes they were using and those using them, the younger men mostly on fast and light road bikes, both flat and drop bar, some on MTB but mostly road bikes and hybrids but it was the amount of E-Cargo bikes that were buzzing along with up to 2 kiddies on the back having a ball while either Mum or Dad was the power source, some of the rear railing cargo bikes also were fitted with Baby seats.
Young women mostly riding both E-bikes and non-E-bikes with the traditional ladies step through design and also some dutch style commuter bikes. All were dressed in their jackets, scarves, leggin's or slacks with some kind of light beanie or helmet winter head covering under helmet....i was thinking I was in Europe.
The next types were the young Dads and their kids in a bicycle bus arrangement and the kids were riding to school on their BMX or small MTB bikes, don't see that at all in Sydney but I do see kids riding to school a lot in Albury as the roads are quite wide, there's a lot of schools in the area and the 40kph limit in school zones and 50 kph outside.
But everywhere I looked in the Melbourne CBD, there were tonnes of bicycle riders of all types getting around, up through Brunswick and Fitzroy. Everywhere. Melbourne seems to be really increasing it's Riding infrastructure as is Sydney but Melbourne is way out in front with suburban bikeways going for many kms out of town and connecting suburbs. If I ever moved to Melbourne there's no way I'd have a car down there, I'd probably be taken out by a Tram
So for those who ride in the Melbourne CBD and suburbs, you're really quite lucky and it's good to see Australian Cities moving ahead with active Transport. Especially when the mornings are rather cold down there, the uptake of bicycle commuting is truly uplifting. I wasn't really counting the food deliver riders as they are not really commuters but working riders but there were no shortage of them just like in Sydney.
I realise there's probably downsides in areas like everywhere else but Melbourne is really buzzing with life right now. On Thursday and Friday night my wife and I were walking around the City and i couldn't believe the amount of young people enjoying city life with their friends, there were thousands of people around the city irrespective of what street you were in.
So yeah, Melbourne never ceases to amaze me in regards to it's vibrancy.....and people using active transport.
These are my observations only as an outsider to this awesome City. I also found in general, Melbournians are so much more friendly and helpful than those in Sydney as that's where i've spent almost 40 years of my life, Melbourne people don't hesitate to help out if they see someone not too sure where they are.....and yes, i realise it's hard to make an overall assessment in just 3 days but what we had experienced was mostly positive.
I could expect to be down there again in a Month or so for a week as my wife needs to go and have a small operation at the Royal Melbourne.
Cheers
brumby33
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